Council approves legislation related to implementing audit recommendations
The Atlanta City Council approved legislation during Monday’s meeting to amend the City’s Charter to add a responsibility for audited City departments to submit quarterly reports with supporting documentation to the City Auditor’s Office to track and report on the implementation of audit recommendations (Legislative Reference №22-O-1344). This was the third of three required readings for a Charter amendment. The charter provides that the auditor’s office will conduct performance and financial audits of City departments, offices, boards, activities, and agencies and prepare audit reports with recommendations to be implemented to address the audit’s findings. The subsequent reviews outlined in the legislation aim to improve the implementation of audit report recommendations.
Other items approved Monday include:
• An ordinance authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute a ground lease agreement with the Atlanta Police Foundation for property located at 2175 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive for a term not to exceed 50 years to be used for an At-Promise Youth Community Center serving at-risk youth (Legislative Reference №22-O-1402).
• An ordinance authorizing the City’s chief financial officer to create all necessary funds and project numbers to support an additional $22.5 million from the federal government for the 2021 Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program 1 re-allocation (Legislative Reference №22-O-1404).
• An ordinance authorizing Amendment Number 3 to an agreement with United Way of Greater Atlanta Inc. for COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program Administration services to extend the term to Dec. 31, 2022, add an amount not to exceed $21 million, and modify the agreement to reflect terms required for use of the funds (Legislative Reference №22-O-1422).
• A resolution urging Congress to adopt common sense gun reform measures. This item was immediately approved.
• A resolution requesting that Invest Atlanta review previously approved projects for the development of affordable or workforce housing and consider revising the amount of subsidies due to the current rate of inflation and increased construction costs (Legislative Reference №22-R-3640).
• A resolution emphasizing the support of the Atlanta City Council for the development of a multi-modal transportation hub with AMTRAK regarding the opportunity represented by the redevelopment efforts in the Gulch and Amtrak’s visionary expansion plans centered on Atlanta (Legislative Reference №22-R-3645).
• A resolution requesting that the Mayor’s Office, Atlanta Housing, and Invest Atlanta study the creation of a formal and overarching intergovernmental agreement to cooperatively maximize the use of public sector resources to ensure the creation of sufficient affordable housing units to meet the needs of Atlanta (Legislative Reference №22-R-3641).
• An ordinance to amend the City’s Code of Ordinances to allow the Atlanta Police Department’s police chief to exercise the authority to designate, equip, and train non-sworn law enforcement employees, firefighters, and volunteers to assist in traffic control, and to direct and regulate the flow of traffic within Atlanta, including on the roadways at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (Legislative Reference №22-O-1407).
• A resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into an agreement with Toole Design Group LLC for the development of the City’s first Vision Zero Action Plan for a one-year term in the dollar amount not to exceed $520,000 (Legislative Reference №22-R-3650).
• An ordinance to amend the City’s Code of Ordinances, Article III (In-Rem Procedures), Appendix E (Atlanta Housing Code of 1987), Section 31 (In Rem Review Board), to modify how members of the In-Rem Review Board are appointed to provide that the composition of the board will include members appointed by the Atlanta City Council (Legislative Reference №22-O-1360).
• An ordinance to authorize waiving the competitive procurement provisions contained in the Procurement and Real Estate Code of Ordinances to authorize the mayor or his designee to reinstate an expired agreement with People TV Inc. on behalf of the Mayor’s Office of Communications for the purpose of reinstating People TV Inc.’s operation of Public Access Television on behalf of the City (Legislative Reference №22-O-1393).
• A resolution to establish an exploratory committee to determine an appropriate way to honor the legacy of former Atlanta City Council member Jim Maddox (Legislative Reference №22-R-3648).
• A resolution to authorize the mayor or his designee to execute Amendment Number 1 to an agreement with Everbridge, Inc. related to the mass notification and emergency alert system to add the Atlanta City Council as an authorized user and to add funding in an amount to be determined and budgeted for in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget (Legislative Reference №22-R-3407).
Proclamations were presented in recognition of the Midtown High School speech and debate team, Atlanta Police Department Chief Rodney Bryant’s retirement, Paralegal Week, and the 60th Anniversary of the Orly airport crash.
Items were also introduced to be considered in committee next week, including:
• A resolution to support the development of a “Tenant’s Bill of Rights” and to encourage the Georgia General Assembly to repeal any state-level prohibition on the ability of the City of Atlanta to develop and implement a “Tenant’s Bill of Rights” to promote housing equity and affordability to those residing within Atlanta.
• An ordinance to amend Chapter 94 (Human Resources) of the City’s Code of Ordinances, which prohibits discrimination throughout the city, to update terms consistent with federal laws and regulations and current references.
• A resolution banning the use of any City funds to record and/or investigate reports of abortion care and request that the Atlanta Police Department place reports of abortion-related care at the lowest possible priority.
• A resolution requesting the City’s Office of the Inspector General present quarterly compliance reports to the Finance/Executive Committee.
• A resolution establishing the City of Atlanta Procurement Reform Task Force for the Promotion of Public Trust to be charged with evaluating the efficacy of the City of Atlanta’s procurement and real estate code, administrative regulations, policies, and procedures related to procurement, contract compliance, and vendor relations.
