Meeting discussionsStart with a topic.

Welcome everybody. We'll go ahead and get started. Um, I'll note that uh, Councilman Lindley is joining us remotely tonight and Councilman Welch is traveling. I won't even say for business. He's retired, so he's just traveling. Must be traveling with his family. Um, we'll start off tonight. We're happy to have Pastor Brandon Hamilton here with Cavalry Baptist Church, 1243 Belmont Avenue. If you'd come on up and lead us in the invocation and pledge. Everybody, please rise. Thank you for having me. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we are so grateful to be able to come to you. And we know that every good gift and every perfect gift according to your word comes from you. And I pray for the council tonight. We thank you for their desire to serve our community. I thank you for their desire to do what is right. And I pray that you give them wisdom. that you would give them grace and understanding to make decisions for the best of our community. I also pray for our community. Lift them up before you would allow them to thrive. That you would allow them to have good relationships with family and with neighbors. I pray that we would be a community that takes care of one another and not just our own selfish desires, but that we would love others as we love ourselves as you call us to in your word. We ask that the decisions that are made tonight would be for the good of Smyrna, would be the for the good of individuals. And Lord, I just pray that you would give guidance and direction. And we thank you for all the good gifts you give to us each and every day. Thank you for all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Please join me as we in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance [snorts] to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Pastor, for being with us tonight. We don't have any agenda changes, and honestly, we have a pretty short agenda. Uh, so for those of you watching at home or those of you who came here tonight, you picked a good one. U shouldn't be here too long. Um, I do have one thing on the mayoral report that I want to uh announce and I'm I'm so pleased and excited about what's coming. So for our annual birthday, Smyrna birthday celebration, it's October 3rd and we announced the bands today. And if if you remember, we start the day have a a culture and spirit festival with all kinds of different musicians and talented acts. And it's it's a lot of fun all day long down here in the down in the market village. And at 4:30, Tonic will play on the on the village green stage. And then I think um 8:30 is the the the main event. And then uh I guess 8 o'clock or 7:45, Lark and Poe is the opener. Uh it's a duo, a sister duo out of Nashville and they'll be opening for Darius Rucker. And so I'm so thrilled to have Darius Rucker coming to Smyrna, Georgia. I think it's going to be a great just a great event followed by uh as we always do uh the fireworks show at the end. So I hope all of you will uh plan to attend and more information about table sales and all the different things. It's a free free concert. Uh and uh table sales and all that stuff will come up uh in the next few weeks. That's all I've got on my mayoral report tonight.

We don't have any proclamations or presentations. So, we'll move on right now to formal business. Uh we'll start with item A. This goes along with uh in Smyrna, we're always doing something new and cool, right? This is item A, resolution to designate the city of Smyrna, Georgia, a B city, USA. affiliate and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related documents. And if I'm right, this would will be the first in Cobb County uh to have this designation. And we have Julie Barwig here on our staff and members of Keeps Murder Beautiful. And I'd like to invite you all up. Julie, talk a little bit about this designation. Y'all come up, too. Y'all do a lot of work for this. Come on up. Tell us tell us about this and uh what it means and and um any any background for us. Sure. Yeah. I like to bring a posi with me. Um uh so the resolution for B City USA, the mission of B City USA is to galvanize communities to sustain pollinators responsible for the reproduction of almost 90% of the world's flowering plant species by providing them with healthy habitat rich in a variety of native plants and free of nearly all pesticides. So, um, we have more than 3,600 native bee species in the US and more than 500 here in Georgia alone. Um, and pollinator friendly communities benefit local and regional economies through healthier ecosystems and supporting pollinators fosters broad-based community engagement, environmental awareness, and sustainability. and keeps Mr. Beautiful is already um actively establishing pollinator gardens in public green spaces um and promoting educational opportunities focused in native plants. So we are looking to have uh Smyrna be a B city USA so that we can host one educational event every year.

Um install and maintain signage for B city as well as have a B city uh web page and then also um develop and implement a program to create and expand pollinator friendly habitat on both public and private land here in Smyrna. um as well as create and adopt um an integrated pest management plan designed to prevent uh pest problems, reduce pesticide use, and expand the use of non-chemical pest management methods. Um as well as establish a policy for incorporation in the city's comprehensive plan. Um so really just to underscore the commitment that Keep Smrna beautiful and the city of Smyrna are already doing for our uh ecosystem and our pollinators. Y'all don't know it, but usually we would read the resolution word by word for word. And that thing is so long that she did a really good job of picking out the highlights. If anybody's very interested in all of the verbiage, it'll be available online for you. But I just want to thank you for all you do for the city. And as a former board member, keep Smyrna beautiful. I appreciate uh all of the work that you all put into making our community cleaner and more beautiful and all of the things. So, thank you very much. Should we Can we get a picture? Yes, get a picture. Thank you guys so very much, especially knowing that this year is the 100th anniversary of the publishing of Winnie the Poo. A famous person who loved Honey. [laughter] So, very excited about this being the B city and what you guys do. And I like your shirts. [laughter] Yes, absolutely. I got to take that with you. I haven't signed. Yeah, you got to sign that one. I haven't signed [laughter] it yet. Y'all can come on over here. Thank you all for being here. Thanks for all you do.

All right, we only have a couple more items and we're tableing one of them. So item B, authorization to approve Georgia Power acquir acquiring one permanent easement from the city of Smyrna located at 3515 Macaulay Road for the new proposed underground power service installation that will serve as the new Talison Aquatics facility and authorize the mayor to sign and execute all related documents. Mr. Jones, any background, please? No, sir. You got it. Okay. Is there this So I know I know there's been some issues with the power to the tennis courts. I know all of us have heard some of that. This will this is supposed to take care of that and service that whole facility. So there'll be no more there shouldn't be any more issues u with power out there and I'm glad about that. Uh timeline will be very quickly after we approve this. So I will uh ask for a motion please on this item. Move approval by Miss Hines, second by Mr. Pickkins. All those in favor please vote. And Mr. Lenley, how do you vote? I vote for it, please. And that's approved. 6. Mr. Cochran, did I need to make a ask for a vote on item A for that resolution? I mean, it's okay. We're So, we're gonna we're gonna we're going to go back to item A and uh I'll take a motion on item A as well. I move approval by Mr. Oglesby. Second. Second by Mr. Gould. Everyone please vote. Mr. Lindley in the affirmative. Mr. Lindley has joined us from Antarctica, China, and now Amelia Island. Thank you for your commitment to service, sir. Item C, this is um an item to purchase a rescue vehicle for the fire department. Um, we're going to table this. We've tabled it once and we're getting some more information on it.

And the the council member who was most concerned about it isn't here, Mr. Welch, and I want to make sure he's here. So, we're going to table this to our next meeting, uh, which is 17th. August 17th. Can I have a motion to table this to August 17th? So, moved by Mr. Pickkins. Second. Second by Mr. Gold. Everyone, please vote. Mr. Lindley. Yes. And that's approved 6. That'll be we'll consider that at the next meeting. And item D, approval for change order to complete additional work for the Talison Aquatic Facility project in the amount of 588,926.34 from the 2022 Splast for Reeves Young LLC in Sugar Hill. Amend the 2022 SPLOS project length budget by the same amount and authorize mayor to sign and execute all related documents. Mr. Jones, this was explained to us in pre-consil that it has to do with ADA requirements. Any other background? The only thing I would add is it also addresses the the paving and the curb and gutter that's currently out there, some landscaping and some low voltage electrical, some security, but predominantly it's the uh the required ADA side compliance. Any questions, comments from councel? All right. May I have a motion to approve item D? So moved. Moved by Mr. Gould, second by Mr. Pickkins. Everyone, please vote. Mr. Lindley in the affirmative. And that's approved. 6. That is our last item under formal business. Consent agenda. Just looks like some meeting minutes to approve. Mr. Jones. Pardon me. There are five items on the consent agenda. All are meeting minutes. You have the approval of the July 13th special call mayor and council meeting on the millage rate. Uh you have the approval of the July 16th committee the whole minutes. The approval of the July 20th special call mayor and council meeting also for the mill rate. That was hearing number two.

Approval of the July 20th pre-consil meeting minutes. And approval of the July 20th mayor and council meeting minutes for the mill rate public hearing number three. Thank you, Mr. Jones, and thank you for wearing a coat tonight. Very distinguished. May I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So, moved by Mr. Pickkins, second by Miss Hines. Everyone, please vote. Mr. Lindley in the affirmative. And the consent agenda is approved. 6. We're now to the citizen participation portion of our meeting. Uh, we have three people signed up for public comment this evening. The first one is Chris Nave, 1100 South Marietta Parkway. Welcome. Hello. Thank you. All right. Five minutes, correct? Three. Oh, okay. All right. Um, so today I'm talking about Flock. Um, so Smeirina is one of the biggest cities I've seen for Flock. Um they have a 5.7 million contract that's paid out over the next 10 years or starting in 2025 for 75 plus cameras. Those include the normal ALPR license plate reading cameras as well as the contour tilt pam and zoom cameras as well as two drones. Um the reason I want to talk to that is because of both um how bad flock can be as a company, how bad the people who have access to that surveillance can be but also uh constitutionally that they violate fourth amendment or are starting to work that way. Um legally we have US versus Porter that came up couple years ago. It was about ALPR cameras and they within themselves did not violate any fourth amendment as long as they remained intermittent surveillance of locations which is what every camera does. It intermittently captures a short period of time. But the problem is in US carpenter the privacy within a whole of movements um is considered privacy under the fourth amendment even if each little movement is in public such as driving a car to different locations.

Each little short burst of camera capturing that little movement is in public. But overall, where you travel and where you wind up is considered private because no one person can figure out every single place you've been. It's called a mosaic. Each little instance builds up a big picture and gets your mosaic of where you traveled. With these cameras and drones, Flock and the police and the cities are able to build that mosaic and without any warrant to access that information and that data that becomes a fourth amendment violation. Um as well as that under US first carpenter users do not willingly choose to transmit data when data is autoolcted. This was in terms of phone usage and geo fencing and was reinforced with chattery verse the United States but also applies with driving. Um when I'm driving it is in public but that does not mean that I am willingly consenting to auto collection of my license license plate and the data of my car when I drive around the city. So it's still it should still be considered as under USB carpenter. And in Chattery it reinforces that with another uh Supreme Court decision of privacy of move of your entire movement being under the fourth amendment and it pushes that into the digital information realm which include which is what flock does. flock deals with the digital tracking of persons and their vehicles and creates a mosaic of information that becomes a fourth amendment violation. We'll have to wrap it up. Your time is expired. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight and expressing your concerns. Uh next we have Anastasia Pixler, 2642 Park Road Southeast in Smyrna. Hello. Good evening. My name is Anastasia Pixler and I have lived in Smyrna for three years. Up until recently, I've been a very proud resident, always talking about how great the community is and how fun the events are.

Imagine my disappointment and betrayal when I learned that this government has entered into contracts with the immoral company of Flock. Flock allows the highest bidder to buy their what their cameras collect. From unconstitutional and terroristic ICE raids to here in Georgia where multiple cops have been caught using the cameras to stalk their exes. You have created a deep distrust between this council and Smyrna citizens. Within a mile of my home alone, 37 cameras are collecting my data. Not only is this an egregious betrayal of my civil liberties, but it is also an illegal act. Federally, the Fourth Amendment states, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated, and no warrant shall be issued, but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized." More locally, Georgia's ALPR statute code 35122 states that law enforcement agencies may collect data and share data with other law enforcement agencies for law enforcement purposes only and that that data shall be destroyed no later than 30 months after collection. Block is a private company whose data is consistently used for non-law enforcement purposes, which this council has allowed disregarding the legality or morality of its actions. You have failed at your job of protecting smartest citizens. You have disrespected our constitutional rights and our privacy. The only solution is to cancel the flock contract and remove the cameras. I leave you with this George Orwell quote. In the past, no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. Now, private life came to an end. Every citizen could be kept for in fear for 24 hours a day under the eyes of the police. Thank you.

I'm going to invite the next citizen here and then I've got a couple of comments I'd like to make. Mitchell Young, 2075 Nancy Circle, City Property Maintenance. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Mitchell Young. I live at 2075 Nancy Circle and I appreciate the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here because of a concern regarding city-owned property that borders my property. For years, the city regularly maintained this drainage gully. However, about two years ago, I was informed by the public works director and my council representative that the city would no longer maintain it and that the responsibility would essentially fall on me. I respectfully disagree with that decision. This is not my property. It is city property and it serves a public purpose as part of the city's drainage system. Since maintenance stopped, aggressive invasive plants have spread throughout the gully and these invasive plants are now encroaching onto my property, creating an ongoing burden that should not be expected that I should not be expected to manage. Furthermore, it was suggested at that meeting that I use chemicals to kill the plant life in the gully. I chose not to do so due to the personal cost and the potential environmental impacts as it does feed into a creek system. Beyond the impact on my yard, I am also concerned about the drainage itself. The purpose of this gully is to move storm water safely. As vegetation continues to grow unchecked, there is an increased risk that the flow of water could become obstructed. Delaying maintenance today could result in a much larger and more expensive problem in the future if drainage is compromised. I'm not asking the city to do anything extraordinary. I am simply asking that the city resume maintaining its prop own property as it did for many years.

The previous maintenance prevented invasive growth, protected neighboring properties, and helped ensure that the drainage system functioned as intended. I believe this is a reasonable request and one that reflects responsible stewardship of public property. I would appreciate the council reviewing this decision and directing the appropriate department to restore routine maintenance of this drainage gully before the problem becomes worse. Thank you for your time, your service to our community, and your consideration on this matter. Thank you for being here. I'm familiar with where you are. Um, Mr. Jones, can you please get in touch with Mr. Young and see if there's a solution that we can work with him on? Uh, I don't know the particulars of that situation, but I'll we'll figure it out. And, uh, I appreciate you being here. Sorry you had to come on an evening away from your family to to be here, but we we'll we'll figure it out. Um, on the on the flot cameras, I want everybody This was a very deep consideration for the city council, right? This was something that we did to keep our residents safe. If you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about. And I've seen the same stories that others have seen where even in Georgia there was a uh law enforcement couple of couple of bad apples law enforcement folks who were using that uh system for for the wrong purposes. We have internal controls in our city where we prevent that from happening. We have our chief's full endorsement of this system. Uh the term that he uses is force multiplier. right, keeping our citizens safer. Um, I'm not a law enforcement professional, but I can lean on their expertise to help make our community safer. So, we made a significant investment. We're not the first ones done what he did this and done what he's been through so we don't have to we're not creating a wheel, right?

They we're we're we're kind of leaning on them to see what they've done to deal with some of the issues on the front end. But I it was said that the data is used for non-law enforcement sources or purposes and that's just not the case. It is kept by our law enforcement. It is not used for non-law enforcement reasons. And so I know there's a lot of chatter out there about flock. Uh I am confident in the technology. I am confident that we have made the citizens of Smyrna safer and um I stick by our decision. Um, with that we will close public comment and move on to ward and staff reports. Start tonight with Mr. Glenn Pickkins. Uh, thank you, Mayor. I just wish uh all the students a good first day of school and hope the uh year goes well. Thank you, Miss Hines. I echo uh Council Member Pickkins and I wish the same for the teachers. I'm sure the parents are happy right now. Miss Wilkinson, no report tonight. Thank you. And I skipped over Mr. Lindley because he's not here. Mr. Lindley. Uh, no report this evening. Thank you, Mr. Gold. Uh, likewise. Hopefully have a safe uh, and happy first day of school for many. And want to thanks the folks from keeps are beautiful, right? All the work that you do and thanks for leading the charge to be the first city in Cob to be a B city. Just another just another cool thing happening in Smyrna. That's great, Mr. Oglesby. Yeah, I think it's so cool that we're going to be a official B city. That's awesome. Thank you for your good work. That ties us in with Georgia Tech in any way. Right. Okay. Go dogs. [laughter] Also, uh I want to congratulate all the students who are starting their their new year of school and wishing them a very very good school year and all our fall sports.