Marietta City Council Agenda Work Session – May 11, 2026
Marietta City Council Agenda Work Session – May 11, 2026
The Marietta City Council held an agenda work session on May 11, 2026, to review and discuss items scheduled for the regular meeting on May 13. Key topics included the Board of Lights and Water (BLW) report (financial updates, employee recognition, infrastructure projects), proposed BLW board compensation increase and employee bonus, development plan approvals for Cobb Farm and Hope Creek, community development action plans, and various appointments and awards. Many items were recommended for approval and placed on the consent agenda for Wednesday, except as noted.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes of April 13, April 15, and April 28 were approved as amended and placed on consent.
- Development Authority appointments and claim items were placed on consent.
- The line-item veto of three BLW-related budget increases (board member compensation increase to $500, 1% employee bonus, and associated budget adjustments) was placed on consent for Wednesday, subject to mayoral veto.
- Authorization to advertise the Civil Service Board vacancy was placed on consent.
- CDBG, HOME, and HOPWA Action Plan was recommended for approval and placed on consent.
- Memorandum of Understanding with Emmanuel's Village (as co-applicant for State Housing Trust Fund) was moved forward with recommendation for approval and placed on consent.
- Cobb Farm revised detailed plan approval was moved forward and placed on consent after developer addressed prior concerns.
- Life University trail MOU was placed on consent as originally presented.
- Limitation of use affidavit for Larry Seminski Park (LCWF grant closeout) was placed on consent.
- Four post banners were placed on consent with correct dates.
Discussion Items
Board of Lights & Water Report
- Mr. Kent presented the BLW report, introducing board members and IT department staff.
- National Drinking Water Week (May 3–9, 2026) was recognized with a video showcasing employees.
- Eric Patterson reported on the Georgia Lineman's Rodeo (May 1–2), where Marietta teams swept the municipal podium and placed three in the top 20 overall.
- Water operations: Water sales averaged 71.9 million gallons/day (budget 69 MGD), with revenue of $8.4 million (exceeded by $162,000). Net income $3.6 million (below budget by $119,000). Year-to-date operating income $7.8 million (exceeded budget by $290,000). Capital spending year-to-date $18 million, with $65.9 million remaining CIP commitments. Cash reserves $57.8 million. Seven pipeline projects underway, including completion of Mars Hill and Pine Mountain (one year ahead of schedule). Five facilities projects include the Coral plant replacement (three months behind; considering adding crews). Three design projects and fifteen EPA unfunded mandates.
- BLW finance report: Supplemental power costs were under budget by $380,000 for the month; MiAG budget had a $2.1 million shortfall in Q1 due to a 31% miss in supplemental forecasts. Internal budget shows $2.35 million lower power costs; year-to-date variance 0.67% ($360,000). Gas prices below budget; spot market prices fell. Hatch 1 forced outage required use of share units.
- Discussion on bad debt: higher this year due to economic conditions; accounts are turned over to collection after two months unpaid.
- Reserve decrease due to encumbrance adjustments; some projects deferred to FY27.
BLW Compensation and Employee Bonus
- The Budget and Rate Committee proposed two items: (1) increase BLW board member compensation from $350 to $500 per meeting (previously recommended in 2022 but not acted on), costing $12,600 annually but mayor and council members on board cannot receive the increase during their term; (2) a 1% one-time bonus for BLW employees (suggested as retention incentive) costing $165,000, instead of a 4% permanent increase originally requested.
- Council members expressed concern about setting board compensation in isolation and about the budgetary impact given tight capital budgets. Preferred to review all board compensations together.
- Legal advice indicated that a bonus for only BLW employees could be problematic; if done, it should be a retention incentive for all city employees. City-wide 1% bonus would cost $418,000.
- The mayor exercised line-item veto power per City Charter Section 2.11A to reduce the two budget increases to zero. This decision was placed on the consent agenda for Wednesday, where a five-vote majority could override the veto.
- The existing 4% salary increase for all employees remains in the budget.
Cobb Farm Revised Detailed Plan
- Developer Will Cassidy addressed prior staff concerns: added playground, adjusted street parking to be off city right-of-way, resolved tree and screening issues, provided new elevations with additional features.
- Discussion centered on sidewalk width: plan shows 5-foot sidewalks with 2-foot landscape buffer. Some councilmembers questioned widening to 7 feet (removing buffer) for bicycles. Developer noted significant impacts on setbacks, grading, and coordination with GDOT; preferred to keep the buffer. Council decided not to require changes and moved the plan forward as presented.
Hope Creek Revised Detailed Plan
- The developer satisfied a proscriptive condition (always stops at intersections). A prescriptive request for additional trail connection points to the south was not yet provided in plan form, but the developer indicated willingness.
- Staff recommended approval contingent on showing two additional connection points by Wednesday. Council moved the item to the Wednesday agenda with that ask; it was not placed on consent due to uncertainty about the connections.
Community Development Action Plan (CDBG/HOME/HOPWA)
- Public review ended May 11 with no comments. Plan includes $1.7 million in CDBG funds and HOPWA funds for a five-county service area. City will take over HOPWA administration from Atlanta. Councilmember asked about homelessness resources; staff noted limited CDBG public service cap ($60,000) and that direct homelessness funds go to the county.
Solid Waste Ordinance First Reading
- Ordinance updates language on proper placement of roll carts (must be placed at rear or side of property, or otherwise not visible from street). City attorney clarified that a public hearing is not required for non-zoning ordinances. Council proceeded with first reading and discussion of waiving second reading on Wednesday.
Public Hearings Scheduled for Wednesday
- 2028 SPLOST project list.
- Variance request for two lots off Jordan and Burnap Street (Trayton LLC).
Executive Session
- Council entered executive session to discuss property acquisition matters. No action was reported.
Key Outcomes
- The mayor issued a line-item veto to eliminate the BLW board member compensation increase and 1% employee bonus from the BLW budget. The veto will be presented to the council for possible override at the Wednesday meeting (requires 5 votes).
- Most items were advanced to the Wednesday regular meeting with recommendations for approval, many on the consent agenda.
- Hope Creek approval was moved forward with a request for the developer to provide additional trail connection plans by Wednesday; the item will be considered separately (not on consent).
- Three Distinguished Service Awards (Robert W. Kenny, Wandita Carmichael, Jim Martin) were added to the Wednesday agenda for approval and presentation.
- The council authorized staff to advertise the Civil Service Board vacancy.
Meeting Transcript
I'm going to call the city council agenda work session to order, please. First item of business is approval of minutes for April 13th. Make a motion to approve. I'll second. All those in favor, please raise your right hand. Motion carriage. Mr. Kent, BOW report. Yes, sir. We're gonna need some help with this one, but we'll get through it. Today we met and just to kind of go over a few things in case you don't know everybody that's on the BLW board. Um the board members are the mayor, um, who's the chairman, Terry Lee. If you don't know Terry Lee, he's an accountant, CPA. Uh Bruce Colbert, I don't know what he does. Is he retired? Uh Alice Summer Hour. Uh don't know what she does either, but I know she's on quite a few around Kawanas and uh and all. Is she wrong? Yeah. I understand they used to own that one twenty loop over there on the side. But Pete Waltriff, who was form the former uh board member, and there's still one board position currently baker that we don't have to feel. And that's a tough one because they have to have a business that uses Marietta's uh power, but they're outside the Senate. They live outside the city, right? Right. I thought the business was in and they were out. I think Jason's right. But the vendors can be outside of them. In the city. And uh okay. Moving on to the next uh item. Next agenda item was uh they do a really nice thing each month. They introduce different uh employees, and this month it was Ronnie Barrett's team, uh IT team. Uh presented uh the managers from his uh the department. Uh we have Aaron Secko, who's a service desk manager, oversees day-to-day IT operations support ticket triage and endpoint device management. Jim Carmichael, who's a GIS supervisor, manages geographical information systems, GIS data quality control, and drone operations. Jeremy Wade, I guess I'm pronouncing that right. Systems manager overseas applications, development databases, business intelligence, and AI related systems, and Brian Holland, who's uh enterprise service manager, oversees infrastructure network routing, security systems, radios, and the fiber network. Bruce Bishop, who's also the uh deputy director of IT, assist with IT budgeting department technology coordination, project management, and technology implementation. Uh so those were the employees, and they range from two years to I think was Bruce that had 35 years of service. 40. Oh, okay. You said 35, but we don't want to cheat them out of five years of service, but anyway, that's a long time. Um and we thank them for their service. Next we had Kim Holland, who's the director of water and sewer operations. Uh, who was there to uh uh talk about the national drinking water week, which was May 3rd through the 9th, 2026. Uh she showed a presentation which was uh recognizing National Drinking Water Week and some of the employees uh actually performing their jobs throughout the city. Uh do you want to play it? Yeah, I think it'd be nice. Very nice. All right.
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