The Stockbridge City Council voted at its October 27 work session to approved an extension to the contract for the new public works facility and three change orders totaling $57,576.91.
Citing rain delays above those allowed in the original contract, 41 days were added and the end date was changed from October 2 to November 30. Four other changes were outlined in the agreement, including a need to regrade a detention pond due to exposure of a sewer line, additional work on a lower parking lot, over-excavation of building footers and rock, and electrical changes as required by Georgia Power. Overall wet conditions were cited as the reason for the latter three items.
In other business, the council approved two measures relating to the Stockbridge Youth Council. The first was a rebranding proposal that includes a new image and logo, updated uniforms, etiquette training, updates to the council code, and efforts to increase public presence in local schools as well as on the Internet and social media.
The other agenda item intended to expand the youth council’s reach was a request to amend the Youth Council application to include students who attend Dutchtown, Eagle’s Landing, Stockbridge, Union Grove and Woodland high schools in addition to private schools in Henry County.
After previously being established as a city holiday in Stockbridge, Juneteenth is now on the list of paid holidays in the city beginning in 2021. The actual date is June 19.
Juneteenth is consider the longest-running African American holiday, honoring the end to slavery. The day’s name is a combination of “June” and “nineteenth,” the date in 1865 when federal troops arrived in the Texas city of Galveston more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation to ensure that all enslaved people were freed.
The Council voted 3-2 to approve an amendment to the city’s proclamation policy allowing the council to appeal proclamations denied by the mayor. A previous discussion at the same meeting was tabled and later brought up for reconsideration, both along the same 3-2 voting lines. John Blount and LaKeisha Gantt voted in opposition all three times.
The discussion of the policy included who can get a proclamation and who cannot, as well as the procedure for requesting one from the city and the process for distributing them either at council meetings or elsewhere.
The council voted unanimously to approve the renewal of its insurance and benefits package with Cigna for the 2021 fiscal year. The cost is $1,891,523.
A proposal to approve the ranking of two qualified firms for city landscape maintenance services was tabled. Also tabled was a request to use the Merle Manders Conference Center for a November 21 drive-by turkey giveaway in partnership with state Rep. Demetrius Douglas.
