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Event transcript
The. 00:00:00
City of Saint Mary's, Georgia City Council meeting for October 7th, 2024. I want to thank Miss Stein for her presentation on the 00:00:03
National Flood Insurance Program work session that we just had earlier. Excellent program and some some savings for. 00:00:13
A number of people in the city with flood insurance. So thank you Jamie and to your your team appreciate it. OK, so. 00:00:24
Our invocation is from Councilmember David Riley. 00:00:35
Please by your head. 00:00:41
Dear God, we thank you for the many blessings you have given to Saint Mary's and its citizens. 00:00:43
And God, we also thank you for all the citizens we are so honored and humbled to serve. We pray that you watch over and keep all 00:00:49
first responders safe. It's a unselfishly worked to protect all Saint Mary's citizens in the properties. 00:00:56
We also pray God that you be with all of our support staff as they do their work to serve and support all of our citizens and 00:01:04
visitors alike. 00:01:09
We also pray, Lord, that you provide us the Wiz strength and wisdom to do our very best collectively as Councilman for the City of 00:01:15
Saint Mary's. We ask this in your name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. 00:01:23
United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for 00:01:32
all. 00:01:38
Thank you, David. 00:01:49
Madam McClure, can we have the roll call, please? 00:01:55
Yes, Sir. Councilman Jones, post one here. Councilman Connor, post 2 here. Councilman Ingram, post 3 here. Councilman Riley, post 00:01:58
Four President. Councilman Rossi, Post Five President. Councilman James, post 6 here. Mayor Morrissey, Sir, we have a quorum. 00:02:04
Thank you. 00:02:10
Was everyone here for the three sets of minutes? 00:02:20
Yeah, right. All right. So may I have a motion you individually or combined for? 00:02:26
It's gonna move Mr. Rassi second and it's Oh, you got me. 00:02:34
Mr. Jones. 00:02:41
For all three items, Miss Clerk and SO any discussion? 00:02:45
All in favor, aye, opposed say Madam Clerk, that's unanimous. Just be clear, unanimous is all six constitute. Thank you very much. 00:02:53
All right, so we're going to move on to presentations. And Charlie, this is Saint Mary's Senior Center nutritional food program. 00:03:03
You want to do it right there? Yes, Sir. I'm going to go ahead and play. It's going to be a video, so forgive me for explaining my 00:03:14
Denver Broncos, but I wanted to make sure that was ready. Yeah, good. 00:03:19
So we're having issues with the audience. I'm going to use the microphone. So I do apologize to the audience. I'll try to make 00:03:28
sure it doesn't. 00:03:30
Get too loud, but this is a presentation for our Senior Center food program. This is a program and I'm going to let the video kind 00:03:34
of explain itself. I made this for not only council, but it's also got to go in front of the school board as well. But this is a, 00:03:41
this is a program we're doing to feed our seniors at our senior at our senior facility through the lunchrooms at the Sanger's 00:03:48
middle school. So far we've been running. Now when the video is made, we were about 5-6 days in. 00:03:56
We're about a month now and so far it's been a fantastic program so, but I'll be able to answer some questions at the end. 00:04:03
Very creative, Charlie. 00:04:09
Saint Mary's Senior Center, a place where community and care come together to support the well-being of our senior citizens. 00:04:13
Today we're taking a closer look at why the center plays such a vital role in the lives its members and how the center's food 00:04:20
program alongside school partnerships is making a difference. All right, so I'm here with Miss Katrina Flannery, right. Miss 00:04:26
Flannery is the director of school nutrition for the Camden County School system. And I've asked you to sit down today, which I 00:04:33
appreciate so that we can discuss the senior program from your side on how this looks. But. 00:04:40
School program takes place here at the Saint Mary's Middle School. 00:04:47
And why don't you go and tell me a little bit about what your role is not only in this program, but for the county. OK, so with 00:04:51
school nutrition, as the director, I make sure that the the students are fed every day. So we provide breakfast, lunch and snack. 00:04:58
And snack is some schools depending on their needs. But the most important thing for me is to make sure that I work with the 00:05:05
distributors, work with the manufacturers. 00:05:13
Sure that when the managers order the groceries that the food is actually delivered and they have everything available. We work 00:05:20
with the menus and create menus that are kids favorites so that we know that the students will want to eat them and we want to 00:05:28
make sure that they have options. I consider a special diets and things that the students need medically and it's there's a lot 00:05:35
that goes into it, but if there's a big reward at the end, why is the Senior Center? 00:05:43
For many seniors, the Saint Mary's Senior Center is more than just a building. It's a lifeline. It's a place where you can stay 00:05:51
active, connect with your friends and maintain a structured routine in a world that can sometimes feel isolated. The center 00:05:57
provides a safe space for socializing, learning and Wellness. It offers much needed support, helping seniors thrive physically, 00:06:03
emotionally and mentally. So we've served now. 00:06:08
I think well since we were closed last Monday, we served 5 official meals. Today was the favorite by far. It was the Alfredo. 00:06:16
So they loved it, but what we're noticing at the Senior Center too, and it's a credit to your to your cafeteria and and the 00:06:23
program is that for the, we're basically going to be huge bang for our buck. So what we're purchasing even from our other vendors 00:06:30
and they're great. I'm not knocking them, but the size of the balance of the food, the nutrition, the nutritional side of it 00:06:36
they're getting. 00:06:42
Milks juice, they're getting fruit, they're getting a salad on top of their main course and vegetables and it's. 00:06:48
Fantastic. Like it's more food than even when we were getting from an outside vendor or a private business that they, this is 00:06:56
better than what they were supplying and it's already thought out and it's balanced with what nutrients they need for 1/3 of 00:07:02
their, you know, their nutrients for the day. And in some cases, and I think you discussed this earlier with me is some of our 00:07:09
seniors. 00:07:15
This is the best meal they get and so for us to do business with the school system, that's. 00:07:21
This year we have right at 1100 children enrolled at Saint Mary's Middle School. 00:07:57
6th and 7th grade are the largest. We have over 400 or about 400 in each of those grade levels. So Miss Abigail, our luxury 00:08:02
manager and her staff prepare breakfast and lunch for 1100 children and staff and staff every day. So they have a big, big task in 00:08:09
front of them. Awesome. Well, how do you, how does the school feel from your seat about knowing that you're helping the Senior 00:08:16
Center across the street? 00:08:22
I've just been excited to learn a little bit more about your program that that you're working on. That's great. I grew up here. 00:08:30
I'm from here. 00:08:33
And so I like, I like to see our. 00:08:36
Our opportunities grow for our seniors. So that's awesome for the Senior Center. This is huge. And you know, we just spoke to Miss 00:08:40
Larry and this program is allowing the city of Saint Mary's to not only take care of our senior program, but it's allowing the 00:08:47
seniors of our city to, for a fact to get at least one, one third of their meal. We know it's going to be nutritious, it's going 00:08:53
to be great and that we're taking care of that population and that population. 00:09:00
Is very dear to us and so that's why we're really trying to pour into that program. So you guys kind of stepping up the plate and 00:09:08
helping us is. 00:09:11
Huge. And I know I appreciate it. I know the Senior Center appreciates it. But I think moving forward, the relationship, if this 00:09:15
program goes great the way we think it is, we think it's not just going to benefit us, but the goal is to have the state take a 00:09:20
look at it and maybe there's other senior centers that will benefit kind of in the same fashion. So we really appreciate you kind 00:09:26
of being the 1st to do this with us. I'm happy to help. 00:09:31
Why is food that is nutritious and balanced? And at the center, the goal is to provide meals that are not just filling but also 00:09:38
nutritious. 00:09:42
A healthy, balanced meal can help seniors manage chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure and contribute to overall 00:09:46
well-being. The center ensures that meals meet dietary needs while being delicious and enjoyable. 00:09:52
So I'm here with Miss Abigail Grody, and you are the cafeteria manager for Percentage Middle School. 00:09:59
So Abigail, tell us, you know, since we're in this partnership with the Senior Center and the school system, your normal 00:10:06
day-to-day activities of taking care of children and you know, getting the food prepped up in the morning and then actually having 00:10:12
your food service helping the Senior Center achieve its goals. How does that work in your day-to-day activities? Pretty much 00:10:18
really does not exchange. The only thing that change is we just a little bit in here like the salad, something like that, the 00:10:24
sandwiches we just have. 00:10:30
We don't even take enough time to make it. But it's not it's not it don't distract our daily working here. That's OK. So when 00:10:37
you're doing your food orders or like I said, you're setting up the menu for the day, adding whatever the the account that we're 00:10:45
ordered for the day for Senior Center, it doesn't slow you down in any way, shape or form or no Sir. 00:10:53
On the ordering since last week, I. 00:11:02
Add a little bit on my order and that's all about that. Nothing changed my how about your staff? Does your staff, my staff is 00:11:07
really happy with it and they everybody in I give them, I give them the menu that you guys give me every week. And then we are in 00:11:14
the same page and they were happy with it. OK, great. And so we'll place our orders every week and that so far is work. We've 00:11:21
only, we're only about a week into it. 00:11:27
But we give you the order and then. 00:11:34
That's Thursday, Friday that give you a chance to make sure your orders and stuff are ready for the next week's. And then Monday 00:11:36
we basically cut the check and then you fill in and we'll show show everybody how that looks. But basically we have an account 00:11:43
here, we pay the check and X number of trays gets put in. And that's how we we're essentially ordering food like we would if we 00:11:49
were a teacher or an adult business. OK, well, we appreciate it. Thank you. 00:11:56
Describe the logistics. 00:12:03
Border prep, payment picked up, service and cleanup. Here's how it works. The center places an order with the school system for 00:12:05
the meals needed each day. Staff with the cafeteria prep the meals under the guidance of the cafeteria manager, and once the meals 00:12:10
are prepped, they are delivered to the center. The streamlined process ensures that the meals are served quickly, efficiently, and 00:12:16
with care. 00:12:21
What does the school provide that out benefits a private vendor? 00:12:29
Center As for the Senior Center, the focus remains on providing a safe, welcoming environment for all seniors. Expanding 00:13:02
activities, enhancing services and continuing to support the health and well-being of seniors in the community will always be at 00:13:09
the heart of what we do. The Saint Mary's Senior Center is more than just a place. It's a community. With programs like Nutritious 00:13:16
Meals and Generational Bridges Initiative, it's ensuring that seniors live full, healthy and connected lives. 00:13:23
The future is bright and we can't wait to see what comes next. Thank you for joining us on this journey. 00:13:30
Charlie, I'm continually. 00:13:43
Amazed and impressed with the creativity that this program came out of and the fact that we're literally setting the pace in the 00:13:48
state. 00:13:54
This, if this proves effective, it may be migrated across the state as a as a solution to I think a lot of senior centers that 00:14:01
probably struggle with what we did and I just need to know. I didn't see any sloppy joes. 00:14:10
They do have sloppy. Well, I just need to make sure that that's still going on because, you know, a couple of a few decades back, 00:14:22
you know, that was the prime. 00:14:27
Well I shouldn't say the prime meal, but it was a very popular 1 so I hope at some point time they get to enjoy that one too. They 00:14:33
are and the feedback we're getting. When we first rolled this out, to be honest, the seniors weren't 100% thrilled. They thought 00:14:38
they would just be tater tots is what I was told. 00:14:44
Yeah, Robbie likes state her thoughts, but the. 00:14:52
But the program has proven itself quite valuable and it's half the cost. What we were paying with not only more food, but what 00:14:56
we're taking is the juices and milks from that day, as well as the fruits. And we don't have to discard those at the end of the 00:15:03
day because of the whole time zone. We also have the health departments come, they inspected our kitchen. We're doing different 00:15:10
systems and we're putting systems in place that we haven't before. 00:15:17
But we're able to use those now for if they come in at breakfast, they have fruits and milks and juice also. 00:15:24
And I see a few of the helpers. 00:15:58
In the Raise Your Hands, he was in the video star. 00:16:01
Thank you for your help there too. 00:16:06
Well, it's just a terrific program and I can't imagine what else you're going to come up with. So thank you. You're welcome. Thank 00:16:13
you. Absolutely. 00:16:17
So let me go through and I said we have a board. Is he not going to give us samples yet? I was. I didn't want to push the thing 00:16:23
about desserts, you know, I thought probably was unfair, but. 00:16:28
I didn't see any desserts in the picture. 00:16:35
You know, just just saying, Charlie, that's all. All right, aboard appointments, there's new board, We have a tax allocation 00:16:38
district #3. 00:16:43
Let me see. I know we had some appointments. Oh yes, we do OK. 00:16:49
So we have. 00:16:55
2 right, We have two applicants for the. 00:16:57
We have one applicant Sir, and two seats. There's two openings, but only one application. 00:17:08
OK, yeah, I don't, I don't know where I must. I must have moved this out of sequence. 00:17:14
OK, so we have one person, Brad Morris, is that correct? OK, so if. 00:17:20
You're satisfied I can give you a motion. Motion to accept. Motion 3 point Miss Brad Morris. 00:17:28
Riley, I have a second. 00:17:37
Check it. OK, Mr. Rossi, any discussion other than thank you, all in favor, Aye, opposed. 00:17:40
Today, Madam Clerk, that's unanimous and you'll, you'll go ahead and notify all the candidates that are appointed. 00:17:50
So the next one is board appointments vacancies for Orange Hall. I thought we had one for Orange Hall. 00:18:01
Is one of the boards where you point directly to the seat and Mr. Harris is requesting appointment to Mr. Hardinge? 00:18:12
OK, so is that. 00:18:22
OK. All right. So we don't have anything for this. 00:18:29
So then the Saint Mary's Hospital Authority, do we have anything? We still have one. 00:18:34
Oh, OK. Yeah, Nick Harris. 00:18:41
I think there was just kind of going forward. All right. So can I have them? It's only one candidate. Can I have a motion? 00:18:47
So moved. That's the way I see 2nd and 2nd Prime Minister Riley. Any discussion? All in favor, aye, opposed, abstain. 00:18:55
All right, man Clerk, that's also unanimous. Yes, Sir, No. 00:19:08
We move on to the Hospital Authority. 00:19:12
Like I said, I've got. 00:19:16
Adam Clark. 00:19:18
Yes, Sir. OK, so is that. 00:19:21
Like I said, I got the sequence, Miss Donna. 00:19:27
'S so Miss Schwartz. 00:19:33
Somebody want to make a motion since we only have one, correct? 00:19:41
Second. All right, I've got. 00:19:44
And I got a second from Mr. Jones. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed. Same. 00:19:51
Madam Clerk, that's unanimous. Yes, Sir. All right. And came upon the Board of Education, Sex education is structural review 00:20:04
Committee. 00:20:08
You don't have anything for that? How about the Orange Oil Management Committee? 00:20:13
That is. 00:20:20
That was the one you just did for Mr. Harris. 00:20:22
And Saint Mary's labor. 00:20:28
All right, my help, March me through this if we miss so much. 00:20:36
Are we good? Yeah. I think we just need clarification because we did have. 00:20:42
The original seat with Miss Robin Cross and we did not appoint anyone to that seat, but I think we voted during that segment, so. 00:20:48
That's fine. OK, We're good. OK. That's what I thought. All right. And we don't have anyone for the library board. 00:21:00
I remember. No, Sir. OK, good. 00:21:08
Then I'll take this time for the editorial, please, anyone that's interested in being on a committee. 00:21:15
Or a board or an authority please. You can you can apply online. 00:21:22
Or you can call the city clerk and she'll help you fill out the form and we'll be happy to see you join us. We hope you will join 00:21:30
us. Thank you. 00:21:35
Any warnings here? You want to recognize anybody that we've appointed? Are you here? You'd like to raise your hand, Mr. Harris? 00:21:43
Thank you very much, Sir, for your service. All right, so now I'm sorry, folks. 00:21:52
Report authorities, boards and commissions. This is our Finance Director, Marcia Clarkton. 00:22:03
How are you tonight? 00:22:08
Green is good, Green is good. Good evening Mr. Mayor and Council. You have in your council packet the financial report for the 00:22:14
month ending August the 31st 2024, which is the second month of fiscal year FY25. 00:22:22
Are there any questions? 00:22:31
Not through a. 00:22:33
Do you have any comments on where we stand? 00:22:36
Not really. We've. 00:22:41
At this time of the year, we're in a. 00:22:44
Not a conundrum, but we have as far as revenue goes because property tax bills have not been. 00:22:51
It's not going out yet, so it's this is kind of a lull right now, so. 00:22:59
And I think we talked about this. 00:23:06
Jump in July. 00:23:09
Going from the 6,000,000 to the 9 million, well, what is being? 00:23:15
Recognized in the. 00:23:22
Cash right now is that we received the the proceeds from the loans that we. 00:23:25
So that's going to jump it up so. 00:23:33
It's a little bit. 00:23:39
Skewed and well, yes it is. But if that that were not in the the the. 00:23:41
The play, so to speak. Then we would be tracking. 00:23:48
OK. 00:23:54
You know, uh. 00:23:57
Just as a thought, I don't know if it's not mandatory, but when we have a significant. 00:23:59
Differential. 00:24:06
In our measurements, perhaps if we had an asterisk. 00:24:10
And explain, yeah. 00:24:15
Yes, that difference just for the institution on memory because. 00:24:19
Someday. 00:24:24
In the next decade or so, you might retire and we want to be able to remember. 00:24:26
Although I don't know if we're going to allow it. 00:24:30
No comment. 00:24:35
All right. 00:24:39
Any seriously any, any comments? No, just that that's definitely an outlier to where we are typically trending at this point. So. 00:24:42
That's it. And I thank you pretty much answered the other questions. OK, thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you very much. 00:24:53
Would you mind moving your mic a little closer? Just getting that we they can't hear you. 00:25:00
Mayor, thank you. All right. And during this law, we have a Boy Scout in the audience, Troop number 208, you here to earn a badge. 00:25:05
All right. Thank you and welcome. Would you do us a favor? 00:25:17
Would you, would you like to come up and introduce yourself and tell us what you're doing with the Boy Scouts? 00:25:26
You're among friends, so feel comfortable, OK? 00:25:35
The green is green is good. 00:25:41
My name is Charlie Sager. I'm doing the merit badge for its citizenship in the community, so learning about the community. 00:25:45
It's finding, it's basically like finding an issue in your community and like finding out how you can help. So the issue that I've 00:25:57
thought of for this community is like homelessness. So I was just wanted to like find out how I can help personally. 00:26:05
And I started to go to a food bank and help work there. 00:26:14
So that I can like, help bring out food for people that can't support themselves and. 00:26:20
Let's see. 00:26:30
Yeah, it's just this merit badge is really good for learning about your community and coming to this this meeting and learning 00:26:33
about the like the senior food system. I didn't know that was a thing. And so I think how you guys are trying to work with the 00:26:39
school and trying to get the Georgia to do that, I think that's really good. 00:26:46
And trying to help reduce the cost and make it for seniors more able to. 00:26:54
Have better benefits. So I think that if you spread that out throughout Georgia, that's going to be really good for us as a state 00:27:01
and maybe even the country. Thank you. 00:27:06
So Mom, you must be very proud because for them to come up and be that well spoken in front of us and I'm comfortable. Well, first 00:27:16
of all, we appreciate it because we are your friends. But you are a good speaker. And let's see, how old are you? 00:27:22
That's 12. 00:27:31
Years, 18 years. So at the end of the decade we'll see you back here in the council up here somewhere. That's okay. 00:27:35
So that was good. 00:27:44
All right, I'm warning your counselor. You better be careful he's coming in. 00:27:48
OK, let's set the consent agenda. 00:27:54
We have one item of all business, that's the memory Memorandum of understanding on the extension between the City of Saint Mary's 00:27:58
and Gulf Gateway for development of the Gateway property. 00:28:04
OK. And then new business, we have resolution of Saint Mary Seepers Memorial for erection of a monument seat St. Mary's Seafarers 00:28:12
Memorial Committee. 00:28:18
National flood Insurance Program Community Rating System Program for public information report approval. 00:28:29
Congratulations, ma'am. 00:28:39
Volcker incorporated. Task order #1A Supplemental. 00:28:42
And the Volcker Incorporated task Order number 3A, Supplemental. 00:28:47
And Volcker incorporated task order number 10 for professional services. 00:28:53
Saint Mary's Municipal Court 2025 Calendar change consent. OK, so password check me. 00:29:00
Our consent agenda consists of all business. 00:29:09
Sorry. 00:29:13
Oh, business, a new new business C excuse me, new business. 00:29:15
ABCDE&F. 00:29:25
So if I got that correct and I have a motion, I think that item A is a discussion, discussion a new business. 00:29:28
AO and a new consent was B through A&A. OK, so. 00:29:38
Sorry. No, that's all right. I had. 00:29:47
I had it coming at me from both sides, so which which a is? 00:29:50
All right, so I. 00:29:59
The consent agenda It consists of new business. 00:30:03
BCDENF did you get it right? 00:30:10
Second, I didn't get the motion. Motion to approve this, Mr. Riley and I heard the second from Mr. Johnson. OK, any further 00:30:15
discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed. Stay. All right, Madam Clerk, that's unanimous. And now I need a motion for approval of 00:30:22
the agenda as it's been set. 00:30:29
Motion to approve Miss James and 2nd from Mr. Ingram. Any discussion on the formal agenda? All in favor Aye, opposed. Stay Madam 00:30:36
Clerk. That's unanimous. So we're going to go to granny audience to the public and this is on the agenda items only. 00:30:48
And I would ask that you come up to the podium and respect. 00:31:01
With a name, your name and address and respect 5 minute time limit. 00:31:07
Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Larry White, 102 Sylvias Court. I like to address old business A. 00:31:12
I went through your packet for this memorandum of understanding, but you haven't changed anything. Last time, the last meeting you 00:31:20
tabled this item and said you would not do an automatic renewal of MOU, but the way the agreement reads, you will. 00:31:29
Unless the City Council brings it up at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the of the agreement, If you don't bring it up, 00:31:39
it automatically renews. 00:31:44
So I like someone to explain that. 00:31:50
OK, who's next? 00:31:55
Good evening, ladies, gentlemen. My name is Mark Fouts. I'm at 310 W Bryant St. I also wanted to discuss his item A. As I 00:32:03
understand as I've read it, there is an option period where the City Council or the contractor can terminate the automatic 00:32:09
renewal. 00:32:15
Portion of this contract. 00:32:22
During the first discussion, I heard some members of the City Council. 00:32:26
Mention that because the contractor had made some investments in properties nearby. 00:32:29
That they kind of thought it might be a good thing to to work with him. 00:32:36
I don't recall any any. 00:32:41
Language in the contract that says you're going to give special treatment to someone who particularly wants to invest in in 00:32:43
something that they're working on. 00:32:47
As I understand these options, they don't come before the public. That means that city manager or whoever can can can basically 00:32:53
ignore the option and go ahead and let this thing auto renew without the without the citizens ever knowing about it. I. 00:33:01
I'm absolutely. 00:33:12
Are opposed to this option thing. 00:33:15
It's been well since I've done contracts, but every contract that I ever did, I expected performance of the contract within a 00:33:20
certain period as defined by that contract. And if performance wasn't done in that period, then the contract came up automatically 00:33:26
for discussion and it opened up for other people who could perform. So this, this nonsense, I agree with Larry. Basically, you're 00:33:33
doing nothing more than just just putting some words in here. 00:33:39
But it's going to auto renew without anybody knowing about it, far be it for someone on the council or within city government to 00:33:46
do some favor for a friend. But it shouldn't be. A contract is a contract. It is there to perform for for exchange of of goods, 00:33:52
which in this case would be some monetary thing. 00:33:58
But performance in two years, if you can't perform in two years, give it to someone who can. Or completely revisit the entire 00:34:05
situation, whether or not it's survival endeavor or not. But please do not continue to give contracts to people who don't perform. 00:34:11
It's not fair to the citizens of this this community. Thank you. 00:34:18
Who's next? 00:34:25
Good evening, Christine Adamo, 901 and St. Mary's. 00:34:32
Comments on two items. The 1st is the food program for the seniors. 00:34:37
Brilliant idea to partner with the school system. 00:34:44
I was a registered dietitian for 35 years and I can tell you seniors require different nutritional requirements than the kids. So 00:34:48
to protect us, I highly recommend that you engage whatever dietitian is working with the nursing home to just review those menus. 00:34:58
The school system can bump them up in a variety of ways so that anybody coming in can see that we're responding to the geriatric 00:35:10
needs of our population. 00:35:16
Second thing. 00:35:23
On the agenda item on the GOP. 00:35:26
I would like to recommend that we look at the fact that this has been taken off the consent agenda, meaning it's for discussion. 00:35:29
So let's give the Council an opportunity. 00:35:41
To discuss and review critically. 00:35:45
The comments and the arguments that we've heard not just today but at the last council meeting, they're warranted, they're good. 00:35:49
And they have already decided not to automatically consent. 00:35:59
Thank you. 00:36:06
Hey, who's next? 00:36:08
All right, Thanks very much. We're going to move into our agenda items. First one under all business is the memorandum of our 00:36:15
understanding extension between the City of Saint Mary's and Goat Gateway Incorporated for development of gateway property and. 00:36:24
Mr. Horton, since I don't see this. 00:36:35
Miss poem here. Can you speak to the issue? 00:36:40
Well, Sir, I'll be happy to, but she's hiding in the corner. My apologies, Candace, I didn't see you. 00:36:46
All right, all right, if you'll allow Mr. Horton to speak. 00:36:55
Yes, Sir. 00:37:03
Yes, Sir, we we went back, we met with. 00:37:05
We have met with Mr. Riley and we met with with Go. 00:37:11
There was the word automatic was removed from the agreement. 00:37:17
And that was acceptable at that point in time. And that's where we're at. 00:37:22
OK. 00:37:29
And. 00:37:31
Let me let me do a little bit of clarification. I think I confused. 00:37:35
The public here a little bit an item is not automatically on your consent agenda. 00:37:44
Uh, but. 00:37:52
It sounded like it was going to be on the consent agenda, but just to be clear, items are not automatically on the consent agenda. 00:37:54
They have to be put on the consent agenda and it was not so. All right, so why don't I open this up for conversation Council, 00:38:00
you'd like to start? 00:38:06
Well, I guess it's me since everyone's looking in this direction. 00:38:14
I have no problems. 00:38:21
I have no problem speaking up. I actually took some notes on this. I think what we're looking at here, and it feels like a game of 00:38:25
semantics with the with the language. So the first thing I think we need to do is we need to look at this particular project and 00:38:31
the perception of the public. 00:38:37
Because at some point in time before I sat on the dais and maybe many of the others that are sitting here, this was a an idea that 00:38:44
someone had and I believe it was more than 10 years ago. And so the idea was that we could have a boutique hotel. I mean, I'm sure 00:38:52
from my research, it's had many different iterations and. 00:39:00
There was a study that was done that said, hey, would this work at this property? 00:39:09
That study was done and I think that concluded that, yes, this would work at this property. And then the property set untouched I 00:39:13
think by any particular developer for a number of years and less than two years ago, I believe maybe 3. So in the last two to 00:39:22
three years, someone in our community stepped up and said, hey, we live here. 00:39:31
This is kind of what we do for a living and we'd like to be able to. 00:39:40
We like that the opportunity to with our own resources, with our own experts. 00:39:44
And with the expertise that those experts can bring in, we'd like to make this project happen. So from what I can see, a lot of 00:39:54
the public sees this as it's been 15 years and we've done nothing and now it seems as though it's slowing again. But I think for 00:40:01
sure that most municipalities. 00:40:08
That are in the same situation that we are don't have millions of dollars to invest in a project so that we can bring in a 00:40:17
partner. And this is a true public private partnership where I believe that you know a a public company has said we want to help 00:40:26
develop this and and I don't believe that they're going anywhere but I do think that in terms of the city and as well as. 00:40:35
That organization, what I'm hearing from the public. 00:40:44
As they would like to see where's, you know, what skin do we have in a game as a city and what skin does that investor have in a 00:40:47
game? And it's not, I'm sorry. And it's not just about the investing in the surrounding properties. I believe they've made a 00:40:54
significant investment already in the, in the existing property. I mean, they have done an additional study on top of what we've 00:41:00
done, they've done engineering, they've done. 00:41:07
Traffic studies, I don't know if Candace, if you can mention any other studies that have been done, but there's been a number. 00:41:14
Actual work and they've identified a partner, a hotel partner that's already committed to coming on board. So a lot of work has 00:41:22
been done there. It's not just sitting there. And I think the perception is that that's what's happening. And you know, we as a 00:41:29
city, we're not in any position. 00:41:36
Be able to invest anymore in that particular property. So we needed a champion to step up and say we've got this and it's someone 00:41:43
that lives in our community and is invested in our community and wants to be here. And from what I remember them saying is they 00:41:51
wanted to have a legacy here for their children. So that's what we're dealing with here. We're not. But I do feel like we need to 00:41:58
respect the public's opinion in terms of making sure that we understand that, you know, we're committed and I think we. 00:42:06
To make sure that that you can see as a public that we're doing our part. You know, perhaps, you know, we know that the slowdown 00:42:14
has nothing to do with either party. You know, it's the DNR. And maybe we can, you know, build a stronger relationship with the 00:42:20
DNR to make sure that we talk them through this process so that we're not just waiting for someone to do something. We can 00:42:27
actually reach out and, you know, perhaps help to move this along that would make us a good partner with. 00:42:34
With go bank so. 00:42:42
That's my two cents. You know, perhaps that's what we need to be thinking of. If you don't mind Council, could I give you some 00:42:44
background? Sure. OK, so this is probably. 00:42:51
2012 Robbie. 00:42:58
With with the decision decision to do this subsequent to the decision, there was a considerable public outreach effort that 00:43:02
resulted in. 00:43:09
A rather extensive public session on the grounds of the Gateway property. And they were. 00:43:17
Multiple stations set up with guides and we had the public come and give us suggestions about the highest and best use for the 00:43:26
property and that resulted in the direction of trying to create a a significant hotel with some amenities that we really need 00:43:35
which included. 00:43:43
The ability to have people come and have meetings and conference conferences. 00:43:52
Not large conferences, 150 to 200 people, so. 00:43:57
That was a that's one of the Aussie benefits that the public helped us determine was really, really needed and we have fostered 00:44:02
that since that time. We have had three iterations of developers then and two of them, previous to the one we had, did market 00:44:11
studies to try and determine that. 00:44:19
During the during the process we ran into. 00:44:28
Some understanding about what how big the project could be and what the height is and we work our way through a lot of that and 00:44:35
those first 2 developers. 00:44:41
Did not finish the project. We tried to help them do that and they they never came to the point where they were. 00:44:49
Wanted to continue the project, so two years ago. 2 1/2 years ago. 00:44:58
So our local. 00:45:04
Community Hotel, yes, saw value and being able to come after this. So they work their way through the development of this. And I 00:45:07
will say to Lisa's, Lisa's point. 00:45:14
And I think what we can do is share a lot of the iterative work that's been done and maybe presented here at a council with some 00:45:22
of the things that Gope has done because they've got a lot of. 00:45:28
Visuals that will help with the significant hotel chain with a with a particular boutique boutique boutique chain. 00:45:36
That goes along with this, so they spent a lot of time trying to develop that. 00:45:49
With one in particular. And then neighbors decided to go with a second chain that has a better boutique approach. They had 00:45:55
significant engineering work done. 00:46:00
They've had a. 00:46:07
An iterative work with the hotel chain for exactly how big it needs to be to make it successful and how it's going to be designed. 00:46:10
To Lisa's point, we have local talent and local experience that knows our community and what our community works best with, and 00:46:20
they spent a lot of time interacting with the Gateway committee to be able to have that happen. 00:46:30
One of the reasons for some concern about the timelines that we have, sorry. 00:46:40
You can hear me one of the concerns about the timelines that we have, we have a situation right now where they're ready to go. 00:46:45
And the state. 00:46:54
Whether it's archaeological group is in the process of determining whether or not there's any issue with our archaeology on the 00:46:56
property. And I will tell you the property that is involved is not the 2.75 acres where the hotel is going to be. It's at the 00:47:03
Marina boathouse, which is going to be a parking lot. 00:47:11
So that is an issue. 9th, 9th month of waiting for the the state to be able to give the green light to the gateway people along to 00:47:19
do their job. 00:47:26
And we haven't had it. So when you say why two years, well, at the rate that the state and the DNR and the core give us answers, 00:47:33
you don't, you don't get answers from any of them in a week. 00:47:40
And as I see people shaking their head who've dealt with them before. And so if you don't, don't anticipate this is Level 1 00:47:48
archaeology. If they decide to go to level 2 archaeology, we don't know how long that's going to take. And to say that nothing has 00:47:56
happened over the course of the last 2 1/2 years or the other 10 years before that, there's plenty that's been going on. 00:48:05
On our iterative basis, but our local hoteliers who know. 00:48:14
How to be able to run a concession and do a great job of it, who are totally committed to the city of Saint Mary's and to what 00:48:19
this is trying to achieve. They're there, they want to do it and they're as frustrated as we are. They have they have engineering 00:48:26
and they have hotel presentations that we can share. The last seven if they will bring that up, bring the PowerPoints if they want 00:48:34
to deliver it or Mr. Horton as well, imbued with everything that's gone on there. 00:48:41
So from the from that standpoint, this document continues process that is. 00:48:49
Set for success. All we need to do is get our friends in Atlanta to be able to help us move along and allow these people, as I 00:48:57
said, to do their job. So I'm trying not to hog the conversation because I've been involved in this for a long period of time and 00:49:05
know the frustration that we've had iterating it and then finally finding. 00:49:13
Got to be careful. I would say partner but we have someone that we can work with. 00:49:22
That wants to do that as much as we want it to happen so. 00:49:27
I I had a few comments, Dad, and I think you and Lisa covered it quite well, so I'll try not to repeat any of what they've already 00:49:31
said. But if I do, forgive me 'cause I was going to say many of those same things with respect to the commitment and so forth. 00:49:39
What I think I need to add also is that we have been involved as a city and. 00:49:48
The meetings that they have over there are open. We have a council Rep that sits on the gateway committee. The mayor sits on the 00:49:56
gateway committee. The city manager sits on the gateway committee. 00:50:02
And they report out under the prior year's work every year at at their report scheduled report that given what the progress is at, 00:50:07
at each of those. And if you ever get the opportunity to attend the gateway meeting, I encourage you to do so because I've been to 00:50:15
several of them over the time I've been in council just to see where it is. And they went through thoroughly things like the 00:50:22
engineering study that you're talking about the. 00:50:30
Except that the that the hotel brought into the discussion and so forth, and the commitment on the part of the. 00:50:38
Go, I think is really something that's it's real and all you have to do is see what they've done to try to enhance and ensure the 00:50:49
success of that hotel. And we did go through two others, you know, they happened to talk with both of them in different venues and 00:50:55
they were very excited about it. 00:51:02
What they didn't have is the money to go through the the process of getting that property developed. They had it when they went in 00:51:09
and then different things that happened to business people in the process caused them not to have that. It's a got to the point. 00:51:16
So and, and, and as mayor mentioned, you better remember that there was a long discussion and that was before I was on council. So 00:51:24
thanks to the mayor and all the proceeding council people that. 00:51:31
That this was done several meetings where they determine what that property was going to be when they put that together as a 00:51:39
committee and brought it to the City Council and the City Council approved it. That's that's where we are today with that and it 00:51:45
is taking a long time. But when we look at the property and see what the problems that they may run into, they had to make sure 00:51:51
that the compact. 00:51:57
Whatever they call that was compaction rate of the property was right. So that would support the hotel that took took a long time 00:52:04
as part of the engineering study. 00:52:09
And now they're in the archaeological study and they found something that has to be resolved and the archaeological department is 00:52:14
settling and that eats up a lot of time. So and I, I, I know that the, what bothered me at the last one and I was, was the one up 00:52:22
here that said I wanted to discuss that and take a look at this word auto renewal. And I didn't like the word auto. 00:52:31
And be honest with you, I thought it should have been an agreement that just. 00:52:40
Went forward with the vehicles that we got in place, keeping check on what the what the. 00:52:46
Issues might be and to ensure that we're still proceeding the way best that we could with all the restrictions and questions that 00:52:57
we have to answer before they can start digging and turning dirt over there to put the hotel in. And I was satisfied that that 00:53:03
wasn't a viable. 00:53:10
Way of doing it and they took the word Ottawa and I was good with that when they took the word Ottawa because Otto has 00:53:16
reconnotation that just doesn't sit well with me. So and it is just semantics. I've been first admit that I said that when we're 00:53:23
doing it, but you know it, it works and it gives people that are committed an opportunity to do something that's going to be 00:53:30
pretty tough to do. 00:53:37
Even with the this agreement, they've got to get through each of these things. 00:53:44
Be able to get to where they can dig dirt. So I'm in favor of this. 00:53:49
Yes, Sir. I just want to say 1 short thing. I'm on the Gateway committee and I've been on City Council for two years. 00:53:56
And, you know, I've seen a lot of work go into the gateway committee and everything with, with everything that's been going on. 00:54:03
And there's, there's so many hurdles that you have to jump through to make sure that you get everything done. And it's, it's just 00:54:12
taking time. It's taking a lot of time. And I just wanted to say that. Thank you. Who's next? 00:54:20
OK, one other one other thing I I feel personally that I'd like to address. 00:54:31
The Gateway committee is about as analytical and objective about what our our goals and objectives are with this and how we worked 00:54:39
with. 00:54:45
The development group that's trying to make this happen and I have to address the fact that any implication that this is a good 00:54:53
old boy contract or continuation of that is wrong. 00:55:00
We've all analyzed whether or not we can continue this, with this and why and with whom. And we feel very comfortable that in 00:55:10
order to continue this properly and fairly with the people that were originally established to help us do this, this is it was a 00:55:16
proper decision. 00:55:22
And I will be glad to talk to anybody who wants to continue to think that this is some special deal. We don't do that in Saint 00:55:28
Mary's. And if anybody wants to come and talk to me again, I'd be happy to talk to you. 00:55:36
Anybody else? 00:55:44
Yeah. I just want to say the bottom line for why we do economic development, if we can get there, because that's a positive thing, 00:55:46
The bottom, well, first of all, this project, this property is still going to be available for public access. I mean, they were, I 00:55:53
think, conscientious enough, at least in the conceptual drawings to think about how the public might still be able to enjoy the 00:56:01
view and some of the open spaces there. So I think we need to take that into consideration. And then secondly. 00:56:08
We need to broaden our tax base. I mean, economic development is about. 00:56:16
Not having to keep going back to our citizens and our community to be able to pay for things. And so without projects like this, 00:56:21
we would have to continue to go back to the public. We are not in a situation where we have where we where we want to keep going 00:56:30
back to the to the to our citizens. And also we need to broaden our tourism. We have Cumberland Island and we have. 00:56:39
So it would be nice to have a hotel or some other type of tourist attraction because what I see is people go to Cumberland Island. 00:56:49
They they, they park, they get on the boat, they go to Cumberland, they come back, they get back in their cars and they leave. 00:56:57
Imagine if they had some place to stay downtown so that they can actually enjoy some shops. And imagine someone that does have an 00:57:04
imagination that sees that there are people that. 00:57:12
Coming downtown and they want to open a shop or they want to open shops or multiple shops. So those are all the things that we 00:57:19
take into consideration making this decision. That's it. 00:57:25
Yeah, On the benefits of the property, I wasn't here or really involved when a study was done that, you know, kind of dictated or, 00:57:32
you know, came to the conclusion that, you know, one of the top uses for the property would be a hotel. But, you know, in 00:57:38
hindsight, thinking about that, I mean it, it is a good fit and good benefit for the whole community. 00:57:44
Those meeting groups, they actually do recreational activities like golf, hunting, fishing is going to help everybody. It's well, 00:58:52
not everybody is going to help a large portion of our local businesses as far as bringing them more traffic than they're getting 00:58:56
currently, so. 00:59:00
Also to my understanding, as far as you know the speed or pace, it really doesn't have anything to do with the developer that more 00:59:06
so just waiting on a process that would happen to anybody that's working on the project currently. No matter no matter what 00:59:12
developer and partner we had there would be, you know, in the same timeline as it sits. So you know, that's not really a reason to 00:59:17
hold their feet to the fire more so. 00:59:23
For something that's not under their control. 00:59:29
That's why I'm saying, OK, I think I think we're ready for a vote other than just one more comment that there there are 50 to 7050 00:59:32
to 75 jobs involved in the creation of this hotel and the running of that hotel. So that's that's good and that's downtown. Yes, 00:59:39
Sir. Just just one final thing prior to me getting on City Council, you know, I often wondered why in the world we bought that 00:59:46
property start off with. 00:59:54
You know what I'm saying, But as being on council I have learned a little bit more about the situation. 01:00:02
And I just wanted to say, yes, I did make that statement about that a few years ago and even recently I didn't quite understand 01:00:09
that, but I do understand it now. Thank you. 01:00:14
I'm going to turn in real quick. 01:00:22
Sugar is on a CVV board with me. 01:00:24
She has a such a strong, serious passion for Saint Mary's. 01:00:29
And have. 01:00:34
An owner of several businesses in Camden County. 01:00:36
She has a passion to make that island great and I say island, but that property group and. 01:00:44
It's fun to watch. It's fun to hear a story. 01:00:55
She gets excited, but as a councils echoed. We've seen it, we've heard it and I'm I'm excited about what's coming up. 01:00:58
OK. Thank you. All right, now we're ready for a vote. Can I have a motion to perp? 01:01:09
Mr. Riley and I haven't, I'm sorry. I have a second from thank you. Any further discussion? 01:01:14
All in favor, aye. Opposed. 01:01:25
Staying. 01:01:28
Mr. Horton, will you take the lead in contact the Yadas about status and if they need to follow up, we can do that. Thank you, 01:01:31
everyone. All right now. 01:01:37
We have something I think very, very poignant that. 01:01:44
We'd like to bring up and that is a resolution for Saint Mary's Seafarers Memorial for erection of a monument, St. Mary's 01:01:49
Seafarers Memorial Committee. Charlie, did you want to do it? I think maybe it come up to the podium in case we want to introduce 01:01:56
some people. 01:02:02
This is for the Seafarers Memorial. 01:02:18
We do have some folks here. 01:02:21
That this is very special to them, this memorial for those who don't know. 01:02:24
We had three gentlemen that were. 01:02:29
Local here Saint Mary's that were lost at sea. They were on the Carolinas, the boat. 01:02:32
So their their loved ones are looking to not only erect a memorial for them, but over a memorial for anybody that's lost to see. 01:02:41
That's from our area. So it is a respectful memorial. It I don't know if anybody seen the renderings yet it does fit our downtown 01:02:47
area. It's very appropriate. 01:02:53
But they were looking to have Saint Mary's be able to allow them to put it on some public space. 01:03:01
So we've been working through that. They've already, to the best of my knowledge is already spoken with the HPC. They got their 01:03:08
buying and on it. And right now it's still in the conceptual phase. So there's nothing that's permanent yet. They're still working 01:03:15
through that. But we're asking that tonight that you guys discuss it and approve them to go ahead and move forward with that. The 01:03:21
location is about 50 feet to the right of dockside. 01:03:27
It looks appropriate it overseas the vessels that'll be housed there as well as the river. So it is a respectful location for 01:03:35
that, for this monument. 01:03:39
I think we have some changes to the motion that we had in the package. Could you go over those place? 01:03:44
So there were the. 01:03:55
During this, there was the state law that came to our attention and it was if we were to put a memorial anywhere within the public 01:03:57
and that the Saint Mary's had ownership of this, the state law prevents us from ever touching it, moving it, changing it. And so 01:04:04
as much as we want the memorial, we respect the memorial. We just can't predict what in 100 years, that piece of property 01:04:12
downtown, what it's going to look like if we do have to move something, or just what downtown is going to look like. 01:04:19
100 years, we just don't know. So we didn't want to get our hands tied on that. But again, we still want to move forward and make 01:04:27
sure that we're respectful and have this memorial in place. So how we're wording it is essentially we're not going to own the 01:04:33
memorial. We're just going to accept it onto the public property, take care of it, but we're just not going to own it. And that 01:04:38
kind of gets us around that, that that law. 01:04:44
And this thing has a couple different statements in it that actually might be an opportunity for Mr. Black for me to speak to. 01:04:51
Good. Charlie, do you want me to address the small changes that were made today? I think that's appropriate because we're going to 01:05:00
be approving what you put some changes in today's treatment. 01:05:07
It has. Yes, Sir. 01:05:23
The version that's before you use a little different from what was originally in the packet, and it's very minor changes, but it 01:05:26
doesn't change to the bottom of page one. Whereas it originally said that the city was agreeing to perform necessary maintenance 01:05:33
and upkeep for the monument, the current version now states that the city may perform upkeep and maintenance, but that's not to be 01:05:41
construed as ownership because we want to be careful that it's not publicly owned, but we do have the ability to perform. 01:05:48
Maintenance on it and that's not to be construed as an active ownership over it. And then the same is true Section 3 on page 2. 01:05:56
There was a small change to that where it likewise now says that the city may perform upkeep and maintenance, but that's not to be 01:06:02
construed for evidence of ownership. 01:06:07
Clarification, like you think there may be a spokesperson for the group like to come out and say a word or two? Are you willing to 01:06:16
speak for Chris? 01:06:21
That my bicycle was. 01:06:28
Must be in class. 01:06:32
Yes, come on up, folks. 01:06:34
Thank you for being here. 01:06:37
I'm Chris Barlow, Tyler's dad. 01:06:41
This is Kim, his mom. 01:06:44
I would just like to start out by saying thanks to everyone for their time and effort that's been put into this. 01:06:48
It means a lot to us, as I know. I think I can speak to all the other parents and families as well. 01:06:56
And. 01:07:04
You know our sons never came home. 01:07:08
Yeah. So we don't have. 01:07:10
Somewhere to go? 01:07:13
You know, gravesite or anything. 01:07:16
And not that we want this to be a sad place, but it is, you know, it is somewhere that we can visit and the community can visit 01:07:19
and all the volunteers that help us through the search. 01:07:24
And, you know, being uplifting, you know? 01:07:31
Place you know that we can go to remember. 01:07:34
Well I tell you the view scape from the seating is just beautiful. 01:07:39
And that's very appropriate. And oh, there it is where I will do it. Great. OK. 01:07:43
And the anchor, etc. I mean, the theme is just perfect for what we want to do. And we're, we're all going to be In Sync with the 01:07:51
semantics of what we had to put down. But it's we're all in it together and we're going to maintain it like we want. So we thank 01:07:58
you for bringing it to us. And it's very poignant because I. 01:08:06
I've had a couple of you before in some of the business environments and I know. 01:08:15
How it was difficult to see a wife with a, you know, an unborn child having to work and, you know, sharing what happened with 01:08:21
everybody in the restaurant. It was really. 01:08:29
It was appropriate, but it was also very meaningful. We thank you for that. So I don't know what kind of timeline we're looking 01:08:39
at. You guys have any idea what to build out maybe? 01:08:44
Sir, if we could just get their name and. 01:08:50
We Were the 14th is the one year anniversary from when they left and we were hoping we could do a dedication. 01:08:55
On the 14th October. 01:09:04
All right, So we'll try and put that on the website, get it out there and if we could just have your names for the record. 01:09:09
I'm Chris Barlow, Kim Cardinal. Yeah. Shannon Conway. Yeah, OK. Thank you, folks. We really appreciate it. And we look forward to 01:09:17
getting updates on the development of this. And any idea how long it'll take to build out? 01:09:25
It's six, six to eight, Yeah. Once the funds are obtained and it's approved, like I said, it could take up to 8 weeks. Right now, 01:09:35
it's still conceptual. They're still working through some of the. So we're not talking 8 months. Good. OK. 01:09:43
Thank you very much, folks. Charlie, anything else? Thank you. 01:09:52
Thank you. Now just to. 01:09:57
Like I said, in the city, we're just, we're trying to work the best we can to make sure that it's, it's tasteful, it's 01:10:00
appropriate, but that we're, we're not trying to have any closed doors. We're trying to open all doors for them because we, we 01:10:05
understand how sensitive this is. And so I do appreciate you guys coming. And also I'll go ahead and speak the, the names of Tyler 01:10:10
Barlow. 01:10:15
Conway. 01:10:24
Just to show how close it is home. 01:10:25
Caleb's brother works for the city. Just so you know, it does hit home here. So we want, and you know, I'm sure you've heard it 01:10:28
many times, I'd like to express our our sorrow for your loss. 01:10:33
If thank you, Charlie. And I think could we have a motion for acceptance of this cinema Second, I got this. I think I've got Mr. 01:10:42
Jones and Mr. Connor. Is that right? 01:10:49
OK. All right. All in favor. 01:10:58
Oh yeah. Any comments? 01:11:04
Go ahead, go ahead and then I'll make a comment. But no, let me comment now. You know, I just want to say 1 short thing, You know, 01:11:07
I knew those kids. I knew Stevie Conway and I had those kids back when they were in school. I reckon they're not kids anymore. 01:11:13
They'll always be kids to me. 01:11:19
This touches home y'all. 01:11:27
This touches home. 01:11:30
Touches home. 01:11:33
Yeah, only God knows how many times we've prayed for this family. 01:11:34
And we'll continue to pray for this family. 01:11:46
Thank you, Sir. All right. Anyone else? 01:11:52
One other comment I. 01:11:54
My family could understand what you're going through because both of my grandparents lost their lives. 01:11:58
I didn't see out on the Saint Mary's River. 01:12:07
So. 01:12:10
It was a sad time during that was before I was even born. But anytime you lose somebody at sea, it's it's heartbreaking. 01:12:14
Other names can be added to that. 01:12:26
Well, we also, I mean, we also lost another. 01:12:30
Real good friend of mine, Sam Palmer. 01:12:34
Back in 2015. 01:12:37
But. 01:12:40
They found him dead. 01:12:42
Our prayers are with you. 01:12:46
Well, I like the universal. 01:12:49
Approach for this that it can it can recognize more. Thank you anybody else. 01:12:51
All right, So we have a motion on the table. All in favor, aye? Opposed. 01:12:57
Let's say man employer, please mount that as unanimous. Yes, Sir. Thank you very much, folks. 01:13:06
Thank you. All right, so with that, we're going to move on to report of the City Manager. 01:13:12
Good evening Mayor and Council citizens. Thank you everyone that was here for this. We appreciate your attendance. 01:13:20
I. 01:13:41
I have provided council with a full rundown as I normally do with the highlight sections where we've seen changes. The Osborne 01:13:46
Media project. The dedication ceremony has been postponed until sometime in November due to Hurricane Helene. 01:13:54
Which is one we just went through that doesn't take into consideration when when we're dealing with now. 01:14:03
Public Works, we're still working on staffing levels there. Our Police Department. The cadets are in their final two weeks of the 01:14:14
Academy. They will be stated to graduate on Friday, October the 18th at 10:00 AM. Graduation will be held at Three Rivers Church 01:14:22
this Saturday, October 12. Force in Calumby hosting an all you can eat spaghetti fundraiser for the canine unit. 01:14:31
Fundraiser Fundraiser is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM Saint Mary's Police Department answered 2914 calls for service, conducted 1009 01:14:39
security checks and conducted 287 traffic stops. 01:14:47
Go ahead, Mr. Raleigh. I was going to ask at the end, but if you're ready, go ahead. He's ready. 01:14:58
One for sure, one for sure, one for sure, And that's littering citations. 01:15:05
Our fire department, our average response time for fire calls is 4 minutes and one second. EMS calls for 5 minutes and 16 seconds 01:15:13
over the 28 or 24 hours of Hurricane Helene. They answered 58 storm related calls during that period for a total of 319 calls for 01:15:21
September. 01:15:30
And our inspections are building inspections. They had 453 inspections. 01:15:39
67 iron are ENS inspections. 01:15:44
We hope to be announcing in a very short time the grand opening, if you will, ribbon cutting or dedication or whatever we're going 01:15:55
to call it for a commerce part in the next couple weeks. 01:16:01
JDA is heading that up. 01:16:09
So we're excited about that. 01:16:12
Robbie, could I jump ahead about the? 01:16:22
And I'm kind of lost where I am, but Senior Center. 01:16:24
What would you like to know about the same or Sarah Sir? 01:16:33
I didn't understand it wrong. 01:16:39
What you're trying to accomplish with the drawing? Oh, that. That was from several weeks ago. That's the parking lot in the back 01:16:42
of the building. Is it an expansion? It's an addition. 01:16:47
Yes, Sir. OK. I think that was during the time of your surgery, Sir. All right. Thank you. 01:16:56
All right, Hurricane Helene. 01:17:07
City of Saint Mary's suffered 90% of the city was without power, 17 or 75 list stations were down. Generators and bypass pumps 01:17:10
were deployed. We had 15 trees that were down in the roadway, cross driveways that were wrapped up in power lines, but we had a 01:17:17
whole bunch more trees. 01:17:24
Our debris removal contractor as of Saturday evening has removed 3351.9 cubic yards of debris so far. That's as of Saturday night. 01:17:33
They continue, they've worked all through the weekend and they will continue through until Wednesday evening. Depending on the 01:17:48
weather and how the storm plays out, If we start seeing winds come in, that may be the only thing that stuff prevents them from 01:17:56
working through Wednesday. The GMA generator grant that we started pursuing in 2017 that we recently were awarded. 01:18:04
Just as a reminder for Council was for four 100K W portable generators with switch gears at a cost of $85,000 apiece. 01:18:14
We also have 448 kW generators to include switch gears at a cost of $50,000 each and one fixed 250 kW generator with switch gear 01:18:26
for $250,000. Those generators Sir. 01:18:35
Finish up. I'm sorry. OK. Those generators are going through the process of procurement. These are federal funds coming down from 01:18:46
the from FEMA to JIMA and out to the public. If you remember back in 2017, we had that several emergencies. The way the generator 01:18:54
grant works is you put in for it when monies are not spent. 01:19:02
For disasters by JIMA that there's money allocated through FEMA, that money is put into a pot and when they can do a generator 01:19:11
grant, they open it up. We have been awarded and those were going through that process. Is there a match I mean? 01:19:20
I don't understand remember how much. 01:19:31
There is a match. 01:19:38
Right. 01:19:43
OK. Yes, Sir. We purchased some generators for the lift stations in that yes. So we we currently have some generators and a couple 01:19:45
of well. 01:19:51
Two currently 2 generators. 01:20:01
Those proposal grant. 01:20:07
I'm sorry. 01:20:16
13 and 15 are where we're doing the force main increase and there's work at there. We're we're improving several of our lift 01:20:19
stations currently. 01:20:23
Lift station 1 and 1B, am I right to say that right, the station 1 and 1B which is back over, back over in this area, we are 01:20:30
actually increasing the size of the pumps and motors there? 01:20:36
Currently and there's also work at 13 and 15 and there's several of our lift stations are being reworked. 01:20:43
And then just to clarify, most of those funds came from either investigation head? 01:20:49
Yes, yeah, yeah. 01:20:55
OK, let's talk about Hurricane Milton. 01:20:59
Fair and sideways, as citizens can see. 01:21:02
Everybody's been watching the news, I know. If you're not, please do. 01:21:06
Because currently Hurricane Milton is forecasted to make line rainfall sometime Wednesday evening. And where in the area of Tampa 01:21:10
Bay as a Category 3. 01:21:15
Currently it has gone from a Category 1 to a category five, and six hours is fine. 01:21:20
OK, is intensified very quickly and it's beginning its track. 01:21:27
Saint Mary's is forecasted St. Mary's is forecasted forecasted to start failing tropical force winds sometime Wednesday midday. 01:21:34
We can expect 30 to 40 mile an hour winds around 5 inches of rain through the event and the possible storm surge of two to five 01:21:46
feet at the waterfront. 01:21:51
Sandbag operations are underway and have have been all day today and we'll be again tomorrow from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It has been 01:21:58
on our Facebook and on our website. 01:22:03
Additional generators have already been ordered through JIMA. 01:22:10
Fueling and servicing of equipment to be ready for the storm as well underway and we'll be wrapping that up probably sometime 01:22:14
tomorrow. 01:22:17
Folks, please stay tuned to trusted weather sources and the National Hurricane Center in the upcoming days for the latest weather 01:22:22
developments, as well as Camden County EMA and the City of Saint Mary's website and Facebook pages as the storm progresses. 01:22:30
Council, I provided you with a map that's got all kinds of pretty colors. The reason I wanted to show that to you and I'll be 01:22:40
happy to let this pass around it shows the tropical force winds I. 01:22:46
It's going to reach well above us to the point it's going to get real close to making with tropical force winds, so. 01:22:54
They're very, very concerned with it and watching it. I'm not a, I'm not a meteorologist by no shape or imagination, but it's very 01:23:05
concerning. 01:23:10
OK. That concludes that part of that. 01:23:16
And our last council meeting. 01:23:22
At our last council meeting, council tasked me with a directive to work on a travel and training policy. I have done that and I 01:23:30
have provided that to council. 01:23:37
Do you want me to read it? Do you have? 01:23:47
I think, I think we have it for consideration and. 01:23:55
At the next council meeting we can discuss. Unless you want to do it now, that's fine. 01:24:00
Following up with the Storm update, I'm OK kicking it to the next meeting unless we want to hash it out now. 01:24:13
I'm I'm I've provided. That's where I am. 01:24:20
We can line item, line item is. So it's on the agenda going through that. 01:24:24
All right. Thank you. I'll do that if you. 01:24:32
Behind the clerk. I'll have it, I'll have it. 01:24:35
Now if you're good. 01:24:41
I'll, I'll get there. I've got another 36 hour mission ahead of me. So yeah, I'm fine. All right, so we're going to move the 01:24:45
granting audience to the public. And again, I ask you to come up and give your name and address and respect the five minute time 01:24:50
limit. Thank you. 01:24:55
Larry White, 102 Sylvia's Court. 01:25:11
I'd like to give a shout out to the public works workers. They worked at the public works facility. 01:25:14
Before our last hurricane I went to get some sandbags and they were kind enough to help load them into my car for me so I wouldn't 01:25:22
have to do it myself. Today I went to the public sports department and got more sandbags. And perchance is only like 12:15 this 01:25:30
afternoon and I can't remember the gentleman's name. He's one of the public works workers. 01:25:38
That cut his. 01:25:47
Lunch hour short so he could come out and help load this one woman's car and load my car with sandbags. So big shout out to the 01:25:48
Public Works department for helping the senior citizens. And if you haven't noticed, I am a senior citizen. 01:25:55
No, the other person I'd like to give a big shout out to is Tom Canning, 'cause he ran, he ran. Him and his volunteer group ran 01:26:04
the candidate forum of the city of Saint Mary's and for several other, he also ran up for Kingsland and from for the county. You 01:26:13
ran it. But you know there's a big shout out for the job he did and providing the information to the voters. 01:26:21
And if you haven't registered a voter, you're late. 01:26:31
That name was the last day to register to vote in the state of Georgia. 01:26:34
So hopefully you've already registered to vote. Make sure you vote. 01:26:38
Last thing I want to mention. 01:26:43
I was not opposed to the memorandum of understanding for the for the Gateway Property Group. If you listen to what I said, what I 01:26:45
said is in the memorandum of understanding, if it's not brought up within 90 days before it expires, then it automatically renews. 01:26:53
So it's either if the developer or the city of Saint Mary's to bring it up to the City Council. So I think the city manager ought 01:27:00
to put on his. 01:27:07
Before the expiration of that Moe that you're bringing up again. Otherwise it's going to automatically renew and maybe you want to 01:27:16
do it that way. Thank you. 01:27:21
Yes, ma'am. 01:27:34
Hi Council members, My name is Kathy Herzl and I live at 101 Grouper Way, St. Mary's. 01:27:36
As we focus on ways to build a stronger, more sustainable community, I'm here to request your support for funding a small scale 01:27:44
community garden in Saint Mary's. This garden will not only serve as a local resource for fresh produce, but also as a platform to 01:27:51
engage residents in sustainable practices and environmental stewardship. 01:27:58
I believe that with an initial investment from the city in the form of land use, we can create a space that brings people 01:28:06
together, fosters community involvement and sets the stage for future eco friendly initiatives like composting. This small step 01:28:12
can make a big impact on enhancing our communities well-being. 01:28:19
Thank you for considering this request. I look forward to your support. 01:28:26
Thank you, beautiful. You're not supposed to. I'll come back to you at the end of the game. 01:28:31
Who's next? 01:28:41
Yes, ma'am, Kelly Scofflet, 84 Oyster Cove. 01:28:47
Kelly Stofflet. 01:28:53
On the Board of Elections, and I just want to announce to everyone that early voting starts on Tuesday, October 15th. Thank you. 01:28:55
OK, I have to talk to you afterwards. Sorry. 01:29:03
Yes, Sir. 01:29:17
Bert. Bert Seals. 01:29:23
816 Riverview Dr. I thought Mr. I want to add on to what Mr. White said in terms of Mr. Tom Cannon. I'm hoping that we will 01:29:25
provide a space for him to do his forums at the the new City Hall, because I think it's kind of, it'd be nice to have that done. 01:29:34
And I thought I was gonna mention that to you guys. So keep that in mind. Thank you. 01:29:43
OK. 01:30:01
Kelly, excuse me, Kathy, excuse me, just can, can you come up and talk about? 01:30:04
On the Comedian Garden, do you have a committee already? A small group of people just just just starting this up? 01:30:13
Would you want her to work with Mr. Williams on this? OK. 01:30:20
If you can get your Mr. Williamson, he could talk a little bit about how things work when your meeting is over. That'd be great, 01:30:25
Kelly. 01:30:30
You can stay there. 01:30:37
Voting is 730 right, not 7:00. 01:30:41
For the early voting, yeah. For early voting, it's 7:30 and. 01:30:45
Till 5:30 and then there. 01:30:51
There's A and that as it's Saturday, every Saturday, or. 01:30:55
Just so while we got people there, we have a lot of people online so we can. 01:31:04
Let me pull up the actual date so I don't mess anything up. 01:31:10
Saturday, October 19th and Saturday, October 26th. 01:31:21
There was one Sunday and Sunday, October 20th. That Sunday is from 1:00 to 5:00 at the annex only. 01:31:27
Good. All right, folks. You heard it fresh from here. It's great, all right. 01:31:36
Thank you very much. Both of you appreciate it. All right, so. 01:31:45
We are. 01:31:50
Down to asking our city clerk to give us a calendar review. 01:31:54
Yes Sir, on Tuesday, October 8th at 5:30 PM here in Council Chambers, the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, October 10th at 01:32:01
9:30 AM in the Main Street Office they have moved from Council Chambers to the Main Street Office is the Orange Hall Management 01:32:07
Committee meeting. Also on Thursday, October 10th at 5:00 PM in the Main Street Office is the Saint Mary's Intercoastal Gateway 01:32:13
meeting on Friday, October 11th at 9:00. 01:32:20
Is Saint Mary's Municipal Court trials followed by the 11:00 plan arraignments on Monday, October the 14th at 8:30 AM in the Main 01:32:27
Street office is the Downtown Development Authority meeting. 01:32:32
And on Thursday, October the 17th, we have at 5:00 PM here in Council Chambers the Master Plan update followed by the 6:00 PM 01:32:37
fourth quarter Town Hall meeting. And on Monday, October the 21st, 1st at 6:00 PM here in Council Chambers, City Council meeting. 01:32:45
OK. All right. 01:32:53
Mr. Jones, I want to start with you for Council comments. 01:32:56
OK. First of all, with that Kathy, talking about the garden, I mean, we used to have a community garden and I had several people 01:33:00
from my church. 01:33:06
Asked why we. 01:33:13
Shut it down because it it did provide a lot of. 01:33:16
Good thing for a lot of people. Plus it was a place for people to network and just and just socialize. 01:33:21
So I think that's a great idea. 01:33:30
People have been calling me. 01:33:34
The last couple of days, ever since Milton was pronounced a storm, what are you going to do about the debris on the side of the 01:33:38
road and you got another storm coming along? Well, it's I guess common sense would tell you just leave it alone and wait till the 01:33:46
storm Milton passed and just replenish your power. 01:33:54
There's nothing we can do to stop the storm from coming and we don't have the manpower. 01:34:03
To get the debris up before. 01:34:09
This storm comes upon us. 01:34:13
I just want to. 01:34:16
Thank our Public Works Department. 01:34:19
For the job that they did during this, the last hurricane along with Saint Mary's PD and I think some of them are kind of 01:34:23
aggravated me because I was riding around in places when I should have been home listening to Robbie on the. 01:34:33
On the Internet and I also want to give out a shout out for you Robbie. When people call and want to have questions, I told them 01:34:45
that you were giving. 01:34:50
Every two or three hours you were on letting them know what was going on, what would be happening and where they could take care 01:34:57
of some some needs. So I just want to thank everybody for that and let them know to be safe. We haven't had any major. 01:35:07
Hurricane to hit our area, but please don't take this one for granted. I went to Valdosta to a football game, it was Saturday. 01:35:18
And it was devastating from Homer Ville. Well, Waycross is torn up too, but **** Bill and Valdosta youth trees and just crushing 01:35:30
houses. And it can be this way here. So let's take every precaution and don't do anything that's that's crazy because. 01:35:41
We can't control Mother Nature and but again, Robbie. 01:35:54
Chief. 01:35:59
And Bobby, let's repeat what we did for the last hurricane. 01:36:00
Oh yeah, yeah. 01:36:08
Thank you, Sir. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you out. You're the most important person. 01:36:10
Oh man, I think I'm getting old. I need to rescue it. 01:36:21
I think you're just going sideways with this. 01:36:27
You know already already just about took everything you know that I was going to say I tell you the the way the city of Saint 01:36:30
Mary's worked in this per se bad time of the year with with a a small catastrophe in our area. Thank the Lord. 01:36:39
To my knowledge, we didn't have anybody die. And that's, that's huge. And thank the Lord that everybody was safe, you know, coming 01:36:48
through this thing. But but the way that public public works did and, and, and in our Police Department and our fire department. 01:36:56
All of our departments did they, they were just totally awesome. And you know, I remember the last time we had a storm. 01:37:06
Come across. 01:37:15
State of Florida from from the bend there, it wasn't very good for us. Matter of fact, it was only a tropical storm and it messed 01:37:19
up Marina pretty bad. Matter of fact that it tore up the whole gosh doggett thing. So you know, I, I, I certainly don't want to 01:37:27
take take this storm that we're dealing with lightly. 01:37:35
To be honest with you, I I sure hope it doesn't shift N more and and. 01:37:43
That we're in the huge cone of concern, but hopefully after this one comes through, we're done for the year. It wouldn't hurt my 01:37:49
feelings any to see that. But I want to say thank you to the people that come here every time we have a City Council meeting. 01:37:57
And if you're not here, what's? 01:38:07
I just have a comment to make real quick. Sure about all the brush that's on the streets. Is there a way maybe have somebody like 01:38:10
a farmer or something that? 01:38:16
Is there a way to put that information out to the community where they could pick it up? 01:38:24
We. 01:38:29
Go ahead. 01:38:37
But hey, that's about it. That's about all I got. But but I tell you something, thank you all so very much for everything y'all 01:38:49
did y'all y'all work together and you probably have some restless nights and. 01:38:55
I know Bobby probably did in our place, Chief, everybody, our fire department, the whole 9 yards. Thank you all so much and. 01:39:02
Bobby, I mean Robbie and, and, and everybody, we appreciate you. Thank you, appreciate you too. 01:39:11
OK, so. 01:39:19
Going back to the, you know, the storm, I feel like our city did a great job, you know, with storm clean up information to the 01:39:22
public all the way around. You know, I personally was, you know, disappointed my power was out for four days. And I know some 01:39:28
people didn't have a power outage, some got it back on sooner and some had it out longer. So it's a miserable experience not 01:39:35
having power for four days. But, you know, it could have been worse and. 01:39:41
You know, it was really eye opening when I took a trip to a different football game this past Saturday and I went up to Athens. 01:39:48
As soon as I got on State Road 15, and if you've ever driven that, it's rural Georgia. There's a lot of rural towns. You know that 01:39:54
right? About two hours after what you get on State Route 15. 01:39:59
There were trees down everywhere. You know, we had power trucks and bucket trucks to storm power. They had the dot still there 01:40:05
just trying to make sure the roads were safe to travel because there was trees hanging over the road still this much later. I 01:40:10
think I drove over at least 4 power lines that he just had leaving in the road on State Road 15. So those people do not have 01:40:16
power. I probably saw at least 15 trees still on top of power lines. So our response though, we feel it could have been better. It 01:40:21
was great. 01:40:27
And I just want to be thankful and just remind every day we're blessed and we had a great response. And you know, while it wasn't 01:40:33
comfortable, it was still could have been a lot, lot worse. So just thanks everybody involved in in our response here in southeast 01:40:40
Jordan. Thank you. Yes, Sir. Yeah, there's I echo all those comments on on the storms. Our city staff did just a tremendous job 01:40:46
and the. 01:40:53
The this storm is well taken care of and here they are. They haven't even got a chance to get rested up from that storm and we're 01:41:01
facing another one. That's the time of the year. 01:41:05
I'm going to use a personal example of why it's important that you not ignore one of these storms. 01:41:12
My youngest daughter lives up in Swannanoa, which is right next door to Asheville, NC. They haven't seen a storm in 100 years. 01:41:20
Anything to match that would have had any flooding. She's now at our house, working from home, her old home as it is, but she's 01:41:34
not going to have the water up at her house for another month probably. Electricity was supposed to come on today. So those people 01:41:44
up there are hurting and many of them then take the storm seriously. And the hurting more than. 01:41:53
Than they would have. So it's really is an important thing for us to pay attention to the warnings. 01:42:03
Listen to what has to be done so we don't have to face that she's like the she was, she was able to. 01:42:07
Get through the storm with her house, fine, but it's not much good that there's no power, no water. So. 01:42:17
Another thing I wanted to mention is the stormwater presentation. I don't know how many you got an opportunity to listen to that 01:42:24
tonight, but but I thought it was an excellent presentation, gave our citizens a superb opportunity to learn why. 01:42:33
What we do with that stormwater ordinance and those type things are so important to the city and it managed to save save us money 01:42:41
now in our flood insurance. And you know we've got that CRS rating down at six and that's important. By the way, if you haven't 01:42:51
weren't able to attend the meeting earlier, I understand that it's been recorded and it's on the website so. 01:43:00
Encourage you to take a look at it and. 01:43:09
Our community development director did just an excellent job in presenting that. So thank you. And that's not the last thing I had 01:43:12
here. 01:43:17
Now the Seafarer Memorial. I was really pleased to see that we could. 01:43:22
Get that approved conceptually here this evening because I think that'll be an important thing. And for the city to have that 01:43:29
memorial down at right on the waterfront overlook overlook in the marsh and for people to go there and especially people that have 01:43:37
lost a family member or a friend at sea like that. So appreciate it. Thank you. 01:43:44
My comments. I'd like to echo what everyone else said, I do want to. 01:43:52
Right after Helene went through. 01:44:01
Under Chief Galloway, Chief Wagner. 01:44:05
Angela Witter. 01:44:09
Bobby. 01:44:10
OK, pretty much the whole entire. 01:44:12
Contingent and Bobby and Ravi and and Charlie and. 01:44:17
And it was the wise words of the. 01:44:26
Chief Galloway echoed to me that. 01:44:29
Can we postpone the festival and I? 01:44:34
Was right on board with that because I. 01:44:38
Lived in my house for 90 hours with a wife and three daughters. 01:44:42
And they were champions. They didn't complain much, but but you know what? I. 01:44:50
Thanks to the hard work of Candace and Angela and all them. 01:44:58
And this department heads, we're moving the festival from this last Saturday to Saturday, November 16th. So hopefully after this 01:45:04
storm we'll have everything cleaned up so we can have a festival and but, but it takes teamwork and communication and we're very 01:45:12
blessed in our community. 01:45:20
And by the way, I love the burden idea and. But anyways, that's all I have. Yes, ma'am. 01:45:29
Wonderful. First of all, the food. I said food, the food program. That's a great idea. I do think you need to make sure that the 01:45:38
nutritional value of the seniors is met. There's an opportunity to expand that because I really think that it would be nice for 01:45:46
the seniors to be able to interact with students and there are other cities where they actually have the meals with the students 01:45:53
and I think that creates a great social. 01:46:01
Opportunity. So that's just something to think about. 01:46:08
Umm, yeah, because you're, you're taking care of a lot of things, food insecurity, you know, healthy meals and it's very 01:46:12
innovative thinking. So thank you. 01:46:16
Again, I just want to touch on the fact that it's really important for us as a city that we have. 01:46:24
Projects in which we're going to help to broaden our tax base and as well as our tourism and I want to thank the citizens that 01:46:32
did. 01:46:37
You know, speak up and voice their concerns. So I think it's our job to listen. 01:46:42
We have, you know, we work in two areas here as elected officials. 1 is where advocates. And then on the other hand, we're also 01:46:48
trustees. And when we act as a trustee, we don't always. We may have information that you don't have and sometimes we may have to 01:46:54
make decisions based off of information that for whatever reason you may not have. But with that said, we could always do a better 01:47:00
job of making sure that we keep you all informed. 01:47:07
So I think that the discussion around that project. 01:47:14
May have been avoided. We can always do a better job of communicating better. 01:47:18
This memorial is, in my opinion, a true representation of community. Those family members are not here, but I do want to thank 01:47:25
them for trusting us with that project. And I see that as something that could be a legacy for those young men because others that 01:47:32
may fought, unfortunately, we don't want to have others. But you know, that's the opportunity to identify others, maybe not loss 01:47:38
of life, maybe other types of heroes. 01:47:45
In that situation, the community garden anytime there's no grocery store within a mile. 01:47:53
And there's more than a population of more than 500. It's considered a food desert. And believe it or not, we actually have food 01:48:01
deserts in Saint Mary's and in Camden County. And some of our, you know, what we might consider a wealthier community. So 01:48:09
Cumberland Harbor, for example, is in a food desert. So that's something to consider. So thank you very much for bringing that. 01:48:17
Opportunity to work on something within the community. 01:48:27
As far as the storm goes. 01:48:31
I think we all know that we, we kind of missed we, we dodged a bullet with that one. But please make sure that you're prepared and 01:48:34
ready for this next storm. 01:48:40
And I'm sure that we have some key learnings from this last storm that we'll be able to apply as a city, I'm sure. So thank them 01:48:47
for everything that they did do during that time. 01:48:54
Come out right. Thank you guys for everything that you did, not that you did that wasn't meant to be a negative thing. 01:49:01
Thank you for every all the work during that time because I know many people that work for 30 hours straight and without a break. 01:49:08
So thank you guys for for that. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's just due to old age. Thank you all for being here 01:49:15
and hope everybody has a great rest of their week very quickly. 01:49:22
With what's coming, everyone, please be safe. 01:49:31
And we will do our utmost to make sure that you're all as as protected as we can make. 01:49:35
Make it possible and so thanks for that you heard about the seafood festival thank you for the day that was really outstanding to 01:49:41
be able to respond that quickly for that project and and finally you know you'll always hear it from us I. 01:49:50
October 15th. 01:50:00
As the start of early about early voting and voting day is November 5th, so and you know wait, I'm sure they'll welcome you at the 01:50:02
at the voting booth scenario and I would also encourage you if you've never worked at a precinct I. 01:50:12
Please consider working at a precinct that let the let the election committee know about that. I did it in North Kingstown for a 01:50:22
long time. It was a lot of fun and see see the same faces every year and. 01:50:28
They really care about their community and go there to vote. So. All right. And with that, could I have a motion to adjourn? 01:50:36
Second. All right, Mr. Ingram and a second from Mr. Jones. All in favor, Aye, opposed. 01:50:43
Abstain, Madam Clerk. That's unanimous. 01:50:52

Transcript

Event transcript
The. 00:00:00
City of Saint Mary's, Georgia City Council meeting for October 7th, 2024. I want to thank Miss Stein for her presentation on the 00:00:03
National Flood Insurance Program work session that we just had earlier. Excellent program and some some savings for. 00:00:13
A number of people in the city with flood insurance. So thank you Jamie and to your your team appreciate it. OK, so. 00:00:24
Our invocation is from Councilmember David Riley. 00:00:35
Please by your head. 00:00:41
Dear God, we thank you for the many blessings you have given to Saint Mary's and its citizens. 00:00:43
And God, we also thank you for all the citizens we are so honored and humbled to serve. We pray that you watch over and keep all 00:00:49
first responders safe. It's a unselfishly worked to protect all Saint Mary's citizens in the properties. 00:00:56
We also pray God that you be with all of our support staff as they do their work to serve and support all of our citizens and 00:01:04
visitors alike. 00:01:09
We also pray, Lord, that you provide us the Wiz strength and wisdom to do our very best collectively as Councilman for the City of 00:01:15
Saint Mary's. We ask this in your name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. 00:01:23
United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for 00:01:32
all. 00:01:38
Thank you, David. 00:01:49
Madam McClure, can we have the roll call, please? 00:01:55
Yes, Sir. Councilman Jones, post one here. Councilman Connor, post 2 here. Councilman Ingram, post 3 here. Councilman Riley, post 00:01:58
Four President. Councilman Rossi, Post Five President. Councilman James, post 6 here. Mayor Morrissey, Sir, we have a quorum. 00:02:04
Thank you. 00:02:10
Was everyone here for the three sets of minutes? 00:02:20
Yeah, right. All right. So may I have a motion you individually or combined for? 00:02:26
It's gonna move Mr. Rassi second and it's Oh, you got me. 00:02:34
Mr. Jones. 00:02:41
For all three items, Miss Clerk and SO any discussion? 00:02:45
All in favor, aye, opposed say Madam Clerk, that's unanimous. Just be clear, unanimous is all six constitute. Thank you very much. 00:02:53
All right, so we're going to move on to presentations. And Charlie, this is Saint Mary's Senior Center nutritional food program. 00:03:03
You want to do it right there? Yes, Sir. I'm going to go ahead and play. It's going to be a video, so forgive me for explaining my 00:03:14
Denver Broncos, but I wanted to make sure that was ready. Yeah, good. 00:03:19
So we're having issues with the audience. I'm going to use the microphone. So I do apologize to the audience. I'll try to make 00:03:28
sure it doesn't. 00:03:30
Get too loud, but this is a presentation for our Senior Center food program. This is a program and I'm going to let the video kind 00:03:34
of explain itself. I made this for not only council, but it's also got to go in front of the school board as well. But this is a, 00:03:41
this is a program we're doing to feed our seniors at our senior at our senior facility through the lunchrooms at the Sanger's 00:03:48
middle school. So far we've been running. Now when the video is made, we were about 5-6 days in. 00:03:56
We're about a month now and so far it's been a fantastic program so, but I'll be able to answer some questions at the end. 00:04:03
Very creative, Charlie. 00:04:09
Saint Mary's Senior Center, a place where community and care come together to support the well-being of our senior citizens. 00:04:13
Today we're taking a closer look at why the center plays such a vital role in the lives its members and how the center's food 00:04:20
program alongside school partnerships is making a difference. All right, so I'm here with Miss Katrina Flannery, right. Miss 00:04:26
Flannery is the director of school nutrition for the Camden County School system. And I've asked you to sit down today, which I 00:04:33
appreciate so that we can discuss the senior program from your side on how this looks. But. 00:04:40
School program takes place here at the Saint Mary's Middle School. 00:04:47
And why don't you go and tell me a little bit about what your role is not only in this program, but for the county. OK, so with 00:04:51
school nutrition, as the director, I make sure that the the students are fed every day. So we provide breakfast, lunch and snack. 00:04:58
And snack is some schools depending on their needs. But the most important thing for me is to make sure that I work with the 00:05:05
distributors, work with the manufacturers. 00:05:13
Sure that when the managers order the groceries that the food is actually delivered and they have everything available. We work 00:05:20
with the menus and create menus that are kids favorites so that we know that the students will want to eat them and we want to 00:05:28
make sure that they have options. I consider a special diets and things that the students need medically and it's there's a lot 00:05:35
that goes into it, but if there's a big reward at the end, why is the Senior Center? 00:05:43
For many seniors, the Saint Mary's Senior Center is more than just a building. It's a lifeline. It's a place where you can stay 00:05:51
active, connect with your friends and maintain a structured routine in a world that can sometimes feel isolated. The center 00:05:57
provides a safe space for socializing, learning and Wellness. It offers much needed support, helping seniors thrive physically, 00:06:03
emotionally and mentally. So we've served now. 00:06:08
I think well since we were closed last Monday, we served 5 official meals. Today was the favorite by far. It was the Alfredo. 00:06:16
So they loved it, but what we're noticing at the Senior Center too, and it's a credit to your to your cafeteria and and the 00:06:23
program is that for the, we're basically going to be huge bang for our buck. So what we're purchasing even from our other vendors 00:06:30
and they're great. I'm not knocking them, but the size of the balance of the food, the nutrition, the nutritional side of it 00:06:36
they're getting. 00:06:42
Milks juice, they're getting fruit, they're getting a salad on top of their main course and vegetables and it's. 00:06:48
Fantastic. Like it's more food than even when we were getting from an outside vendor or a private business that they, this is 00:06:56
better than what they were supplying and it's already thought out and it's balanced with what nutrients they need for 1/3 of 00:07:02
their, you know, their nutrients for the day. And in some cases, and I think you discussed this earlier with me is some of our 00:07:09
seniors. 00:07:15
This is the best meal they get and so for us to do business with the school system, that's. 00:07:21
This year we have right at 1100 children enrolled at Saint Mary's Middle School. 00:07:57
6th and 7th grade are the largest. We have over 400 or about 400 in each of those grade levels. So Miss Abigail, our luxury 00:08:02
manager and her staff prepare breakfast and lunch for 1100 children and staff and staff every day. So they have a big, big task in 00:08:09
front of them. Awesome. Well, how do you, how does the school feel from your seat about knowing that you're helping the Senior 00:08:16
Center across the street? 00:08:22
I've just been excited to learn a little bit more about your program that that you're working on. That's great. I grew up here. 00:08:30
I'm from here. 00:08:33
And so I like, I like to see our. 00:08:36
Our opportunities grow for our seniors. So that's awesome for the Senior Center. This is huge. And you know, we just spoke to Miss 00:08:40
Larry and this program is allowing the city of Saint Mary's to not only take care of our senior program, but it's allowing the 00:08:47
seniors of our city to, for a fact to get at least one, one third of their meal. We know it's going to be nutritious, it's going 00:08:53
to be great and that we're taking care of that population and that population. 00:09:00
Is very dear to us and so that's why we're really trying to pour into that program. So you guys kind of stepping up the plate and 00:09:08
helping us is. 00:09:11
Huge. And I know I appreciate it. I know the Senior Center appreciates it. But I think moving forward, the relationship, if this 00:09:15
program goes great the way we think it is, we think it's not just going to benefit us, but the goal is to have the state take a 00:09:20
look at it and maybe there's other senior centers that will benefit kind of in the same fashion. So we really appreciate you kind 00:09:26
of being the 1st to do this with us. I'm happy to help. 00:09:31
Why is food that is nutritious and balanced? And at the center, the goal is to provide meals that are not just filling but also 00:09:38
nutritious. 00:09:42
A healthy, balanced meal can help seniors manage chronic conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure and contribute to overall 00:09:46
well-being. The center ensures that meals meet dietary needs while being delicious and enjoyable. 00:09:52
So I'm here with Miss Abigail Grody, and you are the cafeteria manager for Percentage Middle School. 00:09:59
So Abigail, tell us, you know, since we're in this partnership with the Senior Center and the school system, your normal 00:10:06
day-to-day activities of taking care of children and you know, getting the food prepped up in the morning and then actually having 00:10:12
your food service helping the Senior Center achieve its goals. How does that work in your day-to-day activities? Pretty much 00:10:18
really does not exchange. The only thing that change is we just a little bit in here like the salad, something like that, the 00:10:24
sandwiches we just have. 00:10:30
We don't even take enough time to make it. But it's not it's not it don't distract our daily working here. That's OK. So when 00:10:37
you're doing your food orders or like I said, you're setting up the menu for the day, adding whatever the the account that we're 00:10:45
ordered for the day for Senior Center, it doesn't slow you down in any way, shape or form or no Sir. 00:10:53
On the ordering since last week, I. 00:11:02
Add a little bit on my order and that's all about that. Nothing changed my how about your staff? Does your staff, my staff is 00:11:07
really happy with it and they everybody in I give them, I give them the menu that you guys give me every week. And then we are in 00:11:14
the same page and they were happy with it. OK, great. And so we'll place our orders every week and that so far is work. We've 00:11:21
only, we're only about a week into it. 00:11:27
But we give you the order and then. 00:11:34
That's Thursday, Friday that give you a chance to make sure your orders and stuff are ready for the next week's. And then Monday 00:11:36
we basically cut the check and then you fill in and we'll show show everybody how that looks. But basically we have an account 00:11:43
here, we pay the check and X number of trays gets put in. And that's how we we're essentially ordering food like we would if we 00:11:49
were a teacher or an adult business. OK, well, we appreciate it. Thank you. 00:11:56
Describe the logistics. 00:12:03
Border prep, payment picked up, service and cleanup. Here's how it works. The center places an order with the school system for 00:12:05
the meals needed each day. Staff with the cafeteria prep the meals under the guidance of the cafeteria manager, and once the meals 00:12:10
are prepped, they are delivered to the center. The streamlined process ensures that the meals are served quickly, efficiently, and 00:12:16
with care. 00:12:21
What does the school provide that out benefits a private vendor? 00:12:29
Center As for the Senior Center, the focus remains on providing a safe, welcoming environment for all seniors. Expanding 00:13:02
activities, enhancing services and continuing to support the health and well-being of seniors in the community will always be at 00:13:09
the heart of what we do. The Saint Mary's Senior Center is more than just a place. It's a community. With programs like Nutritious 00:13:16
Meals and Generational Bridges Initiative, it's ensuring that seniors live full, healthy and connected lives. 00:13:23
The future is bright and we can't wait to see what comes next. Thank you for joining us on this journey. 00:13:30
Charlie, I'm continually. 00:13:43
Amazed and impressed with the creativity that this program came out of and the fact that we're literally setting the pace in the 00:13:48
state. 00:13:54
This, if this proves effective, it may be migrated across the state as a as a solution to I think a lot of senior centers that 00:14:01
probably struggle with what we did and I just need to know. I didn't see any sloppy joes. 00:14:10
They do have sloppy. Well, I just need to make sure that that's still going on because, you know, a couple of a few decades back, 00:14:22
you know, that was the prime. 00:14:27
Well I shouldn't say the prime meal, but it was a very popular 1 so I hope at some point time they get to enjoy that one too. They 00:14:33
are and the feedback we're getting. When we first rolled this out, to be honest, the seniors weren't 100% thrilled. They thought 00:14:38
they would just be tater tots is what I was told. 00:14:44
Yeah, Robbie likes state her thoughts, but the. 00:14:52
But the program has proven itself quite valuable and it's half the cost. What we were paying with not only more food, but what 00:14:56
we're taking is the juices and milks from that day, as well as the fruits. And we don't have to discard those at the end of the 00:15:03
day because of the whole time zone. We also have the health departments come, they inspected our kitchen. We're doing different 00:15:10
systems and we're putting systems in place that we haven't before. 00:15:17
But we're able to use those now for if they come in at breakfast, they have fruits and milks and juice also. 00:15:24
And I see a few of the helpers. 00:15:58
In the Raise Your Hands, he was in the video star. 00:16:01
Thank you for your help there too. 00:16:06
Well, it's just a terrific program and I can't imagine what else you're going to come up with. So thank you. You're welcome. Thank 00:16:13
you. Absolutely. 00:16:17
So let me go through and I said we have a board. Is he not going to give us samples yet? I was. I didn't want to push the thing 00:16:23
about desserts, you know, I thought probably was unfair, but. 00:16:28
I didn't see any desserts in the picture. 00:16:35
You know, just just saying, Charlie, that's all. All right, aboard appointments, there's new board, We have a tax allocation 00:16:38
district #3. 00:16:43
Let me see. I know we had some appointments. Oh yes, we do OK. 00:16:49
So we have. 00:16:55
2 right, We have two applicants for the. 00:16:57
We have one applicant Sir, and two seats. There's two openings, but only one application. 00:17:08
OK, yeah, I don't, I don't know where I must. I must have moved this out of sequence. 00:17:14
OK, so we have one person, Brad Morris, is that correct? OK, so if. 00:17:20
You're satisfied I can give you a motion. Motion to accept. Motion 3 point Miss Brad Morris. 00:17:28
Riley, I have a second. 00:17:37
Check it. OK, Mr. Rossi, any discussion other than thank you, all in favor, Aye, opposed. 00:17:40
Today, Madam Clerk, that's unanimous and you'll, you'll go ahead and notify all the candidates that are appointed. 00:17:50
So the next one is board appointments vacancies for Orange Hall. I thought we had one for Orange Hall. 00:18:01
Is one of the boards where you point directly to the seat and Mr. Harris is requesting appointment to Mr. Hardinge? 00:18:12
OK, so is that. 00:18:22
OK. All right. So we don't have anything for this. 00:18:29
So then the Saint Mary's Hospital Authority, do we have anything? We still have one. 00:18:34
Oh, OK. Yeah, Nick Harris. 00:18:41
I think there was just kind of going forward. All right. So can I have them? It's only one candidate. Can I have a motion? 00:18:47
So moved. That's the way I see 2nd and 2nd Prime Minister Riley. Any discussion? All in favor, aye, opposed, abstain. 00:18:55
All right, man Clerk, that's also unanimous. Yes, Sir, No. 00:19:08
We move on to the Hospital Authority. 00:19:12
Like I said, I've got. 00:19:16
Adam Clark. 00:19:18
Yes, Sir. OK, so is that. 00:19:21
Like I said, I got the sequence, Miss Donna. 00:19:27
'S so Miss Schwartz. 00:19:33
Somebody want to make a motion since we only have one, correct? 00:19:41
Second. All right, I've got. 00:19:44
And I got a second from Mr. Jones. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed. Same. 00:19:51
Madam Clerk, that's unanimous. Yes, Sir. All right. And came upon the Board of Education, Sex education is structural review 00:20:04
Committee. 00:20:08
You don't have anything for that? How about the Orange Oil Management Committee? 00:20:13
That is. 00:20:20
That was the one you just did for Mr. Harris. 00:20:22
And Saint Mary's labor. 00:20:28
All right, my help, March me through this if we miss so much. 00:20:36
Are we good? Yeah. I think we just need clarification because we did have. 00:20:42
The original seat with Miss Robin Cross and we did not appoint anyone to that seat, but I think we voted during that segment, so. 00:20:48
That's fine. OK, We're good. OK. That's what I thought. All right. And we don't have anyone for the library board. 00:21:00
I remember. No, Sir. OK, good. 00:21:08
Then I'll take this time for the editorial, please, anyone that's interested in being on a committee. 00:21:15
Or a board or an authority please. You can you can apply online. 00:21:22
Or you can call the city clerk and she'll help you fill out the form and we'll be happy to see you join us. We hope you will join 00:21:30
us. Thank you. 00:21:35
Any warnings here? You want to recognize anybody that we've appointed? Are you here? You'd like to raise your hand, Mr. Harris? 00:21:43
Thank you very much, Sir, for your service. All right, so now I'm sorry, folks. 00:21:52
Report authorities, boards and commissions. This is our Finance Director, Marcia Clarkton. 00:22:03
How are you tonight? 00:22:08
Green is good, Green is good. Good evening Mr. Mayor and Council. You have in your council packet the financial report for the 00:22:14
month ending August the 31st 2024, which is the second month of fiscal year FY25. 00:22:22
Are there any questions? 00:22:31
Not through a. 00:22:33
Do you have any comments on where we stand? 00:22:36
Not really. We've. 00:22:41
At this time of the year, we're in a. 00:22:44
Not a conundrum, but we have as far as revenue goes because property tax bills have not been. 00:22:51
It's not going out yet, so it's this is kind of a lull right now, so. 00:22:59
And I think we talked about this. 00:23:06
Jump in July. 00:23:09
Going from the 6,000,000 to the 9 million, well, what is being? 00:23:15
Recognized in the. 00:23:22
Cash right now is that we received the the proceeds from the loans that we. 00:23:25
So that's going to jump it up so. 00:23:33
It's a little bit. 00:23:39
Skewed and well, yes it is. But if that that were not in the the the. 00:23:41
The play, so to speak. Then we would be tracking. 00:23:48
OK. 00:23:54
You know, uh. 00:23:57
Just as a thought, I don't know if it's not mandatory, but when we have a significant. 00:23:59
Differential. 00:24:06
In our measurements, perhaps if we had an asterisk. 00:24:10
And explain, yeah. 00:24:15
Yes, that difference just for the institution on memory because. 00:24:19
Someday. 00:24:24
In the next decade or so, you might retire and we want to be able to remember. 00:24:26
Although I don't know if we're going to allow it. 00:24:30
No comment. 00:24:35
All right. 00:24:39
Any seriously any, any comments? No, just that that's definitely an outlier to where we are typically trending at this point. So. 00:24:42
That's it. And I thank you pretty much answered the other questions. OK, thank you. All right, thank you. Thank you very much. 00:24:53
Would you mind moving your mic a little closer? Just getting that we they can't hear you. 00:25:00
Mayor, thank you. All right. And during this law, we have a Boy Scout in the audience, Troop number 208, you here to earn a badge. 00:25:05
All right. Thank you and welcome. Would you do us a favor? 00:25:17
Would you, would you like to come up and introduce yourself and tell us what you're doing with the Boy Scouts? 00:25:26
You're among friends, so feel comfortable, OK? 00:25:35
The green is green is good. 00:25:41
My name is Charlie Sager. I'm doing the merit badge for its citizenship in the community, so learning about the community. 00:25:45
It's finding, it's basically like finding an issue in your community and like finding out how you can help. So the issue that I've 00:25:57
thought of for this community is like homelessness. So I was just wanted to like find out how I can help personally. 00:26:05
And I started to go to a food bank and help work there. 00:26:14
So that I can like, help bring out food for people that can't support themselves and. 00:26:20
Let's see. 00:26:30
Yeah, it's just this merit badge is really good for learning about your community and coming to this this meeting and learning 00:26:33
about the like the senior food system. I didn't know that was a thing. And so I think how you guys are trying to work with the 00:26:39
school and trying to get the Georgia to do that, I think that's really good. 00:26:46
And trying to help reduce the cost and make it for seniors more able to. 00:26:54
Have better benefits. So I think that if you spread that out throughout Georgia, that's going to be really good for us as a state 00:27:01
and maybe even the country. Thank you. 00:27:06
So Mom, you must be very proud because for them to come up and be that well spoken in front of us and I'm comfortable. Well, first 00:27:16
of all, we appreciate it because we are your friends. But you are a good speaker. And let's see, how old are you? 00:27:22
That's 12. 00:27:31
Years, 18 years. So at the end of the decade we'll see you back here in the council up here somewhere. That's okay. 00:27:35
So that was good. 00:27:44
All right, I'm warning your counselor. You better be careful he's coming in. 00:27:48
OK, let's set the consent agenda. 00:27:54
We have one item of all business, that's the memory Memorandum of understanding on the extension between the City of Saint Mary's 00:27:58
and Gulf Gateway for development of the Gateway property. 00:28:04
OK. And then new business, we have resolution of Saint Mary Seepers Memorial for erection of a monument seat St. Mary's Seafarers 00:28:12
Memorial Committee. 00:28:18
National flood Insurance Program Community Rating System Program for public information report approval. 00:28:29
Congratulations, ma'am. 00:28:39
Volcker incorporated. Task order #1A Supplemental. 00:28:42
And the Volcker Incorporated task Order number 3A, Supplemental. 00:28:47
And Volcker incorporated task order number 10 for professional services. 00:28:53
Saint Mary's Municipal Court 2025 Calendar change consent. OK, so password check me. 00:29:00
Our consent agenda consists of all business. 00:29:09
Sorry. 00:29:13
Oh, business, a new new business C excuse me, new business. 00:29:15
ABCDE&F. 00:29:25
So if I got that correct and I have a motion, I think that item A is a discussion, discussion a new business. 00:29:28
AO and a new consent was B through A&A. OK, so. 00:29:38
Sorry. No, that's all right. I had. 00:29:47
I had it coming at me from both sides, so which which a is? 00:29:50
All right, so I. 00:29:59
The consent agenda It consists of new business. 00:30:03
BCDENF did you get it right? 00:30:10
Second, I didn't get the motion. Motion to approve this, Mr. Riley and I heard the second from Mr. Johnson. OK, any further 00:30:15
discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed. Stay. All right, Madam Clerk, that's unanimous. And now I need a motion for approval of 00:30:22
the agenda as it's been set. 00:30:29
Motion to approve Miss James and 2nd from Mr. Ingram. Any discussion on the formal agenda? All in favor Aye, opposed. Stay Madam 00:30:36
Clerk. That's unanimous. So we're going to go to granny audience to the public and this is on the agenda items only. 00:30:48
And I would ask that you come up to the podium and respect. 00:31:01
With a name, your name and address and respect 5 minute time limit. 00:31:07
Good evening, Mayor and Council. I'm Larry White, 102 Sylvias Court. I like to address old business A. 00:31:12
I went through your packet for this memorandum of understanding, but you haven't changed anything. Last time, the last meeting you 00:31:20
tabled this item and said you would not do an automatic renewal of MOU, but the way the agreement reads, you will. 00:31:29
Unless the City Council brings it up at least 90 days prior to the expiration of the of the agreement, If you don't bring it up, 00:31:39
it automatically renews. 00:31:44
So I like someone to explain that. 00:31:50
OK, who's next? 00:31:55
Good evening, ladies, gentlemen. My name is Mark Fouts. I'm at 310 W Bryant St. I also wanted to discuss his item A. As I 00:32:03
understand as I've read it, there is an option period where the City Council or the contractor can terminate the automatic 00:32:09
renewal. 00:32:15
Portion of this contract. 00:32:22
During the first discussion, I heard some members of the City Council. 00:32:26
Mention that because the contractor had made some investments in properties nearby. 00:32:29
That they kind of thought it might be a good thing to to work with him. 00:32:36
I don't recall any any. 00:32:41
Language in the contract that says you're going to give special treatment to someone who particularly wants to invest in in 00:32:43
something that they're working on. 00:32:47
As I understand these options, they don't come before the public. That means that city manager or whoever can can can basically 00:32:53
ignore the option and go ahead and let this thing auto renew without the without the citizens ever knowing about it. I. 00:33:01
I'm absolutely. 00:33:12
Are opposed to this option thing. 00:33:15
It's been well since I've done contracts, but every contract that I ever did, I expected performance of the contract within a 00:33:20
certain period as defined by that contract. And if performance wasn't done in that period, then the contract came up automatically 00:33:26
for discussion and it opened up for other people who could perform. So this, this nonsense, I agree with Larry. Basically, you're 00:33:33
doing nothing more than just just putting some words in here. 00:33:39
But it's going to auto renew without anybody knowing about it, far be it for someone on the council or within city government to 00:33:46
do some favor for a friend. But it shouldn't be. A contract is a contract. It is there to perform for for exchange of of goods, 00:33:52
which in this case would be some monetary thing. 00:33:58
But performance in two years, if you can't perform in two years, give it to someone who can. Or completely revisit the entire 00:34:05
situation, whether or not it's survival endeavor or not. But please do not continue to give contracts to people who don't perform. 00:34:11
It's not fair to the citizens of this this community. Thank you. 00:34:18
Who's next? 00:34:25
Good evening, Christine Adamo, 901 and St. Mary's. 00:34:32
Comments on two items. The 1st is the food program for the seniors. 00:34:37
Brilliant idea to partner with the school system. 00:34:44
I was a registered dietitian for 35 years and I can tell you seniors require different nutritional requirements than the kids. So 00:34:48
to protect us, I highly recommend that you engage whatever dietitian is working with the nursing home to just review those menus. 00:34:58
The school system can bump them up in a variety of ways so that anybody coming in can see that we're responding to the geriatric 00:35:10
needs of our population. 00:35:16
Second thing. 00:35:23
On the agenda item on the GOP. 00:35:26
I would like to recommend that we look at the fact that this has been taken off the consent agenda, meaning it's for discussion. 00:35:29
So let's give the Council an opportunity. 00:35:41
To discuss and review critically. 00:35:45
The comments and the arguments that we've heard not just today but at the last council meeting, they're warranted, they're good. 00:35:49
And they have already decided not to automatically consent. 00:35:59
Thank you. 00:36:06
Hey, who's next? 00:36:08
All right, Thanks very much. We're going to move into our agenda items. First one under all business is the memorandum of our 00:36:15
understanding extension between the City of Saint Mary's and Goat Gateway Incorporated for development of gateway property and. 00:36:24
Mr. Horton, since I don't see this. 00:36:35
Miss poem here. Can you speak to the issue? 00:36:40
Well, Sir, I'll be happy to, but she's hiding in the corner. My apologies, Candace, I didn't see you. 00:36:46
All right, all right, if you'll allow Mr. Horton to speak. 00:36:55
Yes, Sir. 00:37:03
Yes, Sir, we we went back, we met with. 00:37:05
We have met with Mr. Riley and we met with with Go. 00:37:11
There was the word automatic was removed from the agreement. 00:37:17
And that was acceptable at that point in time. And that's where we're at. 00:37:22
OK. 00:37:29
And. 00:37:31
Let me let me do a little bit of clarification. I think I confused. 00:37:35
The public here a little bit an item is not automatically on your consent agenda. 00:37:44
Uh, but. 00:37:52
It sounded like it was going to be on the consent agenda, but just to be clear, items are not automatically on the consent agenda. 00:37:54
They have to be put on the consent agenda and it was not so. All right, so why don't I open this up for conversation Council, 00:38:00
you'd like to start? 00:38:06
Well, I guess it's me since everyone's looking in this direction. 00:38:14
I have no problems. 00:38:21
I have no problem speaking up. I actually took some notes on this. I think what we're looking at here, and it feels like a game of 00:38:25
semantics with the with the language. So the first thing I think we need to do is we need to look at this particular project and 00:38:31
the perception of the public. 00:38:37
Because at some point in time before I sat on the dais and maybe many of the others that are sitting here, this was a an idea that 00:38:44
someone had and I believe it was more than 10 years ago. And so the idea was that we could have a boutique hotel. I mean, I'm sure 00:38:52
from my research, it's had many different iterations and. 00:39:00
There was a study that was done that said, hey, would this work at this property? 00:39:09
That study was done and I think that concluded that, yes, this would work at this property. And then the property set untouched I 00:39:13
think by any particular developer for a number of years and less than two years ago, I believe maybe 3. So in the last two to 00:39:22
three years, someone in our community stepped up and said, hey, we live here. 00:39:31
This is kind of what we do for a living and we'd like to be able to. 00:39:40
We like that the opportunity to with our own resources, with our own experts. 00:39:44
And with the expertise that those experts can bring in, we'd like to make this project happen. So from what I can see, a lot of 00:39:54
the public sees this as it's been 15 years and we've done nothing and now it seems as though it's slowing again. But I think for 00:40:01
sure that most municipalities. 00:40:08
That are in the same situation that we are don't have millions of dollars to invest in a project so that we can bring in a 00:40:17
partner. And this is a true public private partnership where I believe that you know a a public company has said we want to help 00:40:26
develop this and and I don't believe that they're going anywhere but I do think that in terms of the city and as well as. 00:40:35
That organization, what I'm hearing from the public. 00:40:44
As they would like to see where's, you know, what skin do we have in a game as a city and what skin does that investor have in a 00:40:47
game? And it's not, I'm sorry. And it's not just about the investing in the surrounding properties. I believe they've made a 00:40:54
significant investment already in the, in the existing property. I mean, they have done an additional study on top of what we've 00:41:00
done, they've done engineering, they've done. 00:41:07
Traffic studies, I don't know if Candace, if you can mention any other studies that have been done, but there's been a number. 00:41:14
Actual work and they've identified a partner, a hotel partner that's already committed to coming on board. So a lot of work has 00:41:22
been done there. It's not just sitting there. And I think the perception is that that's what's happening. And you know, we as a 00:41:29
city, we're not in any position. 00:41:36
Be able to invest anymore in that particular property. So we needed a champion to step up and say we've got this and it's someone 00:41:43
that lives in our community and is invested in our community and wants to be here. And from what I remember them saying is they 00:41:51
wanted to have a legacy here for their children. So that's what we're dealing with here. We're not. But I do feel like we need to 00:41:58
respect the public's opinion in terms of making sure that we understand that, you know, we're committed and I think we. 00:42:06
To make sure that that you can see as a public that we're doing our part. You know, perhaps, you know, we know that the slowdown 00:42:14
has nothing to do with either party. You know, it's the DNR. And maybe we can, you know, build a stronger relationship with the 00:42:20
DNR to make sure that we talk them through this process so that we're not just waiting for someone to do something. We can 00:42:27
actually reach out and, you know, perhaps help to move this along that would make us a good partner with. 00:42:34
With go bank so. 00:42:42
That's my two cents. You know, perhaps that's what we need to be thinking of. If you don't mind Council, could I give you some 00:42:44
background? Sure. OK, so this is probably. 00:42:51
2012 Robbie. 00:42:58
With with the decision decision to do this subsequent to the decision, there was a considerable public outreach effort that 00:43:02
resulted in. 00:43:09
A rather extensive public session on the grounds of the Gateway property. And they were. 00:43:17
Multiple stations set up with guides and we had the public come and give us suggestions about the highest and best use for the 00:43:26
property and that resulted in the direction of trying to create a a significant hotel with some amenities that we really need 00:43:35
which included. 00:43:43
The ability to have people come and have meetings and conference conferences. 00:43:52
Not large conferences, 150 to 200 people, so. 00:43:57
That was a that's one of the Aussie benefits that the public helped us determine was really, really needed and we have fostered 00:44:02
that since that time. We have had three iterations of developers then and two of them, previous to the one we had, did market 00:44:11
studies to try and determine that. 00:44:19
During the during the process we ran into. 00:44:28
Some understanding about what how big the project could be and what the height is and we work our way through a lot of that and 00:44:35
those first 2 developers. 00:44:41
Did not finish the project. We tried to help them do that and they they never came to the point where they were. 00:44:49
Wanted to continue the project, so two years ago. 2 1/2 years ago. 00:44:58
So our local. 00:45:04
Community Hotel, yes, saw value and being able to come after this. So they work their way through the development of this. And I 00:45:07
will say to Lisa's, Lisa's point. 00:45:14
And I think what we can do is share a lot of the iterative work that's been done and maybe presented here at a council with some 00:45:22
of the things that Gope has done because they've got a lot of. 00:45:28
Visuals that will help with the significant hotel chain with a with a particular boutique boutique boutique chain. 00:45:36
That goes along with this, so they spent a lot of time trying to develop that. 00:45:49
With one in particular. And then neighbors decided to go with a second chain that has a better boutique approach. They had 00:45:55
significant engineering work done. 00:46:00
They've had a. 00:46:07
An iterative work with the hotel chain for exactly how big it needs to be to make it successful and how it's going to be designed. 00:46:10
To Lisa's point, we have local talent and local experience that knows our community and what our community works best with, and 00:46:20
they spent a lot of time interacting with the Gateway committee to be able to have that happen. 00:46:30
One of the reasons for some concern about the timelines that we have, sorry. 00:46:40
You can hear me one of the concerns about the timelines that we have, we have a situation right now where they're ready to go. 00:46:45
And the state. 00:46:54
Whether it's archaeological group is in the process of determining whether or not there's any issue with our archaeology on the 00:46:56
property. And I will tell you the property that is involved is not the 2.75 acres where the hotel is going to be. It's at the 00:47:03
Marina boathouse, which is going to be a parking lot. 00:47:11
So that is an issue. 9th, 9th month of waiting for the the state to be able to give the green light to the gateway people along to 00:47:19
do their job. 00:47:26
And we haven't had it. So when you say why two years, well, at the rate that the state and the DNR and the core give us answers, 00:47:33
you don't, you don't get answers from any of them in a week. 00:47:40
And as I see people shaking their head who've dealt with them before. And so if you don't, don't anticipate this is Level 1 00:47:48
archaeology. If they decide to go to level 2 archaeology, we don't know how long that's going to take. And to say that nothing has 00:47:56
happened over the course of the last 2 1/2 years or the other 10 years before that, there's plenty that's been going on. 00:48:05
On our iterative basis, but our local hoteliers who know. 00:48:14
How to be able to run a concession and do a great job of it, who are totally committed to the city of Saint Mary's and to what 00:48:19
this is trying to achieve. They're there, they want to do it and they're as frustrated as we are. They have they have engineering 00:48:26
and they have hotel presentations that we can share. The last seven if they will bring that up, bring the PowerPoints if they want 00:48:34
to deliver it or Mr. Horton as well, imbued with everything that's gone on there. 00:48:41
So from the from that standpoint, this document continues process that is. 00:48:49
Set for success. All we need to do is get our friends in Atlanta to be able to help us move along and allow these people, as I 00:48:57
said, to do their job. So I'm trying not to hog the conversation because I've been involved in this for a long period of time and 00:49:05
know the frustration that we've had iterating it and then finally finding. 00:49:13
Got to be careful. I would say partner but we have someone that we can work with. 00:49:22
That wants to do that as much as we want it to happen so. 00:49:27
I I had a few comments, Dad, and I think you and Lisa covered it quite well, so I'll try not to repeat any of what they've already 00:49:31
said. But if I do, forgive me 'cause I was going to say many of those same things with respect to the commitment and so forth. 00:49:39
What I think I need to add also is that we have been involved as a city and. 00:49:48
The meetings that they have over there are open. We have a council Rep that sits on the gateway committee. The mayor sits on the 00:49:56
gateway committee. The city manager sits on the gateway committee. 00:50:02
And they report out under the prior year's work every year at at their report scheduled report that given what the progress is at, 00:50:07
at each of those. And if you ever get the opportunity to attend the gateway meeting, I encourage you to do so because I've been to 00:50:15
several of them over the time I've been in council just to see where it is. And they went through thoroughly things like the 00:50:22
engineering study that you're talking about the. 00:50:30
Except that the that the hotel brought into the discussion and so forth, and the commitment on the part of the. 00:50:38
Go, I think is really something that's it's real and all you have to do is see what they've done to try to enhance and ensure the 00:50:49
success of that hotel. And we did go through two others, you know, they happened to talk with both of them in different venues and 00:50:55
they were very excited about it. 00:51:02
What they didn't have is the money to go through the the process of getting that property developed. They had it when they went in 00:51:09
and then different things that happened to business people in the process caused them not to have that. It's a got to the point. 00:51:16
So and, and, and as mayor mentioned, you better remember that there was a long discussion and that was before I was on council. So 00:51:24
thanks to the mayor and all the proceeding council people that. 00:51:31
That this was done several meetings where they determine what that property was going to be when they put that together as a 00:51:39
committee and brought it to the City Council and the City Council approved it. That's that's where we are today with that and it 00:51:45
is taking a long time. But when we look at the property and see what the problems that they may run into, they had to make sure 00:51:51
that the compact. 00:51:57
Whatever they call that was compaction rate of the property was right. So that would support the hotel that took took a long time 00:52:04
as part of the engineering study. 00:52:09
And now they're in the archaeological study and they found something that has to be resolved and the archaeological department is 00:52:14
settling and that eats up a lot of time. So and I, I, I know that the, what bothered me at the last one and I was, was the one up 00:52:22
here that said I wanted to discuss that and take a look at this word auto renewal. And I didn't like the word auto. 00:52:31
And be honest with you, I thought it should have been an agreement that just. 00:52:40
Went forward with the vehicles that we got in place, keeping check on what the what the. 00:52:46
Issues might be and to ensure that we're still proceeding the way best that we could with all the restrictions and questions that 00:52:57
we have to answer before they can start digging and turning dirt over there to put the hotel in. And I was satisfied that that 00:53:03
wasn't a viable. 00:53:10
Way of doing it and they took the word Ottawa and I was good with that when they took the word Ottawa because Otto has 00:53:16
reconnotation that just doesn't sit well with me. So and it is just semantics. I've been first admit that I said that when we're 00:53:23
doing it, but you know it, it works and it gives people that are committed an opportunity to do something that's going to be 00:53:30
pretty tough to do. 00:53:37
Even with the this agreement, they've got to get through each of these things. 00:53:44
Be able to get to where they can dig dirt. So I'm in favor of this. 00:53:49
Yes, Sir. I just want to say 1 short thing. I'm on the Gateway committee and I've been on City Council for two years. 00:53:56
And, you know, I've seen a lot of work go into the gateway committee and everything with, with everything that's been going on. 00:54:03
And there's, there's so many hurdles that you have to jump through to make sure that you get everything done. And it's, it's just 00:54:12
taking time. It's taking a lot of time. And I just wanted to say that. Thank you. Who's next? 00:54:20
OK, one other one other thing I I feel personally that I'd like to address. 00:54:31
The Gateway committee is about as analytical and objective about what our our goals and objectives are with this and how we worked 00:54:39
with. 00:54:45
The development group that's trying to make this happen and I have to address the fact that any implication that this is a good 00:54:53
old boy contract or continuation of that is wrong. 00:55:00
We've all analyzed whether or not we can continue this, with this and why and with whom. And we feel very comfortable that in 00:55:10
order to continue this properly and fairly with the people that were originally established to help us do this, this is it was a 00:55:16
proper decision. 00:55:22
And I will be glad to talk to anybody who wants to continue to think that this is some special deal. We don't do that in Saint 00:55:28
Mary's. And if anybody wants to come and talk to me again, I'd be happy to talk to you. 00:55:36
Anybody else? 00:55:44
Yeah. I just want to say the bottom line for why we do economic development, if we can get there, because that's a positive thing, 00:55:46
The bottom, well, first of all, this project, this property is still going to be available for public access. I mean, they were, I 00:55:53
think, conscientious enough, at least in the conceptual drawings to think about how the public might still be able to enjoy the 00:56:01
view and some of the open spaces there. So I think we need to take that into consideration. And then secondly. 00:56:08
We need to broaden our tax base. I mean, economic development is about. 00:56:16
Not having to keep going back to our citizens and our community to be able to pay for things. And so without projects like this, 00:56:21
we would have to continue to go back to the public. We are not in a situation where we have where we where we want to keep going 00:56:30
back to the to the to our citizens. And also we need to broaden our tourism. We have Cumberland Island and we have. 00:56:39
So it would be nice to have a hotel or some other type of tourist attraction because what I see is people go to Cumberland Island. 00:56:49
They they, they park, they get on the boat, they go to Cumberland, they come back, they get back in their cars and they leave. 00:56:57
Imagine if they had some place to stay downtown so that they can actually enjoy some shops. And imagine someone that does have an 00:57:04
imagination that sees that there are people that. 00:57:12
Coming downtown and they want to open a shop or they want to open shops or multiple shops. So those are all the things that we 00:57:19
take into consideration making this decision. That's it. 00:57:25
Yeah, On the benefits of the property, I wasn't here or really involved when a study was done that, you know, kind of dictated or, 00:57:32
you know, came to the conclusion that, you know, one of the top uses for the property would be a hotel. But, you know, in 00:57:38
hindsight, thinking about that, I mean it, it is a good fit and good benefit for the whole community. 00:57:44
Those meeting groups, they actually do recreational activities like golf, hunting, fishing is going to help everybody. It's well, 00:58:52
not everybody is going to help a large portion of our local businesses as far as bringing them more traffic than they're getting 00:58:56
currently, so. 00:59:00
Also to my understanding, as far as you know the speed or pace, it really doesn't have anything to do with the developer that more 00:59:06
so just waiting on a process that would happen to anybody that's working on the project currently. No matter no matter what 00:59:12
developer and partner we had there would be, you know, in the same timeline as it sits. So you know, that's not really a reason to 00:59:17
hold their feet to the fire more so. 00:59:23
For something that's not under their control. 00:59:29
That's why I'm saying, OK, I think I think we're ready for a vote other than just one more comment that there there are 50 to 7050 00:59:32
to 75 jobs involved in the creation of this hotel and the running of that hotel. So that's that's good and that's downtown. Yes, 00:59:39
Sir. Just just one final thing prior to me getting on City Council, you know, I often wondered why in the world we bought that 00:59:46
property start off with. 00:59:54
You know what I'm saying, But as being on council I have learned a little bit more about the situation. 01:00:02
And I just wanted to say, yes, I did make that statement about that a few years ago and even recently I didn't quite understand 01:00:09
that, but I do understand it now. Thank you. 01:00:14
I'm going to turn in real quick. 01:00:22
Sugar is on a CVV board with me. 01:00:24
She has a such a strong, serious passion for Saint Mary's. 01:00:29
And have. 01:00:34
An owner of several businesses in Camden County. 01:00:36
She has a passion to make that island great and I say island, but that property group and. 01:00:44
It's fun to watch. It's fun to hear a story. 01:00:55
She gets excited, but as a councils echoed. We've seen it, we've heard it and I'm I'm excited about what's coming up. 01:00:58
OK. Thank you. All right, now we're ready for a vote. Can I have a motion to perp? 01:01:09
Mr. Riley and I haven't, I'm sorry. I have a second from thank you. Any further discussion? 01:01:14
All in favor, aye. Opposed. 01:01:25
Staying. 01:01:28
Mr. Horton, will you take the lead in contact the Yadas about status and if they need to follow up, we can do that. Thank you, 01:01:31
everyone. All right now. 01:01:37
We have something I think very, very poignant that. 01:01:44
We'd like to bring up and that is a resolution for Saint Mary's Seafarers Memorial for erection of a monument, St. Mary's 01:01:49
Seafarers Memorial Committee. Charlie, did you want to do it? I think maybe it come up to the podium in case we want to introduce 01:01:56
some people. 01:02:02
This is for the Seafarers Memorial. 01:02:18
We do have some folks here. 01:02:21
That this is very special to them, this memorial for those who don't know. 01:02:24
We had three gentlemen that were. 01:02:29
Local here Saint Mary's that were lost at sea. They were on the Carolinas, the boat. 01:02:32
So their their loved ones are looking to not only erect a memorial for them, but over a memorial for anybody that's lost to see. 01:02:41
That's from our area. So it is a respectful memorial. It I don't know if anybody seen the renderings yet it does fit our downtown 01:02:47
area. It's very appropriate. 01:02:53
But they were looking to have Saint Mary's be able to allow them to put it on some public space. 01:03:01
So we've been working through that. They've already, to the best of my knowledge is already spoken with the HPC. They got their 01:03:08
buying and on it. And right now it's still in the conceptual phase. So there's nothing that's permanent yet. They're still working 01:03:15
through that. But we're asking that tonight that you guys discuss it and approve them to go ahead and move forward with that. The 01:03:21
location is about 50 feet to the right of dockside. 01:03:27
It looks appropriate it overseas the vessels that'll be housed there as well as the river. So it is a respectful location for 01:03:35
that, for this monument. 01:03:39
I think we have some changes to the motion that we had in the package. Could you go over those place? 01:03:44
So there were the. 01:03:55
During this, there was the state law that came to our attention and it was if we were to put a memorial anywhere within the public 01:03:57
and that the Saint Mary's had ownership of this, the state law prevents us from ever touching it, moving it, changing it. And so 01:04:04
as much as we want the memorial, we respect the memorial. We just can't predict what in 100 years, that piece of property 01:04:12
downtown, what it's going to look like if we do have to move something, or just what downtown is going to look like. 01:04:19
100 years, we just don't know. So we didn't want to get our hands tied on that. But again, we still want to move forward and make 01:04:27
sure that we're respectful and have this memorial in place. So how we're wording it is essentially we're not going to own the 01:04:33
memorial. We're just going to accept it onto the public property, take care of it, but we're just not going to own it. And that 01:04:38
kind of gets us around that, that that law. 01:04:44
And this thing has a couple different statements in it that actually might be an opportunity for Mr. Black for me to speak to. 01:04:51
Good. Charlie, do you want me to address the small changes that were made today? I think that's appropriate because we're going to 01:05:00
be approving what you put some changes in today's treatment. 01:05:07
It has. Yes, Sir. 01:05:23
The version that's before you use a little different from what was originally in the packet, and it's very minor changes, but it 01:05:26
doesn't change to the bottom of page one. Whereas it originally said that the city was agreeing to perform necessary maintenance 01:05:33
and upkeep for the monument, the current version now states that the city may perform upkeep and maintenance, but that's not to be 01:05:41
construed as ownership because we want to be careful that it's not publicly owned, but we do have the ability to perform. 01:05:48
Maintenance on it and that's not to be construed as an active ownership over it. And then the same is true Section 3 on page 2. 01:05:56
There was a small change to that where it likewise now says that the city may perform upkeep and maintenance, but that's not to be 01:06:02
construed for evidence of ownership. 01:06:07
Clarification, like you think there may be a spokesperson for the group like to come out and say a word or two? Are you willing to 01:06:16
speak for Chris? 01:06:21
That my bicycle was. 01:06:28
Must be in class. 01:06:32
Yes, come on up, folks. 01:06:34
Thank you for being here. 01:06:37
I'm Chris Barlow, Tyler's dad. 01:06:41
This is Kim, his mom. 01:06:44
I would just like to start out by saying thanks to everyone for their time and effort that's been put into this. 01:06:48
It means a lot to us, as I know. I think I can speak to all the other parents and families as well. 01:06:56
And. 01:07:04
You know our sons never came home. 01:07:08
Yeah. So we don't have. 01:07:10
Somewhere to go? 01:07:13
You know, gravesite or anything. 01:07:16
And not that we want this to be a sad place, but it is, you know, it is somewhere that we can visit and the community can visit 01:07:19
and all the volunteers that help us through the search. 01:07:24
And, you know, being uplifting, you know? 01:07:31
Place you know that we can go to remember. 01:07:34
Well I tell you the view scape from the seating is just beautiful. 01:07:39
And that's very appropriate. And oh, there it is where I will do it. Great. OK. 01:07:43
And the anchor, etc. I mean, the theme is just perfect for what we want to do. And we're, we're all going to be In Sync with the 01:07:51
semantics of what we had to put down. But it's we're all in it together and we're going to maintain it like we want. So we thank 01:07:58
you for bringing it to us. And it's very poignant because I. 01:08:06
I've had a couple of you before in some of the business environments and I know. 01:08:15
How it was difficult to see a wife with a, you know, an unborn child having to work and, you know, sharing what happened with 01:08:21
everybody in the restaurant. It was really. 01:08:29
It was appropriate, but it was also very meaningful. We thank you for that. So I don't know what kind of timeline we're looking 01:08:39
at. You guys have any idea what to build out maybe? 01:08:44
Sir, if we could just get their name and. 01:08:50
We Were the 14th is the one year anniversary from when they left and we were hoping we could do a dedication. 01:08:55
On the 14th October. 01:09:04
All right, So we'll try and put that on the website, get it out there and if we could just have your names for the record. 01:09:09
I'm Chris Barlow, Kim Cardinal. Yeah. Shannon Conway. Yeah, OK. Thank you, folks. We really appreciate it. And we look forward to 01:09:17
getting updates on the development of this. And any idea how long it'll take to build out? 01:09:25
It's six, six to eight, Yeah. Once the funds are obtained and it's approved, like I said, it could take up to 8 weeks. Right now, 01:09:35
it's still conceptual. They're still working through some of the. So we're not talking 8 months. Good. OK. 01:09:43
Thank you very much, folks. Charlie, anything else? Thank you. 01:09:52
Thank you. Now just to. 01:09:57
Like I said, in the city, we're just, we're trying to work the best we can to make sure that it's, it's tasteful, it's 01:10:00
appropriate, but that we're, we're not trying to have any closed doors. We're trying to open all doors for them because we, we 01:10:05
understand how sensitive this is. And so I do appreciate you guys coming. And also I'll go ahead and speak the, the names of Tyler 01:10:10
Barlow. 01:10:15
Conway. 01:10:24
Just to show how close it is home. 01:10:25
Caleb's brother works for the city. Just so you know, it does hit home here. So we want, and you know, I'm sure you've heard it 01:10:28
many times, I'd like to express our our sorrow for your loss. 01:10:33
If thank you, Charlie. And I think could we have a motion for acceptance of this cinema Second, I got this. I think I've got Mr. 01:10:42
Jones and Mr. Connor. Is that right? 01:10:49
OK. All right. All in favor. 01:10:58
Oh yeah. Any comments? 01:11:04
Go ahead, go ahead and then I'll make a comment. But no, let me comment now. You know, I just want to say 1 short thing, You know, 01:11:07
I knew those kids. I knew Stevie Conway and I had those kids back when they were in school. I reckon they're not kids anymore. 01:11:13
They'll always be kids to me. 01:11:19
This touches home y'all. 01:11:27
This touches home. 01:11:30
Touches home. 01:11:33
Yeah, only God knows how many times we've prayed for this family. 01:11:34
And we'll continue to pray for this family. 01:11:46
Thank you, Sir. All right. Anyone else? 01:11:52
One other comment I. 01:11:54
My family could understand what you're going through because both of my grandparents lost their lives. 01:11:58
I didn't see out on the Saint Mary's River. 01:12:07
So. 01:12:10
It was a sad time during that was before I was even born. But anytime you lose somebody at sea, it's it's heartbreaking. 01:12:14
Other names can be added to that. 01:12:26
Well, we also, I mean, we also lost another. 01:12:30
Real good friend of mine, Sam Palmer. 01:12:34
Back in 2015. 01:12:37
But. 01:12:40
They found him dead. 01:12:42
Our prayers are with you. 01:12:46
Well, I like the universal. 01:12:49
Approach for this that it can it can recognize more. Thank you anybody else. 01:12:51
All right, So we have a motion on the table. All in favor, aye? Opposed. 01:12:57
Let's say man employer, please mount that as unanimous. Yes, Sir. Thank you very much, folks. 01:13:06
Thank you. All right, so with that, we're going to move on to report of the City Manager. 01:13:12
Good evening Mayor and Council citizens. Thank you everyone that was here for this. We appreciate your attendance. 01:13:20
I. 01:13:41
I have provided council with a full rundown as I normally do with the highlight sections where we've seen changes. The Osborne 01:13:46
Media project. The dedication ceremony has been postponed until sometime in November due to Hurricane Helene. 01:13:54
Which is one we just went through that doesn't take into consideration when when we're dealing with now. 01:14:03
Public Works, we're still working on staffing levels there. Our Police Department. The cadets are in their final two weeks of the 01:14:14
Academy. They will be stated to graduate on Friday, October the 18th at 10:00 AM. Graduation will be held at Three Rivers Church 01:14:22
this Saturday, October 12. Force in Calumby hosting an all you can eat spaghetti fundraiser for the canine unit. 01:14:31
Fundraiser Fundraiser is from 3:00 to 7:00 PM Saint Mary's Police Department answered 2914 calls for service, conducted 1009 01:14:39
security checks and conducted 287 traffic stops. 01:14:47
Go ahead, Mr. Raleigh. I was going to ask at the end, but if you're ready, go ahead. He's ready. 01:14:58
One for sure, one for sure, one for sure, And that's littering citations. 01:15:05
Our fire department, our average response time for fire calls is 4 minutes and one second. EMS calls for 5 minutes and 16 seconds 01:15:13
over the 28 or 24 hours of Hurricane Helene. They answered 58 storm related calls during that period for a total of 319 calls for 01:15:21
September. 01:15:30
And our inspections are building inspections. They had 453 inspections. 01:15:39
67 iron are ENS inspections. 01:15:44
We hope to be announcing in a very short time the grand opening, if you will, ribbon cutting or dedication or whatever we're going 01:15:55
to call it for a commerce part in the next couple weeks. 01:16:01
JDA is heading that up. 01:16:09
So we're excited about that. 01:16:12
Robbie, could I jump ahead about the? 01:16:22
And I'm kind of lost where I am, but Senior Center. 01:16:24
What would you like to know about the same or Sarah Sir? 01:16:33
I didn't understand it wrong. 01:16:39
What you're trying to accomplish with the drawing? Oh, that. That was from several weeks ago. That's the parking lot in the back 01:16:42
of the building. Is it an expansion? It's an addition. 01:16:47
Yes, Sir. OK. I think that was during the time of your surgery, Sir. All right. Thank you. 01:16:56
All right, Hurricane Helene. 01:17:07
City of Saint Mary's suffered 90% of the city was without power, 17 or 75 list stations were down. Generators and bypass pumps 01:17:10
were deployed. We had 15 trees that were down in the roadway, cross driveways that were wrapped up in power lines, but we had a 01:17:17
whole bunch more trees. 01:17:24
Our debris removal contractor as of Saturday evening has removed 3351.9 cubic yards of debris so far. That's as of Saturday night. 01:17:33
They continue, they've worked all through the weekend and they will continue through until Wednesday evening. Depending on the 01:17:48
weather and how the storm plays out, If we start seeing winds come in, that may be the only thing that stuff prevents them from 01:17:56
working through Wednesday. The GMA generator grant that we started pursuing in 2017 that we recently were awarded. 01:18:04
Just as a reminder for Council was for four 100K W portable generators with switch gears at a cost of $85,000 apiece. 01:18:14
We also have 448 kW generators to include switch gears at a cost of $50,000 each and one fixed 250 kW generator with switch gear 01:18:26
for $250,000. Those generators Sir. 01:18:35
Finish up. I'm sorry. OK. Those generators are going through the process of procurement. These are federal funds coming down from 01:18:46
the from FEMA to JIMA and out to the public. If you remember back in 2017, we had that several emergencies. The way the generator 01:18:54
grant works is you put in for it when monies are not spent. 01:19:02
For disasters by JIMA that there's money allocated through FEMA, that money is put into a pot and when they can do a generator 01:19:11
grant, they open it up. We have been awarded and those were going through that process. Is there a match I mean? 01:19:20
I don't understand remember how much. 01:19:31
There is a match. 01:19:38
Right. 01:19:43
OK. Yes, Sir. We purchased some generators for the lift stations in that yes. So we we currently have some generators and a couple 01:19:45
of well. 01:19:51
Two currently 2 generators. 01:20:01
Those proposal grant. 01:20:07
I'm sorry. 01:20:16
13 and 15 are where we're doing the force main increase and there's work at there. We're we're improving several of our lift 01:20:19
stations currently. 01:20:23
Lift station 1 and 1B, am I right to say that right, the station 1 and 1B which is back over, back over in this area, we are 01:20:30
actually increasing the size of the pumps and motors there? 01:20:36
Currently and there's also work at 13 and 15 and there's several of our lift stations are being reworked. 01:20:43
And then just to clarify, most of those funds came from either investigation head? 01:20:49
Yes, yeah, yeah. 01:20:55
OK, let's talk about Hurricane Milton. 01:20:59
Fair and sideways, as citizens can see. 01:21:02
Everybody's been watching the news, I know. If you're not, please do. 01:21:06
Because currently Hurricane Milton is forecasted to make line rainfall sometime Wednesday evening. And where in the area of Tampa 01:21:10
Bay as a Category 3. 01:21:15
Currently it has gone from a Category 1 to a category five, and six hours is fine. 01:21:20
OK, is intensified very quickly and it's beginning its track. 01:21:27
Saint Mary's is forecasted St. Mary's is forecasted forecasted to start failing tropical force winds sometime Wednesday midday. 01:21:34
We can expect 30 to 40 mile an hour winds around 5 inches of rain through the event and the possible storm surge of two to five 01:21:46
feet at the waterfront. 01:21:51
Sandbag operations are underway and have have been all day today and we'll be again tomorrow from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM. It has been 01:21:58
on our Facebook and on our website. 01:22:03
Additional generators have already been ordered through JIMA. 01:22:10
Fueling and servicing of equipment to be ready for the storm as well underway and we'll be wrapping that up probably sometime 01:22:14
tomorrow. 01:22:17
Folks, please stay tuned to trusted weather sources and the National Hurricane Center in the upcoming days for the latest weather 01:22:22
developments, as well as Camden County EMA and the City of Saint Mary's website and Facebook pages as the storm progresses. 01:22:30
Council, I provided you with a map that's got all kinds of pretty colors. The reason I wanted to show that to you and I'll be 01:22:40
happy to let this pass around it shows the tropical force winds I. 01:22:46
It's going to reach well above us to the point it's going to get real close to making with tropical force winds, so. 01:22:54
They're very, very concerned with it and watching it. I'm not a, I'm not a meteorologist by no shape or imagination, but it's very 01:23:05
concerning. 01:23:10
OK. That concludes that part of that. 01:23:16
And our last council meeting. 01:23:22
At our last council meeting, council tasked me with a directive to work on a travel and training policy. I have done that and I 01:23:30
have provided that to council. 01:23:37
Do you want me to read it? Do you have? 01:23:47
I think, I think we have it for consideration and. 01:23:55
At the next council meeting we can discuss. Unless you want to do it now, that's fine. 01:24:00
Following up with the Storm update, I'm OK kicking it to the next meeting unless we want to hash it out now. 01:24:13
I'm I'm I've provided. That's where I am. 01:24:20
We can line item, line item is. So it's on the agenda going through that. 01:24:24
All right. Thank you. I'll do that if you. 01:24:32
Behind the clerk. I'll have it, I'll have it. 01:24:35
Now if you're good. 01:24:41
I'll, I'll get there. I've got another 36 hour mission ahead of me. So yeah, I'm fine. All right, so we're going to move the 01:24:45
granting audience to the public. And again, I ask you to come up and give your name and address and respect the five minute time 01:24:50
limit. Thank you. 01:24:55
Larry White, 102 Sylvia's Court. 01:25:11
I'd like to give a shout out to the public works workers. They worked at the public works facility. 01:25:14
Before our last hurricane I went to get some sandbags and they were kind enough to help load them into my car for me so I wouldn't 01:25:22
have to do it myself. Today I went to the public sports department and got more sandbags. And perchance is only like 12:15 this 01:25:30
afternoon and I can't remember the gentleman's name. He's one of the public works workers. 01:25:38
That cut his. 01:25:47
Lunch hour short so he could come out and help load this one woman's car and load my car with sandbags. So big shout out to the 01:25:48
Public Works department for helping the senior citizens. And if you haven't noticed, I am a senior citizen. 01:25:55
No, the other person I'd like to give a big shout out to is Tom Canning, 'cause he ran, he ran. Him and his volunteer group ran 01:26:04
the candidate forum of the city of Saint Mary's and for several other, he also ran up for Kingsland and from for the county. You 01:26:13
ran it. But you know there's a big shout out for the job he did and providing the information to the voters. 01:26:21
And if you haven't registered a voter, you're late. 01:26:31
That name was the last day to register to vote in the state of Georgia. 01:26:34
So hopefully you've already registered to vote. Make sure you vote. 01:26:38
Last thing I want to mention. 01:26:43
I was not opposed to the memorandum of understanding for the for the Gateway Property Group. If you listen to what I said, what I 01:26:45
said is in the memorandum of understanding, if it's not brought up within 90 days before it expires, then it automatically renews. 01:26:53
So it's either if the developer or the city of Saint Mary's to bring it up to the City Council. So I think the city manager ought 01:27:00
to put on his. 01:27:07
Before the expiration of that Moe that you're bringing up again. Otherwise it's going to automatically renew and maybe you want to 01:27:16
do it that way. Thank you. 01:27:21
Yes, ma'am. 01:27:34
Hi Council members, My name is Kathy Herzl and I live at 101 Grouper Way, St. Mary's. 01:27:36
As we focus on ways to build a stronger, more sustainable community, I'm here to request your support for funding a small scale 01:27:44
community garden in Saint Mary's. This garden will not only serve as a local resource for fresh produce, but also as a platform to 01:27:51
engage residents in sustainable practices and environmental stewardship. 01:27:58
I believe that with an initial investment from the city in the form of land use, we can create a space that brings people 01:28:06
together, fosters community involvement and sets the stage for future eco friendly initiatives like composting. This small step 01:28:12
can make a big impact on enhancing our communities well-being. 01:28:19
Thank you for considering this request. I look forward to your support. 01:28:26
Thank you, beautiful. You're not supposed to. I'll come back to you at the end of the game. 01:28:31
Who's next? 01:28:41
Yes, ma'am, Kelly Scofflet, 84 Oyster Cove. 01:28:47
Kelly Stofflet. 01:28:53
On the Board of Elections, and I just want to announce to everyone that early voting starts on Tuesday, October 15th. Thank you. 01:28:55
OK, I have to talk to you afterwards. Sorry. 01:29:03
Yes, Sir. 01:29:17
Bert. Bert Seals. 01:29:23
816 Riverview Dr. I thought Mr. I want to add on to what Mr. White said in terms of Mr. Tom Cannon. I'm hoping that we will 01:29:25
provide a space for him to do his forums at the the new City Hall, because I think it's kind of, it'd be nice to have that done. 01:29:34
And I thought I was gonna mention that to you guys. So keep that in mind. Thank you. 01:29:43
OK. 01:30:01
Kelly, excuse me, Kathy, excuse me, just can, can you come up and talk about? 01:30:04
On the Comedian Garden, do you have a committee already? A small group of people just just just starting this up? 01:30:13
Would you want her to work with Mr. Williams on this? OK. 01:30:20
If you can get your Mr. Williamson, he could talk a little bit about how things work when your meeting is over. That'd be great, 01:30:25
Kelly. 01:30:30
You can stay there. 01:30:37
Voting is 730 right, not 7:00. 01:30:41
For the early voting, yeah. For early voting, it's 7:30 and. 01:30:45
Till 5:30 and then there. 01:30:51
There's A and that as it's Saturday, every Saturday, or. 01:30:55
Just so while we got people there, we have a lot of people online so we can. 01:31:04
Let me pull up the actual date so I don't mess anything up. 01:31:10
Saturday, October 19th and Saturday, October 26th. 01:31:21
There was one Sunday and Sunday, October 20th. That Sunday is from 1:00 to 5:00 at the annex only. 01:31:27
Good. All right, folks. You heard it fresh from here. It's great, all right. 01:31:36
Thank you very much. Both of you appreciate it. All right, so. 01:31:45
We are. 01:31:50
Down to asking our city clerk to give us a calendar review. 01:31:54
Yes Sir, on Tuesday, October 8th at 5:30 PM here in Council Chambers, the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, October 10th at 01:32:01
9:30 AM in the Main Street Office they have moved from Council Chambers to the Main Street Office is the Orange Hall Management 01:32:07
Committee meeting. Also on Thursday, October 10th at 5:00 PM in the Main Street Office is the Saint Mary's Intercoastal Gateway 01:32:13
meeting on Friday, October 11th at 9:00. 01:32:20
Is Saint Mary's Municipal Court trials followed by the 11:00 plan arraignments on Monday, October the 14th at 8:30 AM in the Main 01:32:27
Street office is the Downtown Development Authority meeting. 01:32:32
And on Thursday, October the 17th, we have at 5:00 PM here in Council Chambers the Master Plan update followed by the 6:00 PM 01:32:37
fourth quarter Town Hall meeting. And on Monday, October the 21st, 1st at 6:00 PM here in Council Chambers, City Council meeting. 01:32:45
OK. All right. 01:32:53
Mr. Jones, I want to start with you for Council comments. 01:32:56
OK. First of all, with that Kathy, talking about the garden, I mean, we used to have a community garden and I had several people 01:33:00
from my church. 01:33:06
Asked why we. 01:33:13
Shut it down because it it did provide a lot of. 01:33:16
Good thing for a lot of people. Plus it was a place for people to network and just and just socialize. 01:33:21
So I think that's a great idea. 01:33:30
People have been calling me. 01:33:34
The last couple of days, ever since Milton was pronounced a storm, what are you going to do about the debris on the side of the 01:33:38
road and you got another storm coming along? Well, it's I guess common sense would tell you just leave it alone and wait till the 01:33:46
storm Milton passed and just replenish your power. 01:33:54
There's nothing we can do to stop the storm from coming and we don't have the manpower. 01:34:03
To get the debris up before. 01:34:09
This storm comes upon us. 01:34:13
I just want to. 01:34:16
Thank our Public Works Department. 01:34:19
For the job that they did during this, the last hurricane along with Saint Mary's PD and I think some of them are kind of 01:34:23
aggravated me because I was riding around in places when I should have been home listening to Robbie on the. 01:34:33
On the Internet and I also want to give out a shout out for you Robbie. When people call and want to have questions, I told them 01:34:45
that you were giving. 01:34:50
Every two or three hours you were on letting them know what was going on, what would be happening and where they could take care 01:34:57
of some some needs. So I just want to thank everybody for that and let them know to be safe. We haven't had any major. 01:35:07
Hurricane to hit our area, but please don't take this one for granted. I went to Valdosta to a football game, it was Saturday. 01:35:18
And it was devastating from Homer Ville. Well, Waycross is torn up too, but **** Bill and Valdosta youth trees and just crushing 01:35:30
houses. And it can be this way here. So let's take every precaution and don't do anything that's that's crazy because. 01:35:41
We can't control Mother Nature and but again, Robbie. 01:35:54
Chief. 01:35:59
And Bobby, let's repeat what we did for the last hurricane. 01:36:00
Oh yeah, yeah. 01:36:08
Thank you, Sir. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to leave you out. You're the most important person. 01:36:10
Oh man, I think I'm getting old. I need to rescue it. 01:36:21
I think you're just going sideways with this. 01:36:27
You know already already just about took everything you know that I was going to say I tell you the the way the city of Saint 01:36:30
Mary's worked in this per se bad time of the year with with a a small catastrophe in our area. Thank the Lord. 01:36:39
To my knowledge, we didn't have anybody die. And that's, that's huge. And thank the Lord that everybody was safe, you know, coming 01:36:48
through this thing. But but the way that public public works did and, and, and in our Police Department and our fire department. 01:36:56
All of our departments did they, they were just totally awesome. And you know, I remember the last time we had a storm. 01:37:06
Come across. 01:37:15
State of Florida from from the bend there, it wasn't very good for us. Matter of fact, it was only a tropical storm and it messed 01:37:19
up Marina pretty bad. Matter of fact that it tore up the whole gosh doggett thing. So you know, I, I, I certainly don't want to 01:37:27
take take this storm that we're dealing with lightly. 01:37:35
To be honest with you, I I sure hope it doesn't shift N more and and. 01:37:43
That we're in the huge cone of concern, but hopefully after this one comes through, we're done for the year. It wouldn't hurt my 01:37:49
feelings any to see that. But I want to say thank you to the people that come here every time we have a City Council meeting. 01:37:57
And if you're not here, what's? 01:38:07
I just have a comment to make real quick. Sure about all the brush that's on the streets. Is there a way maybe have somebody like 01:38:10
a farmer or something that? 01:38:16
Is there a way to put that information out to the community where they could pick it up? 01:38:24
We. 01:38:29
Go ahead. 01:38:37
But hey, that's about it. That's about all I got. But but I tell you something, thank you all so very much for everything y'all 01:38:49
did y'all y'all work together and you probably have some restless nights and. 01:38:55
I know Bobby probably did in our place, Chief, everybody, our fire department, the whole 9 yards. Thank you all so much and. 01:39:02
Bobby, I mean Robbie and, and, and everybody, we appreciate you. Thank you, appreciate you too. 01:39:11
OK, so. 01:39:19
Going back to the, you know, the storm, I feel like our city did a great job, you know, with storm clean up information to the 01:39:22
public all the way around. You know, I personally was, you know, disappointed my power was out for four days. And I know some 01:39:28
people didn't have a power outage, some got it back on sooner and some had it out longer. So it's a miserable experience not 01:39:35
having power for four days. But, you know, it could have been worse and. 01:39:41
You know, it was really eye opening when I took a trip to a different football game this past Saturday and I went up to Athens. 01:39:48
As soon as I got on State Road 15, and if you've ever driven that, it's rural Georgia. There's a lot of rural towns. You know that 01:39:54
right? About two hours after what you get on State Route 15. 01:39:59
There were trees down everywhere. You know, we had power trucks and bucket trucks to storm power. They had the dot still there 01:40:05
just trying to make sure the roads were safe to travel because there was trees hanging over the road still this much later. I 01:40:10
think I drove over at least 4 power lines that he just had leaving in the road on State Road 15. So those people do not have 01:40:16
power. I probably saw at least 15 trees still on top of power lines. So our response though, we feel it could have been better. It 01:40:21
was great. 01:40:27
And I just want to be thankful and just remind every day we're blessed and we had a great response. And you know, while it wasn't 01:40:33
comfortable, it was still could have been a lot, lot worse. So just thanks everybody involved in in our response here in southeast 01:40:40
Jordan. Thank you. Yes, Sir. Yeah, there's I echo all those comments on on the storms. Our city staff did just a tremendous job 01:40:46
and the. 01:40:53
The this storm is well taken care of and here they are. They haven't even got a chance to get rested up from that storm and we're 01:41:01
facing another one. That's the time of the year. 01:41:05
I'm going to use a personal example of why it's important that you not ignore one of these storms. 01:41:12
My youngest daughter lives up in Swannanoa, which is right next door to Asheville, NC. They haven't seen a storm in 100 years. 01:41:20
Anything to match that would have had any flooding. She's now at our house, working from home, her old home as it is, but she's 01:41:34
not going to have the water up at her house for another month probably. Electricity was supposed to come on today. So those people 01:41:44
up there are hurting and many of them then take the storm seriously. And the hurting more than. 01:41:53
Than they would have. So it's really is an important thing for us to pay attention to the warnings. 01:42:03
Listen to what has to be done so we don't have to face that she's like the she was, she was able to. 01:42:07
Get through the storm with her house, fine, but it's not much good that there's no power, no water. So. 01:42:17
Another thing I wanted to mention is the stormwater presentation. I don't know how many you got an opportunity to listen to that 01:42:24
tonight, but but I thought it was an excellent presentation, gave our citizens a superb opportunity to learn why. 01:42:33
What we do with that stormwater ordinance and those type things are so important to the city and it managed to save save us money 01:42:41
now in our flood insurance. And you know we've got that CRS rating down at six and that's important. By the way, if you haven't 01:42:51
weren't able to attend the meeting earlier, I understand that it's been recorded and it's on the website so. 01:43:00
Encourage you to take a look at it and. 01:43:09
Our community development director did just an excellent job in presenting that. So thank you. And that's not the last thing I had 01:43:12
here. 01:43:17
Now the Seafarer Memorial. I was really pleased to see that we could. 01:43:22
Get that approved conceptually here this evening because I think that'll be an important thing. And for the city to have that 01:43:29
memorial down at right on the waterfront overlook overlook in the marsh and for people to go there and especially people that have 01:43:37
lost a family member or a friend at sea like that. So appreciate it. Thank you. 01:43:44
My comments. I'd like to echo what everyone else said, I do want to. 01:43:52
Right after Helene went through. 01:44:01
Under Chief Galloway, Chief Wagner. 01:44:05
Angela Witter. 01:44:09
Bobby. 01:44:10
OK, pretty much the whole entire. 01:44:12
Contingent and Bobby and Ravi and and Charlie and. 01:44:17
And it was the wise words of the. 01:44:26
Chief Galloway echoed to me that. 01:44:29
Can we postpone the festival and I? 01:44:34
Was right on board with that because I. 01:44:38
Lived in my house for 90 hours with a wife and three daughters. 01:44:42
And they were champions. They didn't complain much, but but you know what? I. 01:44:50
Thanks to the hard work of Candace and Angela and all them. 01:44:58
And this department heads, we're moving the festival from this last Saturday to Saturday, November 16th. So hopefully after this 01:45:04
storm we'll have everything cleaned up so we can have a festival and but, but it takes teamwork and communication and we're very 01:45:12
blessed in our community. 01:45:20
And by the way, I love the burden idea and. But anyways, that's all I have. Yes, ma'am. 01:45:29
Wonderful. First of all, the food. I said food, the food program. That's a great idea. I do think you need to make sure that the 01:45:38
nutritional value of the seniors is met. There's an opportunity to expand that because I really think that it would be nice for 01:45:46
the seniors to be able to interact with students and there are other cities where they actually have the meals with the students 01:45:53
and I think that creates a great social. 01:46:01
Opportunity. So that's just something to think about. 01:46:08
Umm, yeah, because you're, you're taking care of a lot of things, food insecurity, you know, healthy meals and it's very 01:46:12
innovative thinking. So thank you. 01:46:16
Again, I just want to touch on the fact that it's really important for us as a city that we have. 01:46:24
Projects in which we're going to help to broaden our tax base and as well as our tourism and I want to thank the citizens that 01:46:32
did. 01:46:37
You know, speak up and voice their concerns. So I think it's our job to listen. 01:46:42
We have, you know, we work in two areas here as elected officials. 1 is where advocates. And then on the other hand, we're also 01:46:48
trustees. And when we act as a trustee, we don't always. We may have information that you don't have and sometimes we may have to 01:46:54
make decisions based off of information that for whatever reason you may not have. But with that said, we could always do a better 01:47:00
job of making sure that we keep you all informed. 01:47:07
So I think that the discussion around that project. 01:47:14
May have been avoided. We can always do a better job of communicating better. 01:47:18
This memorial is, in my opinion, a true representation of community. Those family members are not here, but I do want to thank 01:47:25
them for trusting us with that project. And I see that as something that could be a legacy for those young men because others that 01:47:32
may fought, unfortunately, we don't want to have others. But you know, that's the opportunity to identify others, maybe not loss 01:47:38
of life, maybe other types of heroes. 01:47:45
In that situation, the community garden anytime there's no grocery store within a mile. 01:47:53
And there's more than a population of more than 500. It's considered a food desert. And believe it or not, we actually have food 01:48:01
deserts in Saint Mary's and in Camden County. And some of our, you know, what we might consider a wealthier community. So 01:48:09
Cumberland Harbor, for example, is in a food desert. So that's something to consider. So thank you very much for bringing that. 01:48:17
Opportunity to work on something within the community. 01:48:27
As far as the storm goes. 01:48:31
I think we all know that we, we kind of missed we, we dodged a bullet with that one. But please make sure that you're prepared and 01:48:34
ready for this next storm. 01:48:40
And I'm sure that we have some key learnings from this last storm that we'll be able to apply as a city, I'm sure. So thank them 01:48:47
for everything that they did do during that time. 01:48:54
Come out right. Thank you guys for everything that you did, not that you did that wasn't meant to be a negative thing. 01:49:01
Thank you for every all the work during that time because I know many people that work for 30 hours straight and without a break. 01:49:08
So thank you guys for for that. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's just due to old age. Thank you all for being here 01:49:15
and hope everybody has a great rest of their week very quickly. 01:49:22
With what's coming, everyone, please be safe. 01:49:31
And we will do our utmost to make sure that you're all as as protected as we can make. 01:49:35
Make it possible and so thanks for that you heard about the seafood festival thank you for the day that was really outstanding to 01:49:41
be able to respond that quickly for that project and and finally you know you'll always hear it from us I. 01:49:50
October 15th. 01:50:00
As the start of early about early voting and voting day is November 5th, so and you know wait, I'm sure they'll welcome you at the 01:50:02
at the voting booth scenario and I would also encourage you if you've never worked at a precinct I. 01:50:12
Please consider working at a precinct that let the let the election committee know about that. I did it in North Kingstown for a 01:50:22
long time. It was a lot of fun and see see the same faces every year and. 01:50:28
They really care about their community and go there to vote. So. All right. And with that, could I have a motion to adjourn? 01:50:36
Second. All right, Mr. Ingram and a second from Mr. Jones. All in favor, Aye, opposed. 01:50:43
Abstain, Madam Clerk. That's unanimous. 01:50:52