North Fulton Today

City of Milton issued the following announcement on September 21.

Milton’s City Council on Monday approved the City’s budget for the coming fiscal year, culminating a methodical process with a document that includes several new initiatives and other changes aimed at ensuring the government’s success going forward.

Assistant City Manager Bernadette Harvill offered a granular, department-by-department look at the budget for Fiscal Year 2022 (which runs from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022) at earlier meetings. This time around, she gave a more general presentation that featured overviews of the various City funds and highlighted a handful of new “maintenance and operation” and “capital” initiatives. Those initiatives included:

• Measures, such as sign-on incentives, to help in the recruitment and retainment of Police and Fire personnel
• Bringing in outside expertise to craft a marketing and branding strategy (including an equestrian-themed element) for the City
• Hiring three new full-time traffic enforcement personnel, as well as purchasing vehicles for them to use
• The preservation of parking lots at Bell Memorial Park and the former Milton Country Club
• Creating a Development Engineer position to serve multiple City departments
• Traffic calming measures on lower Hopewell Road
• Purchasing an Auto Pulse, a CPR machine that administers that automatically administers chest compressions

You can view a detailed, 172-page budget presentation – including a thorough breakdown of estimated revenues and expenditures across a variety of funds – by clicking HERE.

Council members had shared views when Harvill initially shared City staff’s budget proposal at an August meeting. On Monday night, the Council offered supportive comments of Harvill and her staff’s extensive preparation.

Then all six members and Mayor Joe Lockwood approved the FY2022 budget in a unanimous vote.

 PROCLAMATION RECOGNIZES CONSTITUTION WEEK

This came about 3.5 hours after the meeting began with an invocation and the Council’s approval of a 13-item Consent Agenda that included:

• An agreement for Pond and Company to provide engineering services and construction administration for the widening of Morris Road
• Continuing the City’s agreement with Tri Scapes for landscaping and the maintenance of Milton parks, athletic fields and trails
• An agreement with Heath & Lineback Engineers to inspect and assess the bridge along New Bullpen Road spanning Little River
• An agreement with Geologic to inspect and offer maintenance recommendations for a dam on the City’s greenspace property along Lackey Road
• A contract for the Milton Fire-Rescue Department to purchase uniforms and related apparel from Galls

Community Development Director Bob Buscemi then introduced the Council to Jerry Oberholtzer, a Plan Reviewer who has served the City for two years and is now taking on greater responsibilities, and Ron Haynie, a new Plan Examiner who has worked extensively in recent weeks to catch up the City’s Building Department on plans and more.

This was followed by a proclamation officially marking September 17-23 as Constitution Week in the City of Milton. Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Patriots of Liberty chapter were on hand for the recognition, which coincides with the 234th anniversary of the drafting of United States Constitution and its premise of the government’s “rule by law, not by men.”

They were followed by the Sons of the American Revolution, though that group came before Council not to accept a proclamation but to give one.

Al Finley, the president of SAR’s Piedmont Chapter, on his group’s behalf honored Police Chief Rich Austin for his contributions to his department, the City, and the Milton community. Afterward, Austin thanked the Sons of the American Revolution for the humbling recognition while crediting his Department’s members for its success.

“I thank them for their hard work, their sacrifice, and their dedication to this community,” he said. “They are truly an exceptional group of men and women, and I count it as a privilege to lead them and a privilege to serve this great city.”

COUNCIL DISCUSSES APPROACH TO ALCOHOL-RELATED BUSINESSES

The most extensive portion of the meeting related to a broad discussion of Chapter 4, the part of City Code that deals with alcohol-related businesses.

Harvill, the Assistant City Manager, explained that her goal Monday was to get direction from Council members before crafting any revisions.

For example, she asked for feedback on administrative changes such as:

• Reinstituting the practice of advertisement requirements – in a newspaper and as a public notice outside an establishment – for all alcohol license types
• Whether liquor-selling establishments should be defined as those offering on- and off-premises sales
• Prohibiting certain things from being sold at establishments that sell liquor
• How to define, and what to do about, proposals for food halls or food hall cafes in which some establishments (sharing a common area or courtyard) sell food while others sell alcohol
• Rules and fees for alcohol beverage caterers, including those based in Milton and those from other jurisdictions
• How to handle ancillary tasting at package stores as well as brewery, farm winery, distillery and brewpub locations

Council members engaged in a thorough discussion of a wide variety of elements, in some cases supporting City staff recommendations and in others offering clear direction.

One common theme that reemerged repeatedly was the Council’s vision that Milton should not allow traditional bars (without food) in city limits.

PROPOSALS SHARED FOR 3 INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS

Public Works Director Sara Leaders then led the Council in diving into three new proposed intersection improvements, joined at times by Andrew Antweiler, a consultant from KCI. All the projects are in their early stages, with only preliminary concepts having been developed for each. Hundreds of citizens did weigh in on those concepts this past summer in surveys and other forms of feedback that helped inform City staff’s suggestions on what next steps to take.

Here are the intersections, original preliminary concepts, and City staff’s current recommendations as shared Monday night by Leaders:

1. Providence at Bethany roads, where a single-lane roundabout was proposed to address safety and congestion issues. Staff recommended starting to design this roundabout.
2. Hopewell at Redd roads, where a traffic light was recommended at an intersection that has had congestion and 32 crashes in the past five years. Staff recommended holding off on any further designs and re-evaluating later after notable public opposition to the traffic light idea.
3. Freemanville at Redd roads, where turn lanes and raised median islands were proposed to improve flow and slowing traffic. Staff favored a phased approach, starting with the design of a right turn lane on Redd Road only.

Council members seemed supportive of City staff’s recommendations.

One of the final items Monday related once more to alcohol-related businesses, though not as sweeping as the earlier discussion. The City had been approached with new business concepts currently restricted under Chapter 4 involving the consumption on-premises of beer and/or wine in businesses that do not qualify as eating establishments, limited food service restaurants, or fall under other limited consumption on-premises licenses that the City offers.

On Monday night, Harvill passed along a slight revision to an earlier read of this item to clarify that storage space would not be included in assessments that at least 60% of any such establishment’s floorspace be devoted to retail.

Council members and staff discussed how the City would ensure new concepts like these were in compliance. Harvill said the City should receive relevant financial data monthly, while Police would have enforcement capabilities.

The Council ultimately approved this item, paving the way for two concepts to move forward, while leaving the door open to revisiting the matter later.

The next meeting of Milton’s City Council is scheduled for Monday, October 4.

Original source can be found here.