Kennesaw City Council Work Session Transcript 2025-11-25
Kennesaw City Council Work Session - November 25, 2025
On November 25, 2025, the Kennesaw City Council convened for a work session to review administrative updates, discuss legislative priorities, approve consent items, and deliberate on capital improvement projects and future SPLOST proposals. The meeting included updates on financial collections, park construction progress, and the organization of the new council term, concluding with a special call for executive sessions regarding property and legal matters.
Consent Calendar
- Meeting Minutes: Unanimous approval of the October 28, 2025, meeting minutes for the Finance Committee, Parks/Recreation Committee, and Public Works Committee.
- Agenda Work Sessions: Motion carried to adopt the proposed committee and council meeting dates, moving the September Monday meeting to the preceding Thursday (Labor Day conflict) and the Wednesday Veterans Day meeting to Thursday.
- Second Readings: Consented to the second reading of the Alcohol Code Section Revision and the Vehicle Mobilization Service fee increase from $50 to $75.
- AT&T Variances: Consent approved for AT&T variance requests to install up to 32,503 feet of fiber optic overloading in the Chestnut Hill vicinity and 2,400 feet along Washington Avenue.
- Street Studies: Consent approved to proceed with a pedestrian safety speed study on McDonald Street (between Whitlock and Maxwell) and a speed study for Rosewood Creek Drive (Briar Pond Way intersection).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Council Member Kent (Ward 4B): Expressed strong support for upgrading Fire Stations 52 and 55 to Tier One projects, citing unacceptable living conditions for first responders, specifically noting the 1970 construction date of Station 55.
- Council Member (Unidentified Name in Transcript): Proposed a light evaluation for Lawrence Street widening and requested staff review for a potential new park in Ward 7 (Lake Dodd area).
- Council Member (Ward 1): Highlighted the lack of county property availability for joint ventures and advocated for a county partnership for a new facility in the Franklin Gateway area.
- Staff/Manager: Noted that the Georgia Real Estate Brokerage law (requiring out-of-state landlords to have a local broker) had already passed, while bills regarding building code "shot clocks" and rental property restrictions were under review.
Discussion Items
Finance Committee Updates
- Hotel/Motel Tax: Staff reported a one-time collection increase of approximately $184,000 (comprising $174,000 from a Marketplace retroactive payment for 2021-2023 and $10,000 from prior months). The normalized monthly collection was ~$264,650, the lowest in four years, while auto rental tax collections hit an all-time high for October.
- Auto Rental Tax: Year-to-date reserve increases totaled $39,000; conference center reserves increased by $35,000.
- Pension Plan IPS: Council reviewed revisions to the Investment Policy Statement to align with OCGA 47-20-84, increasing the investment range for alternatives from 15% to 20%.
Parks, Recreation & Tourism
- West Dixie Park: Construction is approximately 80% complete; concrete work is being finalized, with tree planting scheduled for December 12 and the playground for the week of December 15. Full completion is targeted by the end of January.
- Burrus Park: A pipe replacement project potentially costing up to $250,000 is required to maintain vehicle access and bridge integrity; $50,000 is currently in the bond, with additional funding potentially needed.
- Budget Status: Approximately $75,629 remains in the uncommitted balance; funds are earmarked for the Larry Sminski Park project, with future needs planned for Atherton Square and Glover/Kirby Parks.
Legislative Priorities
- Revenue Impact: Discussion focused on the potential for state revenue replacement bills to negatively impact local taxation. Council expressed concern that state tax code changes should not reduce local revenue.
- Building Codes: Bill SB 812 was identified as a critical item regarding "shot clocks" for permits and potential expansion into design standards.
- Municipal Tort Reform: Pending Supreme Court ruling on HB 531; Council to monitor for late spring/summer decision.
- Utility Regulations: Concerns raised regarding FCC rules shifting burdens for right-of-way access to cities.
SPLOST & Capital Projects (2028)
- Revenue Adjustment: After negotiations with Cobb County, the estimated SPLOST revenue increased from $58 million to $67.8 million due to the removal of road maintenance costs from the city burden.
- Project Tiering: The Tier 1 list projects at $69 million, requiring a $9 million gap to reach the $78 million target.
- Fire Stations: Staff confirmed Fire Stations 52 ($1.2M) and 55 ($9.6M) are currently listed but noted that adding them would exceed the $78 million cap. Council expressed desire for both to move to Tier 1.
- Joint Ventures: Discussion explored a joint venture with Cobb County for a multi-purpose facility in the Franklin Gateway area, given the county's lack of available land.
Organizational Meeting Scheduling
- Special Call: Moved to add Monday, November 5th as a special organizational meeting for the new council term. The meeting will cover rules of procedure, travel seminars ($7,000 per council member), and staff appointments.
- Recruitment: Discussion on managing conflicts with school breaks (Spring/Newton/Christmas) for council members with children.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes Approved: The minutes for October 28, 2025, across all committees were officially approved.
- Legislative List: The legislative priorities list was adopted for the Mayor's upcoming meeting with other city mayors on December 11th.
- Agenda Work Session: The committee meeting schedule was formally adjusted to accommodate Labor Day, Veterans Day, and the GAPPT conference (moving March 24th to March 19th).
- AT&T Variances: Approval granted for the overlay cabling requests in two distinct districts.
- Public Works Donations: Motion to authorize the Public Works Director to receive a donation of 1,675 square feet of right-of-way and a sidewalk from Kennestone Hospital at 627 Cherokee Street (Ward 4B) passed.
- Executive Session: Council voted to enter executive session for discussions on property acquisition/disposition and legal advice regarding two ongoing matters.
Meeting Transcript
I'd like to be called committed to order. The first item on the agenda are the meeting minutes for October the 28th, 2025. Is there a motion? Motion I'll second your motion. Motion to approve. The motion has been made in a second. All of you in favor, raise your hand. Right hand. Whatever hand you can. Three. Oh, okay. The next items on the agenda are the hotel motel tax, auto rental tax, and finance update. We'll take those from this. Thank you, Chairman. Good evening. Good evening, everyone. So the first item that I have is the hotel motel. I am happy to announce that there is a very large uptick in collections this month, as you probably have noticed. This is a one-time increase. This is a result. In this particular instance, it was a marketplace that started reporting later. And they were able to determine, reach out to them and determine that they had not submitted collections for uh from 2021 to 2023. And so uh we were able to speak with the company and they voluntarily um provided the information as well as the payment, and so that amounts to approximately 174,000 this month. That is a one time that will not be you see repeated. They have been um paying consistently since that time, but they um did not start and report the time that they were um that they should have, so that was a one-time collections, and we also had another um two payments that were for prior months that totaled 10,000. So it's 184,000 that are um outside of the monthly collections. So if you normalize those collections for the month, it equals around 264,000, 65,000, which is the lowest that we've seen in the last four years. So the pattern that we have seen previously is continuing. Um we will um continue to make adjustments. Um looking at our hotel, I'm sorry, auto rental, which is actually the highest October that we received. So they've kind of done a flip-flop there. Um, and so the increase in reserve for the conference um center uh increase by 35,000. The increase for reserves for auto rental increase year to date by 39,000. So the total year to date um over our distributions is 74,000 for the year, and so we'll continue to monitor that. Other than that, for our finance update, there were no major changes in our finance department. Um we did issue um business license renewals, they will go out. Um you should start seeing them in the mail next week. Uh we are um finalizing our annual audit, so those um presentations should be or will be scheduled in January for the committee meetings I'm sorry for the um January finance. No, that will be the January council meeting. I'm sorry, January council meeting. We should have those prepared for that, not the committee meetings in January. So we should be good to go for that, and those um are the reports that I have for this month. I just have a question on the amount to be reserved for the three percent on the second page of the combined. Um why is that a negative one second? Negative uh 13K. Okay, um, because for um we had an extra 31,000 that came out and that came out of um the reserves, and so the 31,000 for the month plus the normal distribution took it negative, so we pulled it into the res out of the reserves, but year to date we're still up. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes, sir. Ms.
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