The first order of business at the Griffin City Commissioners Meeting Tuesday evening April 12th:
The Commissioners:
Approved: a Proclamation declaring the week of April 17-23, 2016 to be Georgia Cities Week and incorporate this year’s theme of “Go to Town” for this year’s planned events. The Georgia Municipal Association and its member municipalities have joined together for a week of planned activities each year that help to educate our youth and the general public about services and programs offered by the City.
Approved: a Proclamation declaring April 19, 2016 to be Griffin Lineman Appreciation Day. Griffin Lineman Appreciation Day will coincide with Georgia Lineman Appreciation Day and National lineman Appreciation Day. It is an opportunity to recognize the contributions, dedication and commitment of Griffin Power’s linemen and convey the City’s gratitude for their tireless efforts to keep the power flowing to all citizens.
Approved: a Joint Proclamation with Spalding County to welcome Toppan Printing Company, Ltd., a Japan-based manufacturing firm, to Griffin and Spalding County.
Toppan Printing Company opened April 7th and is a 127,000 square foot facility located on 35-acres within the Lakes at Green Valley Industrial Park on Gerogia Highway 16. This facility is the company’s first transparent barrier film manufacturing site outside of Japan. They produce unique packaging solutions for food, and medical and electronic applications for manufacturers in North America and Europe.
The Commissioners: Recognized Lorna Walters , Customer Service Representative with the Customer Service/Electric Department, as the March 2016 “Strongest Link” award recipient.
After completing her training to be Customer Service Phone Room Representative, one phone representative went on sick leave and never came back and another phone representative got promoted. This left Lorna the only phone representative in the Phone room for the next five months. Shorthanded, and overwhelmed with calls for service and calls to make payments via credit cards, Lorna remained positive, professional and courteous to all customers. The city now has “Invoice Cloud” in place which has alleviated a great number of the calls to make credit card payments. And they have a new Phone Room employee who has just finished her training and is a great help to Lorna. For her dedication and service during trying times Lorna Walters is nominated for the “Strongest Link” award.
The “Strongest Link” Award is given monthly to a deserving employee who has demonstrated excellent performance and productivity, loyalty, professional pride, and other noteworthy accomplishments. The recognized employee receives one day off with pay, a gift certificate from a local restaurant, a “Strongest Link” plaque, and the symbolic “chain”, which he or she will be the custodian of until a subsequent employee is recognized.
The Commissioners Approved: A request for a special use permit to allow the use of a single family dwelling unit in the Planned Commercial Development zoning district for property located at 215 S. 11th Street, submitted by Doug Lane. The applicant has attempted to rent/lease the property with no interest from buyers while marketing as a commercial use. However, Mr. Lane has had interest from clients wanting to utilize the structure as a residence. Rather than advising Mr. Lane to apply for a rezoning, which would create a situation of spot zoning, staff and the city attorney felt the best option would be to allow a special use permit. The zoning will remain commercial, but will allow Mr. Lane to lease/sell the property as residential.
The Commissioners Approved: a request for a special use permit to allow a funeral home to operate in the property located at 847 N. 9th Street, submitted by Charles M. Burden. The present zoning of the property requires a special use permit to allow a funeral home to operate in this district. The existing development of the property as a church has allowed for funeral services to be conducted at this location in the past.
Also Approved: to implement an Internet Master Service Agreement that sets the terms and
conditions for selling Internet bandwidth to customer businesses and authorize staff to negotiate pricing with business customers per individual needs with a service agreement. This newly proposed practice of utilizing the City of Griffin fiber optic network for providing Internet Services to businesses will bring long term financial gains to the City of Griffin.
Approved: to direct MEAG Power to place 100% of the City’s 2015 MEAG Power Year-End Settlement refund of $1,693,530 into the City’s MEAG Municipal Competitive Trust Flexible
Operating Account – Short-Term Portfolio and authorize execution of the MEAG Power Projects 2015 Year-End Settlement Election Form by City Commission Chair and City Manager.
Approved: to direct MEAG Power to place 100% of the City’s 2015 MEAG Telecommunications Year-End Settlement refund of $4,153.00 into the City’s MEAG Municipal Competitive Trust Flexible Operating Account – Short-Term Portfolio and authorize execution of the MEAG Power Telecommunications 2015 Year-End Settlement Election Form by the Commission Chair and City Manager.
The Commissioners Approved and Authorized : the draw down of up to and not to exceed $2.5 million from the City of Griffin’s MEAG Municipal Competitive Trust Short-term Portfolio in incremental draws as needed for certain purchases and maintenance, and amend the budget accordingly.
Projects include: $409,560 for property acquisition; $1,465,000 for One Griffin Center HVAC replacement and elevator upgrades; $380,000 for One Griffin Center building repairs, painting and elevator repairs; $245,440 as contingency for unanticipated issues with repair/installation/acquisition services; plumbing replacements at the Police Dept ($30,000) and Welcome Center HVAC and moisture repairs ($137,000).
The Commissioners Approved: acceptance of a 100% no matching required grant from the Central Georgia EMC Foundation in the amount of $1,620 and amend the budget accordingly. Funds will be used to teach Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support, and Pediatric Advanced Life Support to Emergency Medical Technicians at Griffin Fire-Rescue.
Approved: to accept a grant in the amount of $15,770.25 from the Firehouse Subs Foundation, Inc., for the purpose of purchasing seven (7) Automatic External Defibriallators, and amend budget accordingly. The defibrillators will be placed in staff cars, all-terrain vehicles, and bike patrol for special events.
Approved: to accept a grant in the amount of $950 from Southern Rivers Energy EMC to fund a Child Car Seat Technician Class, sponsored by Griffin Fire-Rescue, and amend the budget accordingly. Class to be offered to Griffin firefighters and their our mutual aid partners at Spalding County Fire and Spalding Regional EMS. Lamar County will be invited to attend as they are the seat of this funding outlet.
Approved: the Supervisual Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) System for Potato Creek Wastewater Plant upgrade and expansion to MR Systems, Inc. in the amount of $193,786.00 for the Water and Wastewater Department.
The SCADA system communicates the function and operations of the plant to the operators and to Sys Ops for the day-to-day performance and communications.
Approved: to purchase a 20 Ton Drop-Deck trailer from JME Sales, Inc in the amount of $18,825.00 for the Stormwater Department of the Public Works and Utilities Department. Lowest and best negotiated bid. The dump trailer is used for small tight construction sites where a large truck cannot traverse the area.
Approved: a supplemental agreement for a Local Maintenance Improvement Grant (LMIG) 2016 for Highway Safety with the Georgia Department of Transportation for line striping of City streets in certifying the Rights of Way and the submittal request for the Department of Public Works.
GDOT has additional funding in 2016 for traffic safety. This is a 70% state matching program with the city matching 30%. Line striping of about 25 miles will be completed with this program.
Approved: to surplus a Golf Course Toro 5 Gang Mower and approved to direct sale the mower to Hickory Hills Golf Course in the amount of $1000. This is a pull-behind unit which has been scrapped for over 20 years. Hickory Hills Golf Course has offered $1000 for the unit. Surplus price value is $1,000.
No action was taken on the 2016 Spring Campaign for the Service Line Warranties of America (SLWA) program offered to City of Griffin residents. Commissioner Cora Flowers had left the meeting early and the other 6 commissioners voted 3/3 on this agenda item.
This program is sponsored in conjunction with the National League of Cities. Basically it is an insurance program for water/wastewater service line repairs going from residents’ homes to the meters or for wastewater from the homes to the sewer main. Currently there are 239 residents with a policy in place for wastewater line repairs, and 164 residents have a policy for water line repairs. Today the SLWA warranty program has 100% customer satisfaction. The City of Griffin’s royalty for 2015 was $3,216.08 in additional revenue to the water and wastewater budget.