Moody’s upgraded of the city’s credit rating from AA3 to AA2

by Janice Daniel

The Mayor & Council of the City of Villa Rica met for their Regular Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, August 13^th, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. with all members present.

The Invocation was offered by Rev. Kevin Kersey, Assistant Pastor of the New Georgia Baptist Church, who has also spent ten years working in the City directing the Community Service Workers.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Officer Christopher Powell, who was born and raised in Villa Rica and hired by the VRPD on 9/5/23.  He was certified at the North Central Georgia Law Enforcement Academy and works on Patrol Division A.  He attends True Life Church in Villa Rica and is currently working on a degree in Criminal Justice at UWG.

Jennifer Hall, finance department, gave the YTD June, 2024 Financial Update. The total cash is $50.8 million, a 59% increase over this time last year. Building permits contributed $386,490; water taps $206,800 and sewer taps $508,000.  Both the Carroll and Douglas SPLOST numbers continue to increase and property taxes are 98% collected.  The self-funded insurance had a high-claimant year, which happens every 4 to 6 years, but the bank balance is good at $1,559,035.  The water/sewer fund shows a net income of $171,531 and the sanitation/solid waste fund is at a net income of $103,809.

Interim City Manager Jeff Reese then gave his report. He said the 2025 Budget Staff is doing a tremendous job with the TAD repayments and the millage rates.  The city is almost finished with water purchase contracts with both Douglas and Carroll counties.  The Publix left turn lane will commence soon with a required guard rail.  The Main Street drainage project ran into an old fire lane cut-off which had to be replaced, and slowed the project down a little, but they’re back on track now.  The Conners Road cart path is “just awful”.  Reese said asphalt should never have been laid there and the city has used mitigation with the original developer as far as possible. They will soon have a quote for laying a concrete path there. The Stockmar Park train project is almost completed, which greatly improved the tracks to prevent wear and tear on the train.

Reese also reported that he has reorganized two departments: The Development Department is all in one place now, and the Main Street department is now under Tracie Ivey, Park and Recreation Director.

Police Chief Michael Mansour dedicated this year’s Annual Report to Retired Captain Hunter Etheredge. Captain Etheredge served 16 years at the VRPD and was “a huge asset to the department”.  His motto was “always better than the day before,” and he was a constant example of excellence in leadership and “serving with integrity.”  During the hiring drought, Mansour said Captain Etheredge never allowed the department’s standards of quality over quantity to be lowered.  Chief Mansour said, “I’ve never met a man more dedicated to serving others than Hunter Etheredge. He was a mentor to all who worked with him.”  And to Captain Etheredge he said, “You made me a better chief, husband, and father because of your great example.”

Two Library employees were recognized for 10 years of service, Renata Cunningham and Ida Hairston, by Dr. Rachel Linn, library manager, who had nothing but good things to say about these two women. She said that Cunningham’s Teen Programs had the highest attendance of any of the 19 West Georgia Regional Libraries and that Hairston teaches a Spanish class for kids and has spearheaded the Hispanic Heritage Festival for many years. She reminded everyone that this Festival takes place this year on September 7^th at the MILL.

Deputy City Manager gave a report to the council about Moody’s upgrade of the City’s credit rating from AA3 to AA2. Moody’s Ratings is a global provider of credit ratings, research and risk analysis for stocks, bonds, and government entities.  They use a scale from AAA (highest) to C (lowest) with numeric modifiers 1, 2 and 3 to indicate the ranking within each generic category.  The result of this rating upgrade reflects the fiscally responsible actions taken by the Council over the past several years, with the financial health of the City improving year over year.  “I am encouraged and excited by the news of the City’s credit rating upgrade to an AA2,” stated Reese.  “This upgrade is the result of the hard work of city leadership, especially those who serve on our finance team.  Higher credit ratings result in lower interest costs when we borrow money, and this rating upgrade demonstrates our efforts in moving the City of Villa Rica in a positive direction.”

Public Comments:

Greg Roberts of 2142 Brookdale Street was there to continue his comments that were cut short by the three-minute minimum at the earlier work session.  Roberts stated “Three hours tends to be the norm for Mayor and Council meeting.  This is too much for too long.” Roberts thinks the council is outgrowing its one date per month, and is putting some applicants in a bind in getting the approvals they need.

Pamela Whyte (address not given) reported that some things had happened to stall the work of the Heritage Preservation Coalition.  She said, “the city is in such a crisis, it’s hard to get us in a place to see the light.  Our community is not okay.”  She went on to say that “the mess that everybody voted in the past to cause our problems, nobody is working with us.”

Amy McCoy (address not given) said she listened to part of the work session where two vacancies on the development board were filled by people who were to look mostly at commercial growth, and she thinks residential should also be considered.  “The purpose of the TAD is to generate income,” she stated.  “The city needs people to fill jobs at the commercial establishments.”

Alita Dobbs Farmer of 216 Anderson Road said, “I truly want our city to prosper.  I truly want everybody to get along, but it has been very difficult to not feel that the city is against our community.”  She added, “We have extended an olive branch to the city, regardless of racial discrimination, lack of resources in our area, lack of respect for our community, lack of support from our city officials.  You need to do what you need to do to take care of the citizens with adequate water, adequate resources and proper schools.”  She said the council is creating a Villa Rica that doesn’t look like the citizens that live in Villa Rica, “who have a right to be here.”  She accused the council of targeting certain communities for their own personal vision of how they see Villa Rica or what they want Villa Rica to be.  “You need to work for Villa Rica as a whole.”

Christy Chastain of 239 Berkeley Drive said, “I work, so I was not able to tune into the work session.  Please consider moving the work session out of the regular meeting days.”

Luz Morales (address not given) said the work session needs to be when workers can watch, especially for volunteers working to improve their communities.

Kelly Vines of 401 Charleston Place said, “I work from 9 to 5.  I don’t have time to catch up with something discussed in the worksSession to even find out about something that will be in my backyard.”  Vines added that she wasn’t able to get the information she needed that will affect her daughter’s entire childhood.

Josh Evans of 640 Clearview Street said “Like most, I don’t like seeing what’s going on around here.”  He said it’s common knowledge that dirt causes galvanized pipes to rust, which cause culverts to collapse.  He also said the city’s stormwater process is bypassing state laws, and that there are other ways to manage it.  “When is something going to be done?” he asked.

Mayor Leslie McPherson said, “Several of us don’t like the work session and meeting on the same day,” and said she hopes that will be re-evaluated soon. She also reminded everyone that there had been a lot of focus on residential growth and not enough focus on commercial and industrial growth, resulting in residents being forced to go toward Atlanta to find work.  “In economic development we have started putting together a group of people who have experience in that area.”  She also said that, behind the scenes, a lot of things are being done to create jobs, and people are making “great sacrifice of time and effort working on the city’s problems.”  She said countless hours have been spent working on the Cleghorn/Anderson/Darden area. “There are people who care, and are trying their best to help that Community, and all the needs of the city.”

Members of the audience started shouting out questions and disagreements, but the mayor firmly refused to engage, although it took a minute or two to quiet the uproar.

City Planner, Shaun Daniels, presented VA-09-24, an application to put a Waffle House at 738 W. Bankhead Highway, which requires a Public Hearing.  He said there is a Waffle House approximately .6 miles from this location, which is a .6-acre legally non-conforming parcel which was grandfathered in to this area.  The representative from Waffle House is requesting two variances:  to reduce the minimum landscape strip from ten feet to five feet, and to encroach within the commercial medium density 45-feet rear building setback by 16 feet.  This item was discussed at length during the work session, and again at this meeting with many questions for the applicant and conversation and comments among the mayor and council members. 

During the Public Hearing, Joshua Evans of Clearview Street said he doesn’t see a reason for another Waffle House, and that the fire department may need to get out by the lot behind the lot at issue.

Peg Taylor of 2120 Osprey Cove said the Waffle House should be able to be there if they want to.

Luz Morales asked what is the purpose of the setbacks on a C-2 lot.

Daniels explained that this lot is just a fraction of the acreage of a normal C-2 lot and they need the setbacks in order to make everything fit, and for the safety of their employees, and to keep their customers out of other businesses’ parking lots. 

A motion was made by Council Member Momtahan to approve the variance requests, seconded by Council Member Carter, and the requests were approved by the council with a vote of 4-1, with Council Member Warmoth opposed due to traffic issues.

The last item under Community Development was RA-03-24, request to rezone two parcels at 615 Industrial Blvd. from I1 (Industrial Low Density) to C2 (Commercial Medium Density).  Applicant Scott Evans plans to use the property for a car dealership.  The two parcels, 5.33 acres and 2.96 acres respectively will be combined into an 8.29-acre property. Shaun Daniels said the property on the North consists of C-1 parcels, a Dollar General and the Villa Rica Gym.  On the East is R-2 residential on 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd Streets and the property abuts 3^rd Street.  On the South is I1 and I2 Industrial low and medium density.  He said this application use fits within a Suburban Village in the Future Land Use Map and is in line with the Comprehensive Plan.  The applicant plans to expand on at least one of the existing buildings and there will be no 18-wheelers unloading from the Highway.  They will have a separate section on the lot specifically for loading and unloading vehicles.  He expects a six-month construction time, and has provided elevations to Sstaff. This application has been approved by Planning & Zoning as well as Staff, who advised that this lighter density business will prevent heavy industry from coming there

Zack Bell, the project’s architect, said the owner doesn’t intend to develop the entire 8.29 acres, and there will be ½-acre buffers much larger than what the city requires. Bell also said that, since there is an existing site with a deceleration lane, he does not anticipate any GDOT changes. Three people spoke in the Public Hearing, all in favor of the application, which the council approved 5-0.

Interim City Manager Reese and Utilities Director Bain presented an item in the work session, but it was moved to the regular meeting because of the amount of money being required.  Bain had reported that the North wastewater treatment plant in Mirror Lake is current at 85% capacity and is reaching a critical point (90%) at which the plant is subject to being completely shut down by the EPD.  The project was originally expected to be done about two years out at a cost of $2.3 million, but Reese and Bain have spoken to Tim Grizzard & Associates about doing a design/build project at a total cost of $1.6 million, which Grizzard thinks he can start immediately.  This will involve laying 4,500 feet of piping to divert wastewater from the North Plant to the West Plant, which has a much greater capacity.  The city is to buy the materials needed and Grizzard & Associates will do the installation.  The item was approved by council unanimously.

The meeting was then adjourned.