Tuesday evening, Centerville Mayor and Council held their work session inside City Hall for the first time since Governor Brian Kemp eased Georgia’s shelter-in-place mandate. Mayor John Harley and all members of council were physically present, but social distancing was practiced with the placement of at least six feet of separation between each person. With health and safety precautions still heightened at this time, the meeting was not open for attendance to the general public, but the entire meeting was streamed live through the City of Centerville’s official Facebook page for citizens to view in real time.
“We think we will probably do this same thing on June 2,” Harley announced, referring to the date of next month’s regular council meeting, “but we hope by June 16 [the date of the next council work session] we can open back up again enough to at least let some people in here.
There was no old business on the agenda to be covered; therefore, new business took precedence for the duration of Tuesday’s gathering with the first being the approval for a new IT Specialist job description for the City of Centerville. For awareness purposes, the description was read aloud by Councilman Edward Armijo and briefly expounded upon by Councilman Micheal Evans. The request to accept the job description as read was unanimously approved.
The next order of business, which took up the greatest portion of Tuesday’s session, was the discussion of GMA Bricks and Mortar/Financing for Construction of Fire Station. This topic matter resulted in lengthy discussion regarding how soon the city should move forward with building a new 22,000-square-foot fire station.
“This is a very important issue,” Councilman Evans said. “We’ve been talking about a fire station for quite a while, and we’re getting down to the nitty gritty.” Evans then called upon Chief Jason Jones of the Centerville Fire Department to be prepared to answer any questions that council might have during the discussion of the matter.
“We’ve looked at this,” Evans went on to say. “We’ve looked at the cost of construction. We’ve looked at the cost of financing. We’ve looked at ways to try to get what we need at the best value, because that’s what it boils down to. When you’re talking about building a facility like this to take care of the entire city … it’s going to cost.”
Voicing his hesitations regarding the matter, Councilman Justin Wright said, “I agree that we absolutely need to build this fire station… [but] my concern is the timing that we’re going about it.” Wright went on to point out that a few years have passed since council originally began to discuss building a new fire station. The amount originally budgeted was $2 million, but it has increased over time. “When I came on board two and a half years ago,” Wright stated, “I was told that it was $3 million. Then we went to $4.2 million and to $4.6 million, and now we’re approaching $5.6 million—$6 million by the time we talk about interest.
“My question is,” Wright continued, “at a time when we have just told everyone in the city that we desperately have to cut half a million dollars out of our budget, and we’ve got to tell the operations department that they can’t have the two positions that they need, and we’ve got to make cuts in the police department and other percentage cuts in other places—is it wise to say we need to cut half a million dollars out of this budget and also borrow an additional three [million] over what we had been budgeted over time? I don’t know that that is wise financial management,” he later added. “I don’t know that that is fiscally responsible.”
An extended discussion ensued with Councilman Cameron Andrews concurring with the concerns that Wright had expressed. “I agree with Councilman Wright wholeheartedly. I do want a fire station,” Andrews said, “but I don’t want a $6 million station. I’m struggling with it. The cost schedule very much intimates me. It’s a yearly payment of $600,000, and then $651,450 in interest over the life of the loan. I’m very much finding it difficult to raise my hand on putting this much money in doing this project right now.”
Armijo voiced a difference of opinion. In part, he said, “This fire station has been discussed for some time about developing and building it. If every year we come up upon this discussion, and every year we get the same concerns, the same threats, the same push-back—we might as well just sit here and say we’re not going to build the fire [station].” Armijo further stated, “I’m telling you today; that fire station needs to get built. And the longer that we sit here and quibble over cost and budget analysis; it’s going to keep costing more money. We need to make a decision for public safety, for our fire department, and for our city. So, either act now,” he urged, “or say we’re not going to act… We’re working out of a substandard facility that needs to be upgraded. I think we owe it to the city to move forward with this fire department.’”
More discussion followed that included financial insight from City Accountant Carol Harrison. “In all honesty, we’re depending on the ’20-’24 SPLOST,” Harrison said. “Historically it has always been there. Can I say with 100% accuracy it is going to be there? In honesty, I’d love to say it’s going to be there, but it might not be there.” When Wright inquired whether the expense costs for building a new fire station concerned her, Harrison answered, “If it’s not there, they will concern me.”
When Chief Jones was asked by Wright to explain in what ways—due to the condition of the current fire station facility—had the ability of the fire department been restricted from providing adequate service, Jones replied, “We’re providing the services that we always have. Our service level has not dropped, and it won’t drop. We do what we’ve got to do.”
In follow-up comments, Jones added, “I understand that times have changed; they definitely have in the last few months. I understand that you all want the fire station, and I do not envy the decision that you all have to make. I just want to let y’all know that I know you’re supportive of the fire department; you always have been… and when that time comes, I know you’ll make the right decision.”
Upon the completion of discussion, mayor and council decided to make no immediate decision and to continue the discussion at the next meeting.
Other business on the agenda was the discussion of LIHTC Scoring Methodology wherein Director of Economic Development Kate Hogan explained for council the method of awarding points to developers looking to build LIHTC developments within the city. Mayor and each member of council were given documents that outlined the details of the methodology including the timeline and scoring matrix associated with the process. Hogan stated that she had provided this paperwork primarily for information purposes. No motioning or approval was done on this issue.
Regarding the 2020 Census, Mayor Harley expressed to the virtual viewing public the importance for each citizen to complete the online process. Hogan provided additional information, revealing that Houston County had a 74% total response rate in 2010. She stressed the need for a higher response rate for 2020. As of May 18, 2020, Houston County’s self-response rate was 63.2% versus 2010’s 66.2% self-response rate.
The last item of business was mayor and council’s acceptance of a Separation Agreement and release-in-full for Captain Billy Boney of Centerville Police Department. The agreement was unanimously accepted as presented, and the meeting was then adjourned.
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