Meeting discussionsStart with a topic.

business. Um, we have four items. The first under formal business is item A, authorization to purchase a 2027 Ford

F550 4x4 6.7 L diesel Osage Super Warrior type 1 transport capable rescue. It's a mouthful. in the amount of 480,000 to be purchased from 108 Fire and Safety in for Scythe, Georgia using the Florida Sheriff's Bid funded by the vehicle replacement fund and allow finance to amend the budget appropriately and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related documents. This uh item has been tabled twice uh in order for us to get some questions answered. Um and so if you've got any background, Miss Robinson, we'd love to hear it. Yes. Just um real quick, um this is um replacing rescue 4 because it was approaching its end of service life. Um total cost is $490,000. And we are going to equip one of our rescue units with transport capabilities to be able if needed to transport critically ill or injured patients in emergencies. Um once approved, it'll take about 12 months to build and be delivered to the city. And the fire department recommends approval of this item. Like to open up for council to make any comments or I I'd like to make a comment and I I guess the reason it was delayed was because of me. I had several questions about it, but the chief came tonight and I I tell you what changed my mind on this and I I envisioned this. You've seen it many times on television where firefighters have fought a fire and worked a fire and just been exhausted to the point of of fatigue and almost passing out. And and I I envision one of these firefighters sitting on the ground and I thought, you know, if we can do anything that'll make this a more comfortable transition for our police and fire, um I I think we should. and and that's what convinced me to do this and support this issue. I'd like to if nobody else has any questions, I'll make a motion to approve. Anybody else have any questions or comments? All right, we have a motion to approve item A by Mr. Welsh. I have a second. Second goes to Council. All those in favor, please vote. That's approved. 70.

Item B, authorization to amend the fiscal year 2027 adopted general fund budget to increase the parks maintenance departmental budget in the amount of

$55,788 to provide funding for the acquisition of equipment needed for the Campbell Middle School property. And this is uh this is Campbell Middle School recreation um area that we've gotten in a deal with the school district for. And this allows uh for the equipment for our staff to keep up the maintenance. Is there any other background? Just that this was approved on the July 20th agenda. And this is just the housekeeping to clean up the budget amendment. Any questions or comments from council? I'll entertain a motion to approve item B. So moved by Mr. Oglesby, second by Mr. Gold. Everyone, please vote.

That's approved. 70. Item C is also a a budget cleanup u item authorization to amend the fiscal year 2027 adopted

budget for the vehicle replacement fund to increase the police vehicles project in the amount of $182,36 for the purchase of four Dodge Durango SUVs. Additional authorization to amend the federal confiscated as assets. Fiscal year 2027 adopted budget to increase the capital outlay vehicles expenditure budget in the amount of $88,95360 to outfit for Dodge Durango SUVs. Mr. Robinson, same as the last item. This was approved on the July 20th agenda and this is just cleaning up the budget amendment. There's no discussion. I'll entertain a motion. Move approval by Mr. Lindley, second by Miss Wilkinson. Everyone, please vote.

And that's approved. 70. And then item D is the item that we added, which is closing King Street until keeping King Street closed to vehicular traffic until further notice. Uh, but available for food trucks and that type of thing for festivals. May I have a motion to approve item D? So moved by Mr. Lley, second by Mr. Pickkins. Everyone, please vote. And that's approved. 70. I'm really glad we did that, y'all. That that needs to remain more pedestrian friendly like it's been that there's so many people coming to our downtown. So, good good thing we did there. Item 10 is the consent agenda. M. Robinson, can you please read the consent agenda for council approval? Yes. Item A, MIN2026-161, approval of August 3rd, 2026 preconsil meeting minutes. Item B, Min 2026-163 approval of the August 3rd Mayor Council minutes. Item C, authorization 2026-104, authorization to amend the previously approved road closure for the Smyrna Public Safety Foundation in Vineyard Wine Market Jazz Under the Stars event on Saturday, November 7th, 2026 to include the closure of King Street from Bank Street to Steven Street in front of City Hall. Thank you, Mr. Robinson. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So, move by Mr. Lindley, second by Miss Hines. Everyone, please vote. And that's approved. 70. We're now to the citizen participation uh portion of our meeting. Uh item 11 is public comment. We have three citizens here to speak. First is Stefan Becker, 1513 Roswell Street Southeast in Ward 3. Thank you. You uh pronounced my name correctly the first try. It's always appreciate that. Um so, Mayor Norton and members of the council, um on December 15th, 2025, this council called a public hearing before reszoning half an acre for one house. It called three more before letting restaurants pour beer. It called none before approving 154 cameras, a surveillance trailer, two drones for the next 10 years.

That was $5.7 million. It was handled as a purchase. The staff issue sheet is two paragraphs and a 10-year billing schedule. Nowhere in it is there one question about data sharing, retention, or audits. You decided how to pay for them. What the record does not show is anyone deciding whether Smyrna wanted them. The a few weeks ago my neighbors raised this and the answers from this dis was that people who are not doing anything wrong have nothing to worry about and that internal controls prevent misuse. This summer 10 Georgia officers at four agencies were fired for running flock searches on people they knew. Seven were criminally charged. Every one of those agencies had internal controls. An audit caught each case afterwards, which means nothing prevented it. And the people they tracked were not doing anything wrong either. So, I'm asking for a hearing on this contract with the agreement, the use policy, and the audit logs published before it. At pre-consel that night, your own city administrator called it a non-appropriations clause that allows the city to exit this agreement for any reason so you can afford to hear from us first. If you will not reopen a contract you have already signed, then put the rules in writing. Call it an ordinance or a policy. Define what they can be used for, who can search them, who it is shared with, how long it is kept, and who audits it. Cameras will come and go. written rules are what outlast them. I'm asking for a hearing. And also just to thank you guys. I put in some open records requests this week and you guys have done a lot of hard work to respond to them. Thank you so much. All right. Next, we've got I'm going to butcher this. A Hearnen is Huh? A Okay. My apologies. It's okay. It's all right.

I got to read handwriting and try to pronounce it right. That's not an easy I got kind of doctor's handwriting on there as well too. But hopefully, you know, y'all get adjusted to seeing my name on there. But I want to say thank y'all. Uh, good evening. My name is AJ Hearnen once again. And um, I'm here speaking in regards to the same thing my colleague, a fellow member of this community has concerns on. Um, across the country, communities are raising serious concerns about these automated license plate readers. Flock being one of the leading provider of these types of automatic license plate readers in our communities and a lot of concerns in terms of how this data is retained, how it's shared, who has access to it. All these concerns are hypothetical. Officers around the country, let me hold it up here like this. Including here in Georgia, have been disciplined, fired, investigated, or arrested over alleged misuse of these systems. Block has responded by strengthening its safeguards. But some of these protections, including its audit assistance program, were previously optional. Our civil liberties should not depend on the policies of private companies. And simply replacing Flock doesn't solve the problem. Other companies provide the same technology. Meanwhile, public safety agencies are adapting adopting dr, pardon me, drones, facial recognition, AI, assisted emergency communication, and other technologies faster than communities can meaningfully debate their use. Smyrna itself has substantially expanded its public safety technology infrastructure with license plate readers, cameras, and drones. I believe public safety should be rooted in peace, prevention, community empowerment, and accountability. Public safety institutions should be accountable to the community, not place the community under increased surveillance without our meaningful participation. If Smyrna believes these technologies are necessary, then demonstrate that to us. How many cases has flocks solved? How many people or stolen vehicles has has it helped to locate?

What does the system cause? How often is our data accessed by outside agencies? How often is it misused? As my colleagues stated earlier, there has been several instances of this happening around Georgia and around states around the country. So, the burden should be on our government to demonstrate that surveillance is necessary, effective, and proportionate. I'm asking the council to establish a comprehensive pol public safety technology policy requiring three things. First, a public inventory of surveillance and AI technologies, including their cause, purposes, retention policies, and data sharing agreements. Second, regular independent audits and public reporting on effectiveness, access, and misuse. Third, public notice, community input, and an affirmative council vote before acquiring or substantially expanding these technologies. And these protections must follow the technology, not the company. So changing vendors cannot circumvent public oversight. We see that in a lot of local municipalities where they're moving to Exxon and various other companies. The technology and the rules that we establish should follow this. Follow the technology, not the companies. Public safety should not mean watching the public. It should mean working with the public to build a community where people are actually safe. Thank you. Next we have Rory Dryer, 2404 Woodlands Drive, Southeast Smyrna. Welcome. Hey, how's it going y'all? Thanks. Thanks so much for hearing my comment. Um I was coming in the the last two speakers already spoke uh more eloquently uh than than I'm going to be able to. But uh I just was thinking more holistically um about the surveillance you know installations that we put up uh the last few years. Um uh when I think about you know these little league kids and these art students that we just had in um I I I worry about what the message that some of our security infrastructure is sending to kids.

I think it tells kids that this is a world that's extremely dangerous, extremely violent and certainly it can be. I don't want to downplay dangers to uh communities, but at the same time, we know that it is in fact uh statistically we're actually seeing a major decrease in crime across the country. Um we if we don't support helicopter parenting, it is not a healthy way to to parent children. Um, we don't want to see community helicopter parenting, so to speak, where children feel like they have to sell their privacy, uh, to remain safe, to believe that we have to have cameras on every corner, massive numbers of cameras on every corner, um, to, you know, to prevent themselves from being harmed when, you know, we need to rely on our actual community, our first responders. And I think there's other ways we can invest these massive amounts of money in our first responders that are better, more holistic, and actually support um, our community more effectively. Um, so yeah, I would recommend the recommendations. uh excuse me, I would support the recommendations of the the last two speakers um very very much and I appreciate you all taking the time to uh hear me out. So, thank you. I appreciate you all being here uh to share your concerns and feedback. You know, we take your concerns seriously. Um we understand our responsibility ensuring technology is only used by authorized personnel strictly for legal use. So, thank you for sharing your thoughts. We always welcome concerns of the public and appreciate you being here tonight. That's the last public speaker. Is there anybody else that didn't sign up but wanted to speak tonight. All right, seeing none, we'll go to ward and staff reports. We'll start tonight with Mr. Ricky Oglesby. Yeah, amazingly I have nothing today. [laughter] All right, he yields. Mr. Gold.

Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. No, no report tonight. Miss Wilkins, no report tonight either. Mr. Welsh, Mr. Lindley, y'all got dinner plans. Miss Hines, I would be remiss not to acknowledge um a quick visit that I had uh to Covington, Kentucky. And while I was there, I got a chance to visit with their mayor. And one of their townships is called Lutonia, uh, Kentucky. So, uh, it was nice to see my city, although this is also my city. Thank you, Mr. Pickkins. How can you follow that? Oh, no report. Okay, Kristen, anything? All right, Mr. Cochran, you were in Cochran, Georgia. You were in Cochran, Georgia. you feel you're Miss Heather, Miss Jill, anything? I just wanted to remind folks that if you would like to get a mail in ballot, those are available now. You can contact Cobb County directly on their website and have one mailed to you that you may submit for the November elections. All right, if there's no other business be brought before this body, we'll say good night from the Jonquil City at 7:45. We're adjourned.