The McDonough City Council voted at its September 3 regular meeting to adopt a proposal to provide training for elected officials related to race equity and implicit bias.

  Human resources director Carla Tuck presented the two proposals that were submitted to the city in response to her office’s request. One was from the National League of Cities, and the other was from Workable Options, an Atlanta-based consulting firm that specializes in matters relating to human resources and employment law.

  During the ensuing discussion, Mayor Pro Tem Elrod said that he would support the proposal that was submitted by Workable Options, as it offered specific guidelines for the training. Council member Sandra Vincent made a motion to adopt the National League of Cities proposal, seconded by council member Kamali Varner. Elrod voted in favor as did council member Rufus Stewart. Voting in opposition were Mayor Billy Copeland and council member Roger Pruitt. The only other member of the council, Benjamin Pruett, was absent from the meeting.

  In other business, two discussion issues which did not include a vote led to Vincent continuing her criticism of Copeland’s handling of city issues related to the overall structure of the city’s government. She pointed out that the city was allocated $1.4 million through the federal CARES Act but no decision on how to use the funds had come before the council for consideration. Copeland, as a matter of clarification, offered that the city spend $2.2 million on public safety as a result of COVID-19, and it was determined that the best use of the funds would be to offset those costs.

  City finance director Mark Clark, noting that the money is a reimbursement grant with established deadlines for submissions, said there was agreement between the appropriate federal and state agencies that public safety salaries for first responders would qualify under the COVID-19 mitigation definition.

  Vincent, as she has done with other issues in the past, expressed her concerns related to unilateral decisions being made without a vote when the city has a mayor-and-council form of government. She said that while other cities have to abide by their rules of government, McDonough “seems to make up the rules as we go.”

  A separate agenda item, the adoption of a new resolution regarding guidelines for council meetings, was postponed at Elrod’s request since the entire council was not present for the discussion and possible vote. But Vincent took the opportunity to point out her concerns about “the systematic reduction of the authority of the council as the governing body,” stating that her review of the proposed resolution led her to conclude that it is an attempt to remove power from the council and give it to the mayor. Elrod countered that while the new guidelines would allow the mayor to set the agenda, the council could request and approve additional items on an agenda with the support of four of its members.

  The council approved a letter of agreement between the city and the building owners of 21 & 23 Hampton Street for the purpose of a private/public partnership. The plan is to commission a muralist to paint a rendition of the original McDonough Fire Station and a Dalmatian dog on the side of the building. The mural fee will not exceed $8,000 and will be paid by the budgets of Main Street, McDonough Beautiful and McDonough Tourism. The vote was 6-0 to approve the measure.

  Also approved was a motion by Elrod to accept 4.618 acres of property at 222 Decatur Road, donated to the City from TRG Geranium Park LLC, for the establishment of a pocket park with a pond to be maintained by the city. The vote was 5-1 with Vincent voting in opposition.