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Fulton County Commission Minutes Nov 4 2020
Fulton County Commission Minutes Nov 4 2020
REGULAR MEETING
November 4, 2020
10:00 AM
MINUTES-RATIFIED
This document has been ratified or approved by the Board of Commissioners,
and is not binding on the County or any officer.
Ratification date: December 2, 2020
20-0771 Adoption of the Consent Agenda - All matters listed on the Consent Agenda
are considered routine by the County Commission and will be enacted by
one motion. No separate discussion will take place on these items. If
discussion of any Consent Agenda item is desired, the item will be moved to
the Regular Meeting Agenda for separate consideration. (ADOPTED AS
AMENDED) 1
20-0782 Accept and file the Fulton County Capital Program Quarterly Update for
the period July 1, 2020 – September 30, 2020. (APPROVED) ............... 15
Board of Commissioners
CLERK GRIER: "On page 2, Consent Agenda. 20-0771, adoption of the Consent
Agenda. All matters listed on the Consent Agenda are considered routine by the
County Commission and will be enacted by one motion. No separate discussion will
take place on these items. If discussion of any Consent Agenda item is desired, the
item will be moved to the regularly agenda consent for consideration. Vice Chair and
members of the Board, we have items removed from today's Consent Agenda for
separate consideration as requested by Commissioner Hall. First item found on page 3,
20-0776, public defender. Request approval of renewal of a MOU with United Way of
Greater Atlanta to support and select a group of chronically homeless individuals
released from Fulton County Jail. On page 4, 20-0778, community development.
Request approval to enter into an MOU for emergency solution grant CARES Act to be
used for the provision of emergency shelter [Inaudible] record re-housing to prevent,
repair for this response to the coronavirus pandemic for Fulton County's low-to-
moderate income citizens. On page 5, 20-0779, community development. Request
approval to enter into MOUs for emergency shelter, record re-housing, homeless
prevention. Also, on page 5, 20-0780. Department of HIV elimination. Request
approval of a contract without competition for media services to raise public awareness
to low -- to inform low income persons living with HIV in Fulton, Dekalb, Cobb, and
Gwinnett Counties. On page 6, 20-0781, Real Estate and Asset Management.
Request approval of a resolution approving a licensed agreement for the Georgia
MINUTES – REGULAR MEETING – November 4, 2020 1
Department of Human Services Division of Family and Children Services with the use of
county-owned real property for the purpose of distributing toys and economic
assistance. 20-0782, Real Estate and Asset Management. Accept the file -- accept
and file the Fulton County Capital Program quarterly update for the period of July 1,
2020 through September 30th, 2020. 20-0783, human resources management.
Request approval to revise delectation accommodations policy. 20-0784, human
resources management. Request to temporarily promote William Yates to interim chief
of police effective November 4. And the last item, 20-0785, human resource
management. Request approval to make the same modifications to the classification
section and compensation plan."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Were those -- were those the removals or that was
the entire agenda?
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "I have one item as well. On the proclamations, if it's not
too late, I would be honored to be included as a sponsor on the Carolyn Long-Banks
Appreciation Day. I've served for four years with her on the Atlanta City Council."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I would like to -- I would like to as well, Vice Chair."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "So I don't think this will be a problem. I guess we
just need staff to -- to make sure to accommodate the request to add Commissioner
Morris and Commissioner Carn to the Carolyn Long-Banks proclamation."
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "If there are no others, Vice Chair, I'd move approval of
Consent Agenda and with those amendments."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. We got a motion and a second. Let's vote.
Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion -- and the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.
Term = 2 years
20-0774 Sheriff
Request renewal of a Sub-Recipient Agreement between the Fulton County
Sheriff's Office and Justice Solution, as the research evaluator to develop
strategic plan and project planning and implementation for the Department
of Health and Human Services SAMSHA Grant. Effective September 30,
2020 - September 29, 2021 with one renewal option remaining. The cost of
the contract shall not exceed $56,250.00. This contract is 100% grant
funded. No County funding is required. (APPROVED UPON ADOPTION
OF THE CONSENT AGENDA)
CLERK GRIER: "Okay, Vice Chair and Members of the Board, going back to the
Consent Agenda. Items moved for separate consideration by Commissioner Hall. First
item on the bottom of page 3, 20-0776, public defender request approval a renewal of
an MOU with United Way of Greater Atlanta to support a select group or chronically
homeless individuals released from the Fulton County jail."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Commissioner Hall, did you have -- you know, want
to make a statement? I know you had it removed. Is there any other -- or does anyone
else have any comments or discussion?"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "I just thought it was a really good resolution and that it
deserved a little more information for the public, that's all. It's very good."
DR. PAMELA ROSHELL, DEPUTY COO, HHS: "Good afternoon, Vice Chair
Arrington. Pamela Roshell, Deputy Chief Operating Officer. This item is the result of
additional funding from HUD specifically to address homeless issues during the
pandemic. The County received two rounds of funding from HUD for the constituents
who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of experiencing homelessness, and
this funding was awarded to nonprofit organizations in addition to the municipalities
were offered the opportunity to apply for funding as well."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "I think this is a public defender item."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "I’m not sure. Madam Clerk, could
you clarify for us whether this is the public defender's item, the United Way item?"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "You are very welcome. No, thank you. My constituents pay
very close attention to the agenda and they ask a lot of questions, especially about
those consent items, and so I can do no extra justice for a program that doesn't belong
to me, and so I'm thankful, Mr. Pitts, for you speaking about your program. It is an
awesome one, and the details were welcomed by my constituents. Thank you so
much."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Thank you. Is there anyone that can speak to this particular
item? It might have been the one that -- I think this might have been the one that Dr.
Roshell was speaking of before, right?"
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "It was, Commissioner Hall, and Dr.
Roshell is here. I also wanted to ask you if you were interested in hearing 0779 and
0780 together since they're related. I'm sorry --"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Yes. I was going to ask if that could be done. Thank you."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "It sounds like a motion to reconsider the agenda."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Absolutely, and just hear those together, if you want."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Motion to hear those three items together. I'll
second it. All right. Let's have a vote. Motion to hear these three items together.
Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I have a second with discussion. I definitely think obviously
this is something that's greatly and sorely needed. I see the Gateway Center is
included in this -- some of this funding. You know one of the things I see around
downtown here in between our office of the government center, the Atlanta City Hall, as
well as our state capital, obviously, when we pull into work here, some of us see the
homeless population underneath the bridges and viaducts and thoroughfares there
connecting I-20 to 85 and 75 both north and south. I visit the state capital frequently,
and I remember a couple of weeks ago myself and Commissioner Hall went up for
Commissioner Darnell's dedication to her interchange, which was a great event, by the
way. We literally were almost walking over homeless individuals there. This is a
heartbreaking situation where I pull in here, you know, throughout the week and pass by
so many homeless folks. I guess I want to ask Dr. Roshell, can we ask some of these
organizations to directly address those individuals in and around our government
complexes in particular? You know, I know some people choose not to have any
homeless services or don’t want shelter, but that's not always necessarily the case. I
guess my question is how do we reach those people that we see every day literally
blocks from here or how do we get these organizations to go and see about these folks
specifically around here at our doorstep that obviously need help, and you're looking at
millions of dollars of funds here and, again, those two blocks up the road, you know,
they may not know with passing this or they may not benefit from this funding. So how
can we direct some of these organizations to go see about those folks in our immediate
surroundings and the immediate surrounding of the Gateway Center in particular?"
DR. PAMELA ROSHELL, DEPUTY COO, HHS: "Thank you for the question,
Commissioner Carn. A partner organization that we work with closely is Partners for
Home. They receive funding. They also receive the same ESG funding that the County
receives and they provide the services immediately surrounding the Fulton County
Government Center and within the City of Atlanta. We do partner with them on a variety
of homeless initiatives. For example, we partner with them on the weather initiative
where we provide transportation for homeless individuals during cold months, and we
also work with them on our permanent supportive housing, and have worked with them
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Yeah, yeah. And I -- and I do see the partners address
them at times. I see the vans that pull up on the side of the road that do feedings, and
that's a great thing. But I don't think this is a jurisdictional issue. This is just an issue of
need, and all of these organizations, if we're giving them this funding, I want us to make
sure we let them know specifically that there are individuals that we see every day here
that -- and from what I've seen, you know, we put money into this stuff, but it doesn't
seem like that problem gets any better. And I’m not a homeless expert, but I know what
I see and whatever's being done, it doesn't seem to be effective enough, or obviously
it's not because there's still homelessness and there's still a need. And obviously, -- I
know money doesn't resolve all of our issues, but I'd like us to -- when we hand this
money over to all of these groups, jurisdiction or not, I want us to point that out and
mention that and see if they can do something more direct there in those surrounding
areas. So I want us to make a concerted effort and if we are making an effort, I want us
to double those efforts. So that's all I got on that.
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I'm sorry. I was on mute. It’s been properly moved
and seconded. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes five yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “Next item removed from this Consent Agenda for separate
consideration by Commissioner Hall are on page 6, 20-0781, Real Estate and Asset
Management. Request approval of a resolution approving a lease agreement with the
Georgia Department of Human Services, Division of Family and Children Services for
the use of County owned real property for the purpose of distributing toys and economic
assistance."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Yes. I asked for this one to be pulled because it is absolutely
a great thing that Fulton County is doing, but the public had asked, you know, for details
on what it is and why."
JOE DAVIS, DIRECTOR, D.R.E.A.M.: "Hello, Commissioner Hall. This particular item
is a use agreement between Fulton County Department of Family and Children Services
in Fulton County for the use of our -- the currently vacant 475 Fairborn Road property.
That property is literally a few blocks up the street from Fulton County DFCS offices on
Fairborn Road. They have an annual toy drive where they are distributing toys to needy
children and families across the County, and they need a staging location where all the
toys can be brought, donated toys could be brought to one central location and then
subsequently distributed to the public. So they need a place. They need a building.
And we have one up the street from them, so it makes it logistically easy for them. This
will be our third year that we have partnered with DFCS to do this. And with your
approval, we'll continue."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I'll second that. Anymore discussion? If not, we'll
vote. Commissioner Hausmann?"
CLERK GRIER: “20-0782, Real Estate and Asset Management rent and filed with
Fulton County Capital Program Quarterly Report for the period of July 1st through
September 30th, 2020."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Thank you. Because when I was out and about over the past
couple of weeks, I consistently got questions about the libraries and what's opened and
what's closed and I couldn't find a recent update on that particular -- on those particular
renovations. Can you just briefly tell us quickly about what libraries are being renovated
still and what the expected opening date might be?"
JOE DAVIS, DIRECTOR, D.R.E.A.M.: "The final round of library renovations will
include those -- the Ponce de Leon library. It will also include, which is -- and like I said
before, we're finishing this up. We're actually starting to plan the reopening’s of multiple
facilities. And if you can bear with me for a second, I can give you the specific facilities.
All libraries have been completed with the exception of the Hapeville library, which is
still under construction as well as the central library. We just received an update on the
central library late last week in which there will be a staggered reopening by floor. We
anticipate those reopening’s to start within the second to third week of November
concluding in the first week or second week of December, at which point, the entire
central library will be reopened. The Hapeville library is projected to be completed --
bear with me, the third week of November."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. So properly moved and seconded. Any
more discussion?"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "I pulled this because it's policy, and so it was a little odd to
me that it was on the Consent Agenda and also, because there was nothing showing
the exact changes that were being made to the policy. But I did see -- I did finally
receive the changes from Mr. Hermon and thank you for that. I think I see you on there,
Mr. Hermon. Thank you for providing the changes to show what had been revised in
this. But my question was about why was it on consent when it's actually a policy
change?
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Okay. Well I believe that if you're making change to policy,
that it does not need to be on a Consent Agenda because it's not discussed. We do
need to discuss any policy change because, as Board of Commissioners, we are
responsible for those changes, and we should also know exactly what changes are
being made to the policy because we are the Board of Commissioners, and it is our
responsibility to make those changes. So that's just my input on that. And since I do
now know what the changes are because Mr. Hermon did provide that, I'll go ahead and
move approval."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I'll second that with a quick discussion. I agree. Obviously,
we want to follow proper procedure. I think this is a great bill that was passed. I
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right, properly moved and seconded. Let's vote.
Commissioner Hausmann"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I don't know that if I was provided with the policy."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Mr. Hermon, do you want to perhaps speak briefly on
this item for the sake of the public?"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Okay. Well let me just say this because Mr. Hermon alluded
to having sent something on Thursday or Friday. When I asked Mr. Hermon to send me
was the redline version so that I can actually know what the actual changes were to the
policy because that was not provided. So thank you, Mr. Hermon."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Commissioner Hausmann, if I can just briefly update
you on what they said. Basically, our current policy mirrors the federal policy. There
was a change in state law. The federal policy and our current policy basically allowed
for unpaid lactation time. The new Georgia law requires for paid time for lactation and
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "And I can appreciate that. I'm not opposed to, you
know, making a change to conform with state law. I am opposed to having policy slid
under, you know, without any sort of review or discussion or even, you know, attention
paid to it. So I'm not going to vote for it if we're going to rush it through like that without
any, you know, attention paid to it."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I would appreciate that in this case and I would
appreciate it in every case, thank you."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "So I'll take that as a friendly amendment and remove my
motion to approve so that we can hold it."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. I think, Commissioner Carn, do you still want
to second?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. But are you seconding a new motion?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. So motion -- on the motion to hold,
Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes to hold, five yeas, zero nays.”
DICK ANDERSON, COUNTY MANAGER: "Mr. Vice Chair, would you like for me to
comment on this?"
KENNETH HERMON, CHIEF HR OFFICER: "Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, before -- I
heard Tonya say November 4th. My agenda item says October 28th. So I just wanted
to get confirmation on the date."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I think it would have to be effective as of today
unless we were ratifying something that was done previously.
COMMISSIONER ELLIS: "My suggestion, Mr. Vice Chair, we leave it November 4th."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes. Six yeas, zero nays."
CLERK GRIER: "Okay, last item for separate consideration. 20-0785, Human
Resource Management. Request approval to make routine modifications with
participation section for the classification and compensation plan."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "I pulled this because I saw that it said it was a chief of staff
title change, and I just wanted to know was this change going to impact all chief of staff
positions across the board for all elected official staff or I wasn't sure. Because I noticed
that this is -- I think it's in the DA's office?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I have a question. Have we spoken with, I guess the
current and/or the incoming DA about this change?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. I mean, I'm happy to support this. I just
don't, you know -- I get weary about routine things because what's routine for someone
may not be routine for someone else. But I'm happy to support this. All right properly
moved and seconded."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I'll second it. Any discussion? If not, let's vote.
Commissioner Hausmann"
Board of Commissioners
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Vice Chair Arrington, this is Anna
Roach, the Chief Operating Officer. I also have an additional request with respect to the
regular agenda. Item number 20-0807. It is a public works item for the lowest
responsible bidder on the air field lighting project. We received some information from
GDOT that will require us to update this item, so we're asking that this item be removed
from this agenda, and we will bring back in two weeks."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Do we have an election update on the regular
agenda?"
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Mr. Chairman, the elections update
is part of the first item, the COVID response."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "So I think we'll just add a specific item for elections
update. I mean it's fine if you include it in the COVID update, but I want to make sure
that we do at least get that --”
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "-- added to the specific items. So --"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Is Rick going to be here, because I'd like to hear from Rick.
Is he going to -- I'm assuming he's presenting."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Plus he's going to be here now, but hopefully
someone can give us an update. I know the Chair is at the Georgia World Congress
Center. I'm not sure if he's with Rick and/or County Manager or not. But let's go back.
We had the one item, Animal Welfare Board, as well as the elections. Was there
another item to be added? So Commissioner Hausmann, are you seconding both of
those items or just the elections item?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I guess what I'm asking though is as far as putting
both of those items onto the agenda."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "No, I'm fine with putting them together, if it's allowed
procedurally."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I don't think we have to put them together, but I think
we can vote to add both of them to the Agenda at the same time."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "That's what I was referring to. Thank you for that
clarification."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. So we've got a -- I guess a motion to add
those two items. Is there a second?"
CLERK GRIER: "This is a motion to add the Animal Welfare Hearing Board. We can
also do a motion to do the elections item."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Let's just do them separately so that it's clean and
clear."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "So I'll make the motion on the Animal Welfare Board.
Is there a second?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Properly moved and seconded.
Commissioner Hausmann"
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. And then there's a second motion to add a
separate elections update item."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. I'll make the motion. Commissioner
Hausmann seconded it. Let's vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I vote yes. And Commissioner Carn."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Next item, Madam Clerk."
CLERK GRIER: “20-0788, ratification of minutes, Regular Meeting minutes October 7th
and Recess Meeting Post Agenda minutes October 21, 2020."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Board of Commissioners
CLERK GRIER: “There are no presentations or proclamations this morning. Next item
on page 8, public hearings, 20-0790, public comment. Citizens wishing to participate in
public comment register online to join the public comment portion of the ZOOM call
[Inaudible] may submit public comment and by e-mail or by filling out the form located
on the county website www.fultoncountyGA.gov. Speakers will be granted up to two
minute each. The public will not be allowed to yield or donate time to other speakers.
The public comment portion of the meeting will not exceed 30 minutes."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Do we have any public comment this morning?"
MARCELLE ENGLISH, EXTERNAL AFFAIRS: "Good morning, I have four that were
submitted via e-mail. The first one is from Donna Renfro Lawson. Good morning --
God morning and peace be selected, elected, and rejected. Fulton County leadership
subordinate and those listening. Employee County Attorney Patrise Perkins Hooker
and the elective Fulton County Commissioners selected to reject responding to my
request for assistance with my voting rights. Therefore, I stand as one resident who did
not vote because of the lack of leadership and sensitive and out of control management
at minimum that expresses suppression, disenfranchisement, actions threatening --
threats and harassment. My question is why the evil? Attorney -- County Attorney
Hooker is in the legal profession. Does she not understand that she is accountable for
DARREN SMITH, IT DEPARTMENT: "We also have a public comment from Ben
Howard. If I can get it right, okay. You can see Mr. Howard. Mr. Howard, can you
unmute yourself?"
BEN HOWARD, PUBLIC SPEAKER: "Thank you. Greetings, Vice Chairman Arrington
and Commissioners. And greetings also to you citizens of Fulton County who are
watching and/or listening to your county government in action. Ben Howard, Senior
Advocate, Public Policy Analyst. Fulton County Board, Commissioners, and authorities
such as the Commission on elderly affair -- elderly affairs, also known as the
Commission on Elderly Affairs and the Commissioner on Disability Affairs and our Youth
Commission as well as organizations like the Council on Aging, the South Fulton Senior
Services need to know that you, [Inaudible]. One way you can show that you actually
do care is to ensure that the public is made aware of the virtual meetings for each of
these entities and let the public know that they, the public, have the right, the privilege,
and perhaps even the obligation to sit in on some of these meetings sometime. Civic
engagement works a whole lot better when those in authority help to promote it. With
your guidance and support, each of these entities as well as the other boards,
authorities, commissioners and organizations ought to be sending out information to the
citizens of this county as to when and how they meet, what they are discussing, and
how they are abiding by the requirements of the Georgia Open Meetings Act. Please
send them some help so they can help our citizens. I thank you."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. We got no further speakers. I am going to
take a point of personal privilege to let our Board of Health employees know that the
Board of the Commissioners, in fact, denied the request by the Board of Health to
convert the employees and all Fulton County Board of Health employees will, at least at
this point, will be remaining Fulton County health employees. Our managers' meeting
with the Board of Health so that they hopefully can come up with a plan that will make
CLERK GRIER: "Continuing on page 8, County Managers' renewal items under open
and responsible government, 20-0791, Real Estate and Asset Management. Request
approval to renew existing contracts to provide all labor for breaking down and
reconfiguration of existing workstations and office relocation on an as-needed basis."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "We do, Mr. Chairman. Joe is here.
He is going to provide some additional information and answer Commissioner
Hausmann's question."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. Thank you for that. So tell me in light of the
issue we had just this week with a moving company, is that in any way related to this
item?"
JOSEPH DAVIS, DIRECTOR, DREAM: "The issue does involve one of the companies
being recommended for renewal under this item. The company you're referencing has
been in contract for the county for several years. While they did perform work for us
over the weekend, we did have the incident as it relates to the delivery of voting
machines, but this particular renewal item obviously done well in advance of the
incident, but they do have a great track record prior to this incident."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay, well I, you know -- this one is a big issue
publicly. It caused a lot of issues for us, as you know and then, you know, you were
instrumental in fixing all that and that's greatly appreciated, but I've concerns with
proceeding at this time with this particular company so shortly after a major issue
without some thorough discussion and review of what happened and what our
expectations are going forward. So, Mr. Vice Chairman, I would like for us to hold this
item in order to thoroughly vet this particular company with any --"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Substitute motion to hold has been made
and seconded. Any discussion?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Yeah, I would prefer, you know, not to undo it unless
it's absolutely necessary to undo it, but I want it reviewed first, please."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Mr. Vice Chair, is there any way to pull out that one
particular company that dropped the ball and approve the rest, because I agree with
everyone else. I certainly would love to hear an explanation from them in terms of what
happened and I mean -- I don't know if I would be comfortable with using that kind of an
outfit again, you know, if they just canceled for no reason at all or if it was
miscommunication or whatever happened. So, could we just pull them out and approve
the others?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I think we may want to get more input from staff. I
don't know the effect of pulling one out and approving others --"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. And I'm fine -- I'm fine with holding out the whole
thing."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Question. Did we not have any vendors from -- that are in
Fulton County that could do this work?"
JOSEPH DAVIS, DIRECTOR, DREAM: "I would have to defer to the Director of
Purchasing for that question to answer that."
FELICIA STRONG-WHITAKER, DIRECTOR, PCC: "I will have it when we bring this
item back."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. On the substitute motion to hold,
Commissioner Hausmann."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Yes, I'd like to make a quick comment though. I'm
not trying to accuse this company of any wrongdoing or anything of that sort by this
motion to hold this item. There have been conflicting reports in the media on what
happened. I just think, before we move forward, we need to have a clear understanding
of -- of what exactly did happen and make sure that we're very clear on how we proceed
in the future. But I don't want to give the impression to the public that we made any
decisions or proclamation about this particular vendor. But so, motion to hold, is that
what you need from me or just a yes or no?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I think we've already got the motion to hold that you
made. Commissioner Hall second this, but we just -- if there's no more discussion, then
we'll take your vote."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.
CLERK GRIER: “Bottom of page 8 under Health and Human Services, 20-0792, public
works. Request approval to renew an existing contract to provide water meter vaults."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll go and have a
vote. Commissioner Hausmann?"
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes five yeas, one abstention
CLERK GRIER: “On page 9, 20-0793, Public Works. Request approval to renew
existing contract to provide standby construction services in support of the efforts to
reduce the ongoing inflow and infiltration as required by Georgia Environmental
Protection Division."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll have
a vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes, five yeas and one abstention.
CLERK GRIER: “Added agenda item. Under open and responsible government, 20-
0794. Presentation of the COVID-19 operational response update."
DICK ANDERSON, COUNTY MANAGER: "Good morning, Mr. Vice Chair and
Commissioners. I think for this introduction, I could simply say elections, elections,
elections and as well as a huge sigh of relief. I think we were very pleased with the
results of the early voting period as well as the voting yesterday despite the challenges
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Awesome, I think just before you begin, Madam
COO, a big round of applause to County Manager, elections teams, all of the gang of
three's and everyone that helped volunteer and helped make [Inaudible] a huge
success."
ALTON ADAMS, DEPUTY COO, PUBLIC SAFETY SVS: "Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. We
enjoy that. I think we're going to adopt that name, the gangs of three's. As the
manager stated, we are experiencing an increase in our positivity rate. I'm going to
hand it right over to Matt Kallmyer and his team to walk us through that. And again, this
week we do have the benefit of Dr. Paxton who's here not just with slides of her own but
to answer any questions. Matt."
DOUG SCHUSTER, EMSI: "Next slide. All right. So good morning. I'd like to start off
with kind of a perspective slide and we get so focused on Fulton County. I'd like to start
in the bottom right with COVID in the world. As you can see, both hemispheres, both
north and southern hemispheres have significant COVID case rates. The difference
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Yes, Dr. Paxton, we can hear you."
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "Great, thanks. Well I just have some
very brief updates that we threw this together yesterday. I just wanted to let you know,
whenever we hit these, we follow closely the test positivity rate, because that is a trigger
for a number of activities that go on. So now that our community's percent positivity rate
has gone about the five percent trigger, we had moving -- we're moving into the phase II
precautions for our long-term care facilities. I will show you on the next slide what those
actual phases are in case you’re interested -- but also -- but essentially what that means
is that it's a stepped-up routine testing. And it -- it just determines what sort of what
things that we do with them. And for any long-term care facilities that have had one or
more cases among their staff or residents, then we move them back into phase I
precautions until that facility goes 14 days without any additional cases. Now in addition
to that, the Board of Health continues to work with the Fulton County and Atlanta public
schools, as I described last meeting. Tomorrow we'll be participating in the Fulton
County Schools executive task force meeting on Thursday. We always go over with
them all of the epi data and help them with their mitigation plans and the likes. So we'll
be having a meeting with them tomorrow to discuss what to do now that we've passed
this trigger point. The third thing to bring up is that one of the things, we've doing a lot
of initiatives at the SPOCs to try to improve all of our COVID response. And one thing
that I just want -- would mention today is that at our central SPOC, we have been doing
a pilot of asking for information from people who come for testing about their contacts
and asking them to write that down with the hope that, you know, if any of these people
turn out positive, that it would make the ability to do contact tracing that much better.
And so that pilot is going very well today. In the beginning, people didn't want -- didn't
want to really give us their names, but we've been given names of contacts, but we also
have refined the way we ask and now we're up to the point where we're getting about
65 to 70 percent of the clients that are actually giving us names of their contacts. And
so, if we find this actually leads to an increase in case contacts that we can actually
reach, then we’re gonna roll this out to all of our oldest SPOCs. Can I have the next
slide, please? Now this is just simply for those of you who are interested. This is for the
long-term care facilities. This shows what those different phases are that I alluded to.
And so, as I've mentioned, where all of the long-term care facilities are, we're moving
them into the phase II, which requires a change in their baseline testing, the frequency
of the baseline testing. And then for any facilities that have had any COVID tests
beyond the routine stuff that we do without being able [Inaudible] and all that, we will
move them actually into the phase I designation and act accordingly. So those are just -
- just some -- a few of the highlights that I had to bring up today about the Board of
Health. So thanks very much."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Okay. Thank you, Dr. Paxton. Mr.
Vice Chair, we're ready to take questions of the Board if you are ready at this time."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "So first the presentation, thank you for them. It's unfortunate
that we continue to see these spikes in the numbers of COVID-19 cases. I am glad to
see that the death rate is not rising along with these spikes in the COVID-19 numbers.
But I did hear -- I think it was Matt -- I'm sorry?"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "But I thought I heard Matt say during his presentation that
these numbers show an uncontrollable spread, which makes it hard to do contact
tracing; is that correct?"
DOUG SCHUSTER, EMSI: "Yeah. For clarification, the World Health Organization
and most epidemiologists agree that anytime that we're over five percent positives on
cases, that it makes it harder to do contact tracing and the -- it's uncontrollable not -- it's
around the world. But five percent is generally the number for viable contact tracing.
Dr. Paxton might have more to add."
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "Well as of -- you know, I -- that is the
designation, I believe, from WHO. Practically speaking here at Fulton County, we are
able to keep up with this right now. We do have a number of contact tracers. In
addition, we have the program that we're doing with CORE for the boots-on-the-ground
contact tracing. So we are able to keep up with it as of now, of course. As has been
brought to everyone's attention, we are expecting, I think it's been referred to as a world
of hurt, to come in the coming months as we get into the winter. So we are currently
able to handle it and we are keeping our fingers on the pulse of this and just hoping for
the best.”
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Okay. So you said currently we are able to keep up with it
when, or should I say what percentage would put us at risk of not being able to keep up
with it?"
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "I can't give you a percentage. I mean I
can think back to what I consider the bad days that we had right after the Fourth of July
holiday when we were getting like upward to sometimes surpassing 300 cases a day.
And that was hard. And we were having a very -- a lot of difficulty keeping up with that
at the time. You know, we're now -- we've learned from that. We have a few more
contact tracers. We have CORE, but we're also still in the game about half that number
now. So as I said, we are just -- we're monitoring it right now. But I can't tell you what
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Okay. Thank you. And just in lieu of everything that we've
heard on this -- the first part of this COVID-19 update, Madam County Attorney, I'd like
to revisit the vote that we did from the last BOC meeting where it was presented to us
that the Board of Commissioners should start coming back into the building and having
our meetings face-to-face in the confines of the building. And I'd like to ask if they're -- if
I can please rescind my vote on that, because with the -- everything that I'm reading in
the news and then the fact that this past weekend a very close friend of mine mother
just passed away suddenly from COVID-19. She had no major symptoms or anything.
She just got out the shower, got dressed, and fell to the floor and was dead from
COVID-19. I think that we need to take -- we need to continue to take precautions to
keep everyone safe, and I mean everyone, ourselves, employees, as well. Everyone
has to go home to their families, and that incident alone and these numbers are putting
me at the caution. You know, it's creating caution. So is there -- is there something that
I need to do in order to rescind my vote from the last board meeting?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Are there anymore questions from any other
commissioners?"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I have one, that we touched a little bit on the elections. Are
we going to hear from elections in another presentation as well?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Yes. We did add a specific election item."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. I'll wait. I'll wait for that item to come up."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "You may need someone from staff to communicate
to them that they do have an item, specific item on the agenda so that they can have
someone available."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "They are trying to get them a
message, Mr. Vice Chair."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Yes, go right ahead, and then I have a question
afterwards."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I mean I think the manager opened up with his
elections."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. All right. Well we need to pick a time so that
they -- y'all know they're very busy today trying to get everything finalized so there's a
way to select a time to put that on the agenda, I think that would be helpful for them and
for us."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "And Mr. Vice Chairman, if I can jump
in, it may be helpful as the Board is considering when to schedule that time for elections
that we put it for after executive session and our lunch break given the fact that Rick is
actually not at 141 at this time. He is at the warehouse. This would give him some time
to wrap that up and get here."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Yes. I think that will be great. I think everyone will
want to hear from him. Matt, I do have a question. You spoke about the million test
mark. Is that one million tests or is that one million individuals?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. Okay. Do we have any way -- do we keep up
with the people that take more than one test? Do we know if someone's taking it 100
times or ten times?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. Okay. So I mean, I just -- I don't need access
to the data. I just wanted to make sure someone was tracking it."
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "Yeah, I'm still on the line. Every -- we do
get the point -- we do have -- we are able to match tests with, you know, with names,
but it's not something that we track per se, you know, to see how many people have
come back for multiple tests."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. And is there -- is there a pattern to when, you
know, or suggested recommendations as to how many times or how often someone
might -- should be tested?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay.. Thank you. Commissioners, any more
questions, discussion? All right. Hearing none, I guess we'll move to the next item."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Thank you, Mr. Vice Chairman. So
the next section of the COVID update is the reopening plan." I won't spend a lot of time
on slide 19. I think that between Matt Kallmyer's team and the Board of Health we have
sufficiently demonstrated -- next slide, please -- demonstrated why we have
downgraded our positive on the number of cases from green to yellow. We are still on
track on our other two gating criteria, but we do believe that the -- the trajectory in the
number of positive cases within a 14-day period warrants a yellow indicator. Next slide.
The main thing I'd like to draw your attention to on this page, Commissioners, is the
continued focus on elections as well as the limited grand jury services that will begin
either next week or the following week consistent with the Superior Court's plans. They
do plan to prioritize jail cases and are planning for significant safety measures including
using courtrooms on the first floor of the Justice Center so there is not a need for the
use of elevators, social distancing, and other CDC protocols will be adhered to, and
more significantly, the chief judge plans to and has been quite liberal with requests from
jurors to be excused from services while, and so again, they will be starting two limited
grand jury panels in the coming weeks, and I believe that the superior court is planning
for limited jury trials at the top of 2021. Next slide. On a biweekly basis,
Commissioners, we do provide you an update on new positive cases among our
employees. Since the last time you received this report, we have had, as you can see
on the screen, eight new cases across the departments that are listed here. There were
two in the superior court, and the rest of the departments had one positive infection, one
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "So moved to accept the recommendations of staff to
have the meetings remain virtual until such time that the larger space is available to
accommodate more CDC requirements. But I do have a question. Has the Board of
Health been in consultation with the Chief Judge and the judges? Did they make
recommendations, similar recommendations to them?"
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "Yes, we have. Dr. Swancutt is our official
liaison to the judiciary, and he's been over there many times to go over the setups. He
just recorded a PSA for them as well to be for the jurors when they come back. So yes,
we do have, to answer your question, we do have a liaison with the judiciary."
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "You know what, I don't have them right
up in front of me right now. I don't know. I think that for the moment, they're still
remaining closed, but what I can do is I can look them up and I can have them, we
could send them to you."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "So, but they are getting ready to start working in
person, correct?"
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "I am not sure, because that has been
going -- as far as I know it's been going back and forth depending on what the -- as our
rates are going up. So I would have to confirm that with Dr. Swancutt to find out exactly
what they're thinking at this moment."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Did you also consult with the school systems on their
-- you know, we've got one school system that's doing in-person instruction and one that
is delayed until January. Can you just speak to us about any involvement you've had
with them as they develop their plans for instruction?"
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "Yes. As I've mentioned, I think last time
we've had very extensive involvement. We have literally been meeting with both Fulton
County Schools and the Atlanta Public Schools for months. We have an established
task force with them. And so I think they meet weekly. And then tomorrow, as I
mentioned in my update today, I'll actually be on this call tomorrow with the executive
task force for Fulton County Schools because they are quite concerned with the uptick
in cases and so they have requested a special meeting and so we'll be taking part with
that on that with them tomorrow."
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "I presume so, but I'll know more
tomorrow."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "What do you attribute or can you attribute the uptick
to any event or conditions or what do y'all think is going on here at the moment?"
DR. LYNN PAXTON, DIRECTOR, FC BOH: "Well, you know, I think a lot of it is, as I
think I've mentioned on a couple of calls before, is that this is some of the natural history
of a respiratory virus as you go into -- as you go into the fall season. So we also know
that, although we've been making strides with getting masks out and hopefully more
people wearing them. We still have a lot of people who are not, you know, wearing
them. We still have a lot of people who are attending super-spreader events. We still
have a lot of people who are going to places where they're unable to, you know,
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Thank you. I know we do have drive-up service
available in some of our libraries. Any other comments, discussions from any
commissioners?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "The motion was to adopt the recommendation of
staff to not to return to in-person meetings until such time that the modifications that
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "And that was for the December 16th meeting,
correct?"
COMMISSIONER ELLIS: "Just a comment, not necessarily only about the meeting
stuff, but where are we -- I thought we were going to hear a little bit more about potential
options for certain aspects of library reopening."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "So Commissioners, I'm not sure if
you want to dispose of the motion, and then I can definitely answer the questions about
libraries."
COMMISSIONER ELLIS: "Why don't we do that. We can dispose of the motion then."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes five yeas, one nay."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Okay. And Mr. Vice Chair, if it's okay
with you I'll answer Commissioner Ellis' question now?"
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "On the matter of the libraries,
Commissioner Ellis, I was just -- I actually just reached out to the director, Gayle
Holloman, to see if I could get some statistics about how many librarians participated in
this last election and how many are anticipated to participate in early voting. And just
for everyone's awareness, I believe we only have about a week and a half before early
voting starts again, assuming we have a runoff, and many of those locations are likely to
be located within our libraries. So again, we have not presented a plan and we have no
plan today to present for the reopening of libraries because we believe that there will be
continued use of the libraries as well as use of library employees to support our ongoing
efforts with respect to the elections. And again, we do believe that our posture on
libraries is consistent with what is happening regionally, what is happening nationally
with library systems of our size. And I think the last point I would make on that is that
particularly given the rise in the number of cases and the uncertainty about where we
are going with the virus, we continue to feel comfortable with curbside service being our
primary way that we deliver library service."
COMMISSIONER ELLIS: "Well, I got the impression at the last meeting that we were
going to come back and have more of a detailed conversation around that. So that was
a misunderstanding and I apologize. But the -- that was the impression that I was left
with, you know, they had -- and I would continue to encourage discussion around that. I
recognize that we're utilizing them as sites for elections and stuff, but, you know, to
have them as being just reserved for election sites, I don't know that that's necessarily
in all our citizens' best interest. But I just hope that we would look at reconsidering
some aspects of that whether they were even just opportunities for designated groups
to come in, children, you know, et cetera. On some level of capacity, I just would have
encouraged us to continue to look at that and not just take the posture that because
we're using the libraries for early voting that we can't utilize them for anything else, so."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Mr. Vice Chair, I have a comment when you're done,
Mr. Ellis."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I agree with that. I think that we've proven --
because we have conducted elections that we can operate safely and interact with the
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I too toured over a dozen polling sites myself and Chairman
Pitts as well. And I think we did a very good job on election day, the librarians, us. The
library staff definitely helped supplement all of the precincts. The turnout, you know,
obviously was not as high as expected. So things went very smoothly. However, in
terms of opening up these libraries, you know, you want to -- you know, you want to do
things slow and right, not fast and wrong. We are in the middle of a spike, and this is,
according to Dr. Paxton, a record spike here we're talking about. So one of the things,
Anna, if you could ask our library, I guess, director, what's going on? You know, we
serve Fulton County in terms of libraries of 15 cities and Atlanta being a major city.
What's going on in the other major cities in the United States? You know, is the Los
Angeles County library system open or closed, for instance? And our Apple to Apples
comparable. It's like Mecklenburg County and so on and so forth. Are they open or
closed? Are they partially open? I'd like to get a list of what's going on around us and
in comparable counties and cities in terms of policy. Who else is open if -- you know.
And that doesn't necessarily mean that if they're open that we should be open."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "So I'd like to get some information on that. If someone get
that to all of us, I think that would great to look at. But I'm not supporting opening right
now unless I hear from the library board, and they're saying they can do it in a safe
manner, which I haven't -- unless we hear that, I'd like to get -- I'd like to hear from the
experts."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I also would like to know where do we have the
drive-thru libraries right now? How many locations do we have that -- because, you
know, maybe middle ground is expanding the number of drive-thru locations."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. So I guess it will be good to know, you
know, what are the numbers looking like on that curbside service? Obviously, it's better
if people can go in and access the computers and the actual books that are there, but
I'd also like to see, you know, what the numbers are looking like as far as the number of
people that are currently being serviced and all the libraries being curbside servers."
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Mr. Vice Chair, we will provide that
number on the -- on the service rates for curbside service and Commissioner Carn will
also provide the report on what systems across the nation, as well as our neighbors,
have been doing. We have been looking at that system. I believe that you and the
board will find that it's a very mixed bag, and library systems are making adjustments
based on what is going on their community? But again, we do feel like we are not out of
line in our decision to remain a primary curb -- primarily a curbside service system. But
I will provide all the information that is requested."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Vice Chair, one last thing. This is about discussing libraries,
and I'm glad we're discussing this because I have gotten a call or two about the libraries
and what's happening. There are a lot of residents that are not aware that the drive-thru
library system is available. Anna, the one thing I would additionally suggest that we do
is perhaps, when I recommended that election's video, in terms of the steps, in terms of
the options to vote, I think that was a big help in terms of early voting and made people
feel a lot more comfortable. I think a simple two-minute video explaining to folks that
the libraries are open that you can drive through and check out a book just like your
drive-thru at McDonalds. But the simple steps of reserving a book and when to drive up
to pick up that book. If you can drive up, if you can walk up, and you can ride a bicycle
up. A simple video explaining how it works, what you have to do that any citizen can do
again is understandable. People are used -- people are familiar with our libraries, but
they're used to dealing with them in one way only. A lot of times new things are kind of
hard to digest unless you have some simple instructions for them, in terms of how to
reserve that book. So I think the library department may want to consider that, so I think
the library --"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "-- department may want to consider that, so we could get
that out to our constituents and let them know, hey, the libraries are open. I mean they
drive by them and they may look closed to them. So and the few people that go on the
Fulton library website are far fewer than even bother to go on our official website. So
there may not be a lot of awareness out there about it."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Well, if they made the video, I sure would like to get it so I
could get it out to my folks. That'd be great."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Is there a next -- are we on the next item or
is there a next portion of this presentation?"
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "The next portion of the presentation,
Mr. Vice Chair is the CARES Fund update."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I'll start out with -- it's not a really question for you,
Sharon, but the CORE updates, how frequently are we getting those and how many,
you know, people have they served -- and I don't necessarily need the answer now, but
if someone could just forward it."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay, thank you. Any other questions,
Commissioners? Hearing none, is there a next question of this section, of this item?"
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Just the election section, so we are
going to eliminate that section in lieu -- in light of the item that was added to agenda."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. I know you said there was a report, so I guess
we'll just review that report at that time."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay, perfect. All right. Are there any action item?"
ANNA ROACH, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER: "Not for this report, Commissioner."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay. All right. Next item, please."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "For purposes of the public, can we just have -- you
know, run through with the items are on total amounts?" [external noise]. Is that
someone answering the question? Or if not, we need everyone to mute while you're not
speaking."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. It's been properly moved and seconded.
Any discussion or questions? All right, Commissioner Hausmann?"
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.
CLERK GRIER: “20-0796, Real Estate and Asset Management. Request approval to
award a contract without competition to provide postage services for county-wide
agencies."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.
CLERK GRIER: “On page 10, 20-0797 Real Estate and Asset Management. Request
approval of recommended proposals to provide standby professional services for
facilities related to design, engineering in areas of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and
fire protection on an as-needed basis."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Is there any discussion or any questions
regarding this item? All right, Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “20-0798, Real Estate and Asset Management. Request approval of
the lowest responsible bidder to provide septic tank and grease trap maintenance
services."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Properly moved and seconded. Any
questions or discussion? Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: “20-0799, Real Estate and Asset Management. Request approval of
the lowest responsible bidders to provide standby on site HVAC On Call Maintenance
Services air conditioning system."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Move approval."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Properly moved and second. Any discussion or
questions? If not, let's vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “On page 11, 20-0800, Real Estate and Assessment Management.
Request approval of the recommended proposal to provide professional landscape,
design, maintenance, irrigation systems for county-wide facilities."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Properly moved and second. Any questions or
discussions? If not, let's vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “20-0801, Real Estate and Asset Management. Request approval of
the lowest responsible bidder to provide prepping, painting, cleaning, and refinishing
existing areas in Fulton County Government Center Atrium."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Commissioner Morris, did you have a
discussion?"
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "No, I was moving approval while Commissioner Hall was
moving approval, that's all."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
20-0802 Police
Request approval of the lowest responsible bidder – Police Department, Bid
#20ITB126459B-YJ, Automobile Repair Services in the amount of
$75,000.00 with Moon’s Service Center (Mableton, GA) to provide
automobile repair services for the police fleet. Effective January 1, 2020
through December 31, 2021 with two renewal options. (APPROVED)
CLERK GRIER: “Under justice and safety, 20-0802, police request approval of the
lowest responsible bidder to provide automobile repair services for the police fleet."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right, we'll have the vote. Commissioner
Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “Under health and human services, 20-0803, Public Works. Request
approval of a cooperative purchasing contract for sewer equipment."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Properly moved and seconded. Any
discussion? Here and now we'll have a vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “On page 12, 20-0804, Public Works. Request approval of a
cooperative purchasing contract to purchase one Aries Mobile Pathfinder all-in-one
controller inspection systems."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Properly moved and seconded. Any discussion? If
not, we'll vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “20-0805. Public Works. Request approval of the lowest responsible
bidder to provide mechanical and flanged fittings for ductile iron pipes and discount to
catalog items not listed."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Properly moved and seconded. Let's vote.
Commissioner Hausmann."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I don’t think they'll let me vote twice, but thank you."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Properly moved and seconded. Any
discussion? If not, let's vote. Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
CLERK GRIER: “On page 13, 20-0808, Public Works. Request approval to accept a
local maintenance and improvement grant from the Georgia Department of
Transportation."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Properly moved and seconded. Let's vote.
Commissioner Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes six yeas, zero nays.”
Board of Commissioners
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I will second. This is a ratification though, right?
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Can I ask what the purpose of this is? Have we been
-- is there -- is there a legal matter that we're responding to? What's going on here?"
DICK ANDERSON, COUNTY MANAGER: "Is Ellis Kirby there? I'll allow him to give
just a brief overview of what our plans are for the elections warehouse space needs."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "So it's not necessarily tied to any legal matter. It's
just a space issue and potentially there might be some limits to how long we have our
current facility and things like that. Is that -- is that what this is addressing or is this --
I've left it in my notes somewhere around here, I see that it mentioned a legal matter, is
the only reason I was asking."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "I have a question. So why didn't DREAM just put this on the
agenda instead of the chairman?"
PATRISE PERKINS-HOOKER, COUNTY ATTORNEY: "It could have been done that
way. The issue was it might have been a request for the ratification of an action if he
had to sign that lease yesterday. And at this -- we -- we didn't decide who needed to
put it on the agenda except it needed to be put on the agenda and this was the way it
was decided to be done. That's all."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Properly moved and seconded. [Inaudible]
I see the Chair is back. Mr. Chair, welcome."
CLERK GRIER: “On page 14, 20-0812, External Affairs. Presentation of the 2021
Legislative Agenda."
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Or I'd like to offer an addition to the legislative packet. You
may already know this, but up to 19 states plus the District of Columbia allow same-day
registration, and I'd like to add to our packet that we push for permitting voters to
register up to and on election day itself. And that is my ask, thank you."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "And add to the list of things to consider, but I don't
necessarily think that all of us would agree on adding it our package at this time."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Similarly, I would like to see other institutions of
higher education added to the list of where ballot boxes can be dropped. I'd love to see
one in the AU Center. Currently, you can only do it, I guess if maybe at Georgia Tech
or UGA because they're state owned, but I would love to have a -- have the opportunity
to have those ballot boxes also accessible in the Atlanta University Center.”
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I agree. Anything that expands voter access accessibility,
same-day voting, obviously, would be a gold standard that I would love to have in this
state. So at some point, I want us to talk about that as well in terms of the possibilities
of its passing, you know. Obviously with a Republican-led state, there's not that much
interest in all likelihood, but I think it's something we ought to take a look at as well, so."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. No action items presented for us, Jessica?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. Thank you. Next item.
Board of Commissioners
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "After executive session. All right so; I've got 1:07
p.m. What time do we want to begin executive session, 1:30? Is that fine with
everyone?"
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "Mr. Vice Chair, I'll move that we recess for executive
session for the purposes of discussing litigation, real estate, and personnel matters."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Properly moved and seconded. Let's vote.
Commissioner Hausmann?"
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes, six yeas, zero nays."
COMMISSIONER ELLIS: "Vice Chair, what time did you say again?"
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "I was thinking 1:30, it that's acceptable for
everyone."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "All right. We should assume we'll get the call-in
instructions and we'll start the executive session at 1:30."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Okay, thank you. As well as the agenda?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Can I just say that it's most helpful if we get that
information right when we're going into executive session rather than have to search for
it that came in hours ago?"
COMMISSIONER HALL: "Because I get a lot of e-mails. It would be at the top of the
e-mail for me."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Thank you. All right, so I suggest we leave this so
that I can make sure that no one -- there's no cross contamination of executive session
and the public meeting." .
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Commissioner Carn is in the room with me here. So
everybody's present?"
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "All right. Madam County Attorney, items in executive session to
be approved?"
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "All right. I'll second. Any questions or comments? If not, let's
vote. Madam Clerk."
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "All right. One other matter from executive session for a final
approval. The Board of Commissioners utilizing the executive search firm of Baker Tilly,
LLP has concluded its search for the clerk to the commission. I move that we approve
the appointment of Tonya Grier to the position of clerk to the commission in accordance
with F.C. section 2-107 effective Wednesday, November 4, 2020. Ms. Grier will be paid
a salary of $105,000 per annum and be entitled to all benefits customarily afforded to
Fulton County employees.
Term = 2 years
CLERK GRIER: “Our first add-on item on page 4 of the Add-on memo, 20-0816.
Animal Welfare Hearing Board, Vice Chairman Arrington has nominated Jessica Hamby
for district appointment to a term ending December 31, 2022."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Any discussion. If not, let's vote. Commissioner
Hausmann."
CLERK GRIER: "And the motion passes, six yeas, zero nays.”
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "Mr. Barron is on. This is an election update. You have the floor,
Mr. Barron."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Mr. Barron, you look like you're in a smoky room.
Are you in a nightclub?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I thought you might deserve a little break, so I just
didn't know. Not time for a break yet, I guess."
VICE CHAIR ARRINGTON, JR.: "Mr. Barron, I just want to take this time to thank you
and your team for doing an awesome, excellent job in preparing and leading up through
early voting and in through yesterday. Obviously, we still have a few minor, you know,
issues to deal with, but, you know, again, I've said it before. When things didn't go well,
I spoke up, so I want to make sure that I speak up when things do go well. You did a
great job. Thank you so much."
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "So the provisional ballots, about how many are those?
They're not in the 67,400."
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "Okay. Well that's helpful. You know I -- I'm hoping that
we're not going to have a lot of disputes about not counting votes. I hope we're going to
count all the ones that are legitimate and --"
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "Good. All right. Thank you. My last question is about
the water because I've gotten, you know how it is. Most folks are happy and I think the
County Manager talked about the survey of satisfaction and voters leaving the process,
but like anything, I've gotten some e-mails and calls. Can't believe that we use water as
an excuse for not getting the, you know, getting the results out on a timely basis kind of
stuff, you know?"
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "My question really is, if you can describe for us why -- I
mean there were reports that we stopped counting for four hours or something because
of the water. Can you describe for us what the nature of that problem was and why we
had to stop and whether all of that is actually accurate."
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "Mr. Barron, hold on a second. The timeline might be important
here. The pipe broke at 6:07. It was repaired at 8:07."
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "And so you all sort of grabbed up the ballots and got
them out of there?"
COMMISSIONER MORRIS: "And you -- and you had folks leave for a while; is that --
the four hour -- is the four-hour gap where you weren't working on them inaccurate?"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Thank you Richard, good job. You guys had a big job to do.
You took care of it, and I think you met most of the expectations, so we thank you. We
appreciate you and the hard work of all of your staff members, volunteers, and
additional departments that came in. Everybody grabbed a shovel and got to work on it,
so good job. You mentioned so -- you've got 42,000 more to finish up today and then
you'll have a full 67 to 67,400 of being done. So that will be all of the counting after
today, right?"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "What time would the 67 be finished? What would be your
guess?"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. So [Inaudible] is 2:00 p.m. You guys are going to be
counting all through that and 9:00 p.m. tonight you'll have the 67 additional will be
added in."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. And I think the other question was answered. So
total numbers; is that still a deadline? I heard 441 at one point."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. So, we're looking, we're going to top 500,000. And
that's -- is that's everything, or that's not everything."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. We're looking around 535, possibly total, something
like that."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Okay. All right. That's all I had. Okay, thank you."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Yes, thank you. And Rick, thank you for all your hard
work. I went around yesterday to a lot of precincts. You had more than adequate
coverage of poll workers. Now there were some, you know, frantic, trying to get things
open on time because of the moving situation and whatnot. But most -- I think we only
had, what, one or two that had even a little bit of a delay, not long at all?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. So I think that's where the confusion came in,
because in one of your press briefings, you did say that you thought you'd have all of
that done by 8:30, and --"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Well, I'm sure I know what senator you're referring to,
he called me at midnight last night looking for that information and I -- he asked me if he
call you, and I said absolutely, you can call him."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Yeah, I'm sure you did. But anyway, all right. And so
then all of the early voting has been tabulated and entered into the system, right?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. And then election day voting numbers, what
was our turnout for election day?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Yeah, see I got 57,330 in some e-mail here. I don't
know where that number came from, but."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. And then at your 5:00 press briefing, you said
we only had 14,152 votes that had been casted at that point. So I'm assuming that was
an error of some sort because there's no way in that last hour, two hours, you would
have quadrupled that number."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "In your press briefing, I think Dwight gave an update
of the total --"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Well, okay. Just for future, I think that causes some
confusion --"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "So, I just wanted to bring that to your attention. All
right. So, then on the reporting screen, you know, we've got 255 voting precincts, but
some of those are combined or they're just getting multiple scanners in some. So when
you look at the reporting, I believe it said up to 386. So that's just because they're --
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. So I'm just trying to -- you know, people have
a lot of questions and so when they don't -- I'm just trying for the benefit of the public, let
everybody know what we're -- how we're operating here. Okay. So then I did witness
also a lot of folks bringing back in their absentee ballot. They wanted to vote in person.
How many of those did we have yesterday; do you know?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. And there's been observers the entire time
watching the absentee ballot counting?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Even last night between 11:00 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.?
Was there observers there?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Well, I'm getting -- I'm getting text messages right
now from some of the republican observers that said that they didn't know it was
happening. They were told that y'all were quitting and then they found out today that
the 11,000 had been scanned during that time period. So --"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Well, you know, I hate to hear that people think that,
you know, they weren't allowed to observe when they're clearly legally allowed to do so
and so. I just wanted to make sure that you addressed that also to avoid any potential
problems. So you said none of the absentee ballots were damaged by the water
issue?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Okay. All right. Well, I hope you get your counting
done today as you think you are. Everybody's waiting, you know. There's a lot riding
on it, as you know, so."
COMMISSIONER CARN: "I've got one additional question. Rick, so the 67,000, are
they going to show up in the tally at 9:00 p.m. tonight or is it going to -- are they going to
trickle in all day or what?"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "And there should be an additional 42,000 between 9:00 and
9:00 p.m.; is that what you're saying?"
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Those are 42 new votes, 42,000 new ones? Okay. I just
wanted to make sure that was clear. Okay.
COMMISSIONER CARN: "And the moving company, they were supposed to deliver to
the schools down in Fulton between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. You said they canceled
mid-afternoon. Did they cancel between that time? Did they deliver any at 10:00? Did
they start the delivery and stop or --
COMMISSIONER CARN: "Did they give the County a reason why they canceled?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "It's not what they're saying in the media. "
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "Hold on, let's -- [Inaudible]. Just a minute, guys. Just a minute."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I just have to say to find out, you know, Monday night
that there were still 30 precincts in North Fulton County that had no equipment. It sent
me into a tizzy. You know, just to have it that blatant that North Fulton was at risk of not
having, you know, the precinct set up, was very, very stressful. And I know it was
stressful on you too, Mr. Barron and your folks. I'm not suggesting that there was any
planned, you know, voter suppression type, you know, things that we always get
accused of."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "But it was very unsettling. So, I mean, I'm not happy
at all about it. I want to find out what in the world happened. This cannot happen again.
It just cannot happen again."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "And the poor poll workers that stayed there all day for
hours waiting and they didn't know what was going on and, you know, where they could
have been resting for the long day they had the next day rather than hanging out, you
know. So it was just -- it was just a really bad situation all the way around."
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "I did forget to ask you one thing though, too. You
know, at the end of the day, what's the closeout process like. I know that the -- the poll
workers are having to learn a new system. But after they do whatever they do at the
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Is there -- what sort of protocols are there? Does
one person take all the stuff by themselves? Is there an escort? How do we -- what do
we do?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "In the same car or how does that work?"
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "Other questions or comments for Mr. Barron? Any --"
COMMISSIONER ELLIS: "Thank you. Mr. Barron, thanks for the report. Just -- I don't
want to get too retrospective because we're still in this process, but on the absentee
ballots, and I guess, you know, this is really probably a question I think that some of a
lot of folks might -- that are observing this; if we knew, sort of anticipated the volume
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "And we're not hiding anything, right? We're doing
everything we're supposed to do the right way, right?"
COMMISSIONER HAUSMANN: "Well I just -- I just hope that we're not entering into
agreements right now with warehouses and various things that aren’t going fulfill our
needs and that we're being -- looking at the big picture long term as we figure out, you
know, what kind of space requirements we really need. So that's all I got to say about
that. Thank you."
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "Anyone else? Any other questions for Mr. Barron? All right.
Thank you very much, Mr. Barron."
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "Madam Clerk, any other items that come before us?"
CHAIRMAN PITTS: "All right. If there are no further items that come before us today,
I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Without objection, we stand adjourned. Thank you."
ADJOURNMENT
____________________________________
Tonya R. Grier, Clerk to the Commission
____________________________________________
Nikki Peterson, Chief Deputy Clerk to the Commission
These transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for the Clerk’s Office,
and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be
updated or revised in the future. Please note that the authoritative record of the Board of
Commissioners is the Post Agenda Minutes. However, an audio/video reproduction of
this Board meeting is available upon request by contacting either the Clerk’s Office
(audio) or the Office of Broadcast and Cable/FGTV (video/audio).