Ordinances / Resolutions of Note
- Fund the Athens Homeless Coalition / Salvation Army
- Raise the Stormwater Fee
- Approve Leisure Services Master Plan
- Regulate Short-Term Rentals
- Block Townhomes in Green Acres
- Approve Low-Barrier Homeless Shelter
- Overturn Restrictions on Public Comment
- Fund Athens Achieves
- Approve FY 2025 Budget
- Approve Workforce Development Plan
- Construct the Firefly Trail to Winterville
- Living Wages for Neighborhood Leaders
- Reallocate ARPA Funding
- Block North Ave Roundabout, Road Diet
- Reject Trash Franchising
- Proclaim Athens a Safe Haven for the LGBTQ+ Community
- Urge State Legislature to Allow Ranked Choice Voting
Fund the Athens Homeless Coalition / Salvation Army
The ACC Commission approved $5 million in American Rescue Plan funding for the Athens Homeless Coalition and other agencies to improve their capacity to provide services for people experiencing homelessness in Athens. The disbursement included $550,000 for the Athens Salvation Army Center, circumventing the normal request-for-proposals process.
For more information, check out APN’s article here.
Voting yes to fund the Athens Homeless Coalition: Davenport, Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Thornton, Hamby
Voting no: Link, Houle, Myers
Absent: none
Recusal: Culpepper
Proposal made by: Fisher
Passed on January 2, 2024
Raise the Stormwater Fee
As recommended by the ACC Stormwater Advisory Committee, the commission raised the stormwater fee from $3.50 to $4.73 a month for the average homeowner. The vote also locked in fee increases of 3.75% a year for five years and 2% a year for three additional years.
The revenue is used to pay for stormwater utility operations. It does not cover capital needs for the utility to replace failing culverts and pipes underneath roads all over Athens. The fee hadn’t been raised since 2005.
Voting yes to raise the stormwater fee: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Houle, Culpepper, Myers, Hamby
Voting no: Thornton
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Myers
Passed on January 2, 2024
Approve Leisure Services Master Plan
The commission also selected a consultant to create a new comprehensive plan for ACC Leisure Services in a 6-5 vote. The commission was evenly split, with Thornton, Hamby, Wright, Fisher and Culpepper voting no. Mayor Kelly Girtz broke the tie in favor of approving Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker, LLC to create the plan.
Commissioners who opposed the master plan did so primarily because of the $400,000 cost.
Voting yes to approve the master plan: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Houle, Myers, Girtz
Voting no: Wright, Fisher, Culpepper, Thornton, Hamby
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Myers
Passed on January 2, 2024
Regulate Short-Term Rentals
The commission passed strong regulation that requires short-term rentals in single-family neighborhoods to be operated by someone who lives there most of the time. However, this legislation was immediately sent to the commission’s Government Operations Committee where it is sure to be weakened so that it has a better chance of standing up in court.
Read APN’s article on this topic here.
Voting yes to regulate short-term rentals: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Fisher, Houle, Culpepper, Myers, Thornton, Hamby
Voting no: none
Recusal: Wright
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Myers
Passed on February 6, 2024
Block Townhomes in Green Acres
A proposed group of townhouse-style homes off Barnett Shoals in the Green Acres neighborhood drew such fierce opposition from nearby residents that the developer was forced to withdraw the proposal just hours before the scheduled vote. That didn’t stop a legion of neighborhood residents from showing up and demanding the proposal’s permanent defeat.
Commissioner Jesse Houle asked that the developer be allowed to withdraw their proposal and submit a new one, but other commissioners voted to block the proposal totally.
Read APN’s article on this topic here.
Voting yes to block the townhomes: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Myers, Hamby
Voting no: Houle
Not voting: Culpepper (absent), Thornton (acting as mayor pro-tem)
Proposal made by: Myers
Passed on April 2, 2024
Approve Low-Barrier Homeless Shelter
The Athens-Clarke County Commission allocated almost $3 million to various homeless service agencies to implement their strategic plan to reduce and prevent homelessness. Half of the funding will go towards a new low-barrier homeless shelter designed to accept residents turned away by other shelters.
Commissioner Patrick Davenport opposed the plan mostly because it also funded the Above and Beyond home care cooperative founded by the Economic Justice Coalition. Davenport did not oppose the low-barrier shelter aspect of the plan.
Read APN’s article on this topic here.
Voting yes to approve the shelter: Link, Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Houle, Culpepper, Myers, Hamby
Voting no: Davenport
Not voting: Thornton (acting as mayor pro-tem)
Proposal made by: Taylor
Passed on May 7, 2024
Overturn Restrictions on Public Comment
The commission was preparing to adopt new rules to ban protest signs inside the commission chamber, to limit public comment to two minutes per speaker, down from three minutes, and to require those wanting to speak on a topic not on the commission’s agenda to sign up in advance of the meeting. But when it came time to vote, most commissioners disregarded a previous compromise they had made on this topic and shot down their proposed new rules.
Read APN’s article on this topic here.
Voting yes to approve the shelter: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Fisher, Myers, Thornton
Voting no: Wright, Houle, Hamby
Absent: Culpepper
Proposal made by: Davenport
Passed on May 22, 2024
Fund Athens Achieves
The commission voted to approve a $1.9 million in seed capital for workforce development plan put forward by the Athens-Area Chamber of Commerce called ‘Athens Achieves.’ The plan was funded using federal American Rescue Plan dollars the commission had allocated to workforce support and business development.
Since the local government is also crafting a workforce development plan, some commissioners wanted to wait until that was finished before approving Athens Achieves. Enough commissioners voted no that Mayor Kelly Girtz was called on to break the tie.
Voting yes to fund Athens Achieves: Davenport, Wright, Fisher, Culpepper, Hamby, Girtz
Voting no: Link, Taylor, Houle, Myers, Thornton
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Culpepper
Passed on June 5, 2024
Approve FY 2025 Budget
Commissioner Jesse Houle drafted the local governments fiscal year 2025 budget with some help from Commissioners Dexter Fisher and Mike Hamby. They came to an agreement on a proposal to fund the local government’s affordable housing investment strategy and several other priorities without raising property tax rates. Commissioner John Culpepper voted no because he wanted to lower taxes.
Voting yes to approve the budget: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Houle, Myers, Thornton, Hamby
Voting no: Culpepper
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Houle
Passed on June 5, 2024
Approve Workforce Development Plan
The ACC Commission approved a workforce development plan that will ultimately provide $3.3 million with the goal of empowering the local workforce to help them meet the needs of Athens businesses in the immediate and long-term. The plan includes the Athens Achieves proposal created by the Athens-Area Chamber of Commerce, as well as a a proposal from the Business Development and Workforce Support Taskforce convened by Mayor Kelly Girtz.
Learn more about the workforce development plan here.
Voting yes to approve the plan: Davenport, Link, Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Houle, Myers, Hamby
Voting no: none
Recusal: Culpepper, Thornton
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Myers
Passed on August 6, 2024
Construct the Firefly Trail to Winterville
The Firefly Trail is a multi-use path that runs through Athens and is intended to stretch 39 miles — all the way to Union Point. The connection to Wintervile was the last trail segment to be constructed in Athens-Clarke County.
Voting yes to approve construction to Winterville: Link, Taylor, Fisher, Houle, Culpepper, Myers, Hamby
Voting no: Davenport, Wright, Thornton
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Hamby
Passed on September 3, 2024
Living Wages for Neighborhood Leaders
The ACC Commission shot down a small funding request for a community empowerment program run by Family Connection-Communities in Schools that would have given the workers a 4% cost-of-living increase. Learn more about this vote here.
Voting yes to provide a 4% wage increase: Link, Taylor, Houle, Myers
Voting no: Davenport, Wright, Fisher, Culpepper, Thornton, Hamby
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Myers
Failed on September 3, 2024
Reallocate ARPA Funding
In 2022, the commission allocated $7 million in American Rescue Plan funding to youth development and violence prevention. Only about $4 million was ever spent for this purpose. With a federal deadline for American Rescue Plan funding looming in December, the commission was forced to reallocate the $3 million remaining to infrastructure and capital needs like the paving of dirt roads, renovating the Costa building, replacing the library’s HVAC system, buying public safety vehicles and repairing the elevator in the courthouse.
Those voting ‘no’ thought that they could somehow find a way to use the funds for their original purpose even though only months remain before the money would have to be returned to the US Treasury.
Voting yes to reallocate the funding: Davenport, Wright, Fisher, Houle, Culpepper, Hamby
Voting no: Link, Taylor, Myers, Thornton
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Hamby
Passed on October 1, 2024
Block North Ave Roundabout, Road Diet
The ACC Commission rejected a $25 million grant concept intended to improve safety along the dangerous North Avenue corridor. Instead, they approved a concept created by a third party not employed by the ACC government, potentially putting the grant at risk. Read more about this vote here.
Voting yes to block roundabout, road diet: Davenport, Taylor, Link, Wright, Fisher, Culpepper, Myers, Thornton, Hamby
Voting no: Houle
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Thornton
Passed on November 6, 2024
Reject Trash Franchising
The ACC Commission rejected a franchising proposal that would have reshaped how trash is collected in Athens, limiting consumer choice but improving efficiency and potentially lowering costs. Read more about trash franchising here.
Voting yes to reject trash franchising: Taylor, Link, Wright, Fisher, Culpepper, Myers, Thornton, Hamby
Voting no: Davenport, Houle
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Myers
Passed on November 6, 2024
Proclaim Athens a Safe Haven for the LGBTQ+ Community
The ACC Commission passed a resolution proclaiming Athens to be a “safe haven” for the LGBTQ+ community in the face of national and state-level threats, particularly against the trans community.
You can read more about this resolution here.
Voting yes to proclaim Athens as a safe haven: Davenport, Link, Wright, Houle, Myers, Hamby
Voting no: Culpepper, Thornton
Absent: Taylor, Fisher
Proposal made by: Houle
Passed on December 3, 2024
Urge State Legislature to Allow Ranked Choice Voting
The ACC Commission passed a resolution calling on the state legislature to make ranked choice voting legal for local elections in Georgia.
You can read more about this resolution here.
Voting yes in favor of ranked choice voting: Davenport, Link, Houle, Myers, Thornton, Girtz
Voting no: Taylor, Wright, Fisher, Culpepper, Hamby
Absent: none
Proposal made by: Link
Passed on December 17, 2024