The Roswell Mayor and Council met on August 11, 2026, for committee meetings to discuss and act on several items: a grant application for the Art Center West expansion, a trail lighting project along Smith Plantation Trail, a text amendment for auto showroom and maintenance uses, the Q2 FY2026 quarterly management review, and the FY2027 budget/tax year 2026 process. Present were Mayor Mary Robischell, Councilmembers Sarah Beeson, Aaron Brumley, Christine Hall, Alan Sells, and Christopher Zach, along with City Administrator Randy Knighton, Assistant City Attorney Joe Cusack, and Deputy City Clerk Rachel Reigns.
All right. All right. We will begin in thirty seconds. We'll begin in thirty seconds. All right. Uh, good evening, everyone, and welcome to the committee meetings for August eleventh, twenty twenty-six. Uh, the elected body present, uh, Mayor Mary Robischell. Councilmember Sarah Beeson, Councilmember Aaron Brumley, Councilmember Christine Hall, Councilmember Alan Sells, and Councilmember Christopher Zach. I am Randy Knighton, the city administrator, along with the assistant city attorney, uh, Joe Cusack and our uh deputy city clerk, Rachel Reigns. The purpose of these committee meetings are for city departments to convey information to the mayor and city council to discuss items listed on the published agenda and provide updates of essential information pertinent to the operation of city government and by ordinance. The committee consists of the elected body as well as the city administrator who serves as chair of committee meetings. This is a public meeting, but not a public hearing. Therefore, while we certainly welcome members of the public here and those watching, um, we do not take comments or questions at these meetings, unless specifically authorized by Mayor and Council. Public comments and questions are received at our regular committee meeting, our regular council meetings on the second and fourth Monday of each month, as well as fifth Monday and open forum, which we do have one of those this month. We do encourage residents to reach out to us for any information or questions you have pertaining to city matters. And we also encourage you to view Roswell 365.com for a calendar of events. The first item on the agenda is the approval of the committee meeting minutes for July 26. July 28th, 2026. Do we have a motion? Let's put my reading glasses on. Motion by Councilmember Hall, second by Councilmember Zach. Further discussion. All in favor? All right, that passes and moves forward. Thank you very much. On the regular agenda for the committee meeting. Item number two, consideration of a resolution to apply for and accept a Georgia Council for the Arts Facilities grant for the Art Center West Ceramics Studio Expansion Project in an amount not to exceed $45,000. Presented by Stephen Malone, who is the director of recreation parks historic and cultural affairs. Mr. Malone. Yes, thank you, sir. This grant, as you stated, is through the Georgia Council for the Arts. It is actually one of their facilities grants. It supports capital improvements to art facilities in the Georgia state. Requires a one-to-one local match just for context. We have successfully applied and received funding through this grant previously in 2022 and 2024. To give you a little bit of context, this project would be specific to the Art Center West, which is located at Lita Thompson Park. Specifically, that facility operates the majority of our ceramics programs, which consistently operate at or near the capacity of that center. Limited, it has a very limited what we call kiln yard. Kilns are the machinery that is used to take clay products and fire it to certain temperatures so that it hardens. It's very instrumental in the operations of that facility. It is currently an outdoor work area, which obviously creates some challenges as it relates to weather and the ability to be out there and working in that environment in certain instances. The proposed project that we would apply for with this grant would be to construct a 1600 square foot covered kiln yard space. It would also replace up to 11 aging pottery wheels that are nearing their useful life. It would expand the instructional glazing, clay prep, the kiln, and the storage space in and around that yard. And then it would improve the workflow in the year-round operations. This gives you an image of the space. I'll show you some additional images. Most of it is located outdoors, uncovered, which creates a lot of challenges with weather-related activity. The community impact would be it would increase instructional capacity and scheduling flexibility, supports simultaneous classes and studio activities, reduces weather-related disruptions, improves safety, equipment reliability, and it puts this center on the forefront of being able to expand to the needs of the community, which we're already seeing.