Will not be taken during these sessions.

We want to be clear that your import that your input uh input is important.

There will be a dedicated public hearing schedule in the coming weeks where residents will have the opportunity to share comments, ask questions, and provide feedback on the proposed budget.

And with that being said, first up, we will have uh elections, the register office.

Greetings, my name is Shauna Dozier.

I am the elections director for the Board of Registration and Elections Office, and this is my presentation regarding our fiscal year 2027 budget request.

And the mission of the Clayton County Border Registration and Elections Office is to serve voters by ensuring lawful, secure, and accessible elections while maintaining accurate voter records and public confidence in the electoral process.

And currently we have 210,000 registered voters that we currently serve.

So I'm gonna uh tell you about our budget priorities for this upcoming fiscal year, and just talk about a little bit, just provide a little bit of information in that regards.

Our first priority is secure and efficient election operations.

And with that, we mean delivering election services that are secure, accessible, and efficient, strengthening civic engagement, and maintaining public trust.

And these all support, all our priorities support all of the the six the pillars of the county.

Um for the fiscal year 2027, we have four elections that we plan or are scheduled.

Um the November general election, the December runoff, as well as a March special election and a runoff as well.

And our request and estimated cost for the November general election is one million three hundred thousand dollars, and for the runoff, five hundred thousand, and the special March special 2027, 700,000, and then if there's a runoff, uh 100,000.

That's a total of about 2,600,000.

Our next priority is access, equable voter access.

And in regards to this, this is to promote fair and inclusive access to voter registration and election participation across all communities, reducing barriers and expanding outreach.

And so this is our voter engagement in which we average roughly 10 voter education events across the county, and that's just an average.

Most of the time we can do anywhere between 30 and 40 events, depending on the engagement in the community, any type of events that we go to, we try to be out in the community as much as we possibly can.

Um, and so in our budget so that to accommodate all of our voter education events, um, we're asking for 130,000, and that'll cover those four elections.

And when I say I have these broken down by elections, but they also include our high school voter registration engagement and our other engagement in the community outside of the elections.

Priority number three is modernize election equipment and technology, and with this invest in an accurate, efficient, legislatively compliant equipment to support elections administration and canvassing processes.

At this time, we put an earmark in for 175,000.

Uh currently there is legislation that was passed, the legislation Senate Bill 189, which eliminated the QR code in our voting system, which pretty much made our voting system obsolete.

However, there was legislation that was um that went through during this election cycle but did not pass, and that's Senate Bill 214 and also House Bill.

And because there was no remedy provided for our voting equipment, we are kind of in limbable about what's our next steps.

We understand that there's going to be a set a special session and that will determine how we move forward going into November.

So right now we are not clear about what the remedy is going to be, but we're hoping that we'll get a remedy so that we can provide you all with an accurate date of date and information that we need to adjust our budget accordingly.

This is to ensure staff are well trained, knowledgeable, and compliant with all regulations to deliver accurate, secure, and reliable election services.

Currently in our office, we do have two staff that are nationally certified to provide election services.

Also, we have to maintain our state certifications.

This includes attending an annual conference as well as any type of regional training that the Secretary State asks us to do.

And so in this, we're asking for $32,000 to support our training, our continued training.

We're constantly in training to learn how to better serve and also to maintain our certification so that we're in compliance with the Georgia election code to be able to support during our elections.

The impact if we don't receive the info the uh budget monies that we need.

So if we weren't able to receive the funds based on our priorities in regards to secure and efficient operations, there's a greater risk of disruptions, inefficiencies, and diminished public trust.

And our goal ultimately is to make sure that we instill voter confidence in our processes.

Equitable voter access.

It would reduce outreach and access, leading to lower participation and potential inequities.

Modern equipment and technology, failure to meet legislative requirements as mandated, workforce readiness and compliance, possibly increased errors, inconsistent procedures, and higher risk of noncompliance and legal challenges.

So based on the priorities that I've provided, we do recommend that you all support our our budget as submitted.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Next up, we have uh communications.

Good morning, I'm Valerie Fuller.

I oversee the Office of Communications and Print Services.

I am the communications administrator.

And today we're gonna be talking about the priority number one and number two for the office, as well as strategic pillar support, the impact on non-funded budget requests, and the recommendation.

So the mission of the Office of Communications is to provide proactive administration of communications and government by providing information accurately and timely to our stakeholders.

So I've listed for you as requested our priority one and our priority two.

Uh is a request for uh advertisement budget and supplies that work hand in hand.

So those two in line with the goal, which supports the communications and image pillar.

Uh in the current request, we have $35,000, and last year I believe we requested 45,000 just in reference to supplies to support the office uh print of print services, which is also a part of the Office of Communications.

As we work throughout the year, we've noticed that we have the request of 45,000 last year.

We requested for this year actually a decrease by $35,000, but we understand moving into the summer with the activities and events that we're gonna be closer to that mark.

So the rationale is to support projected needs of communications and print services to sustain materials needed for communications, marketing, and public relations.

So the second priority is dealing with coverage and the appropriate compensation for professional part-time staff who also work days, nights, and weekends.

Um they wouldn't otherwise be able to cover the events, the activities that we have in reference to what the associate producers cover during the full for full-time staff throughout the day.

So the Office of Communication supports all five of the strategic pillars in the strategic plan for the Clayton County Board of Commissioners.