C I T Y O F F O R E S T P A R K

TO: Mayor and Council

FROM: John Parker, City Manager

DATE: November 13, 2007

SUBJECT: INFORMATION BULLETIN - OCTOBER, 2007

The following is a department by department status report of priority activities, projects and initiatives for the month of October, 2007.

PLANNING, BUILDING AND ZONING DEPARTMENT

BUILDING PLANS SUBMITTED

1. 2500 Southpoint Dr. Interior remodel – Sanofi Aventis

2. 5265 Old Dixie Hwy. Warehouse/offices – Sears/KMart

3. 819 Forest Pkwy. B Tenant finish – On-Site PC Training

4. 1067 Forest Pkwy. E Tenant finish – The Bakery Shop

BUILDING PERMITS ISSUED

1. 4150 Jonesboro Rd. B Shell shopping ctr.; 3,920 sq. ft. JC $500,000

2. 5265 Old Dixie Hwy. Warehouse/offices; 390 sq. ft. JC $60,000

3. 576 Linda Way Room additions; 800 sq. ft. JC $45,000

4. 819 Forest Pkwy. B Tenant finish; 1,197 sq. ft. JC $3,500

5. 14 Royal Dr. Demo Warehouse; 60,000 sq. ft. JC $100,000

6. 4757 Puckett St. Garage; 576 sq. ft. JC $14,000

7. 4060 Jonesboro Rd. Roof/additions; 1,920 sq. ft. JC $1,000

8. 2500 Southpoint Dr. Tenant finish; 21,662 sq. ft. JC $150,000

9. 4289 Huntoon Pl. Shed; 100 sq. ft. JC $1,000

10. 5098 Park Dr. Bathroom; JC $3,000

11. 5760 Pearson Pl. New home; 2,865 sq. ft. JC $86,000

12. 5752 Pearson Pl. New home; 2,624 sq. ft. JC $78,720

13. 1403 Rockcut Rd. Int/ext remodel; JC $4,000

14. 4150 Jonesboro Rd. A Shell; 13,920 sq. ft. JC $500,000

15. 66 Barnett Rd. Slab; 84 sq. ft. JC $30,000

16. 5098 Park Ave. Int/ext rehab; 850 sq. ft. JC $5,000

17. 5971 Spruce Ave. Int/ext rehab; 1,200 sq. ft. JC $4,000

CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCIES ISSUED

1. Sattec Electronics 983 Forest Pkwy. 10/08/07

2. Caribe Chiropractic Ctr. 4061 Jonesboro Rd. C 10/09/07

3. Mexicana Market 4059 Jonesboro Rd. 10/09/07

4. Battery Dist. Inc. 4788 Lake Mirror Pl. 10/11/07

5. 1-800 Pac Rat 2000 Southpoint Dr. 10/17/07

6. United Rentals 3990 Jonesboro Rd. 10/24/07

Affiliate Board Activity

There were no Board meetings for the month of October 2007.

Steve Pearson, Director

(404) 608-2303

DEPARTMENT OF RECREATION AND LEISURE SERVICES

WHAT’S HAPPENING

* Community Wide Yard Sale – The Fall Community Yard Sale was held on Saturday, October 6, 2007. There were 96 spaces sold and only 5 no shows. As usual, hundreds of buyers swarmed the park at approximately 8:30 am. There was a continuous flow of bargain shoppers until the conclusion at 2 pm. Even though the forecast was a chance of showers, there was no rain on this parade. It was another successful event at Forest Park Recreation and Leisure Department.

* Start Smart Basketball – This is a developmental basketball program for children 3-5 years of age. The program start on Saturday, October 13, 2007 9 am-10 am, and run for six weeks. We have 15 children participating in this program.

* Youth Basketball Registration – Started on October 17, 2007. The program is for boys and girls ages 5-16 years old. Practice will start in December and games January 2008.

* Youth Soccer – The Youth Soccer Fall Season ended on Saturday. October 27, 2007. We had a total of 36 games the month of October with 18 teams participating in the Fall 2007 program.

* Autumn In the Park Festival – Was held on Saturday, October 20, 2007. The festival was held at Starr Park 10:30 am-5:30 pm. The 56 booths consisted of arts and crafts, food, games, and information on crime prevention. We had a variety of entertainment to perform all day. It was a nice autumn day and everyone enjoyed the festivities.

* 5K Fun Run/Walk – Was held on Saturday, October 27, 2007. We had a total of 99 participants. This year’s sponsors were Chick-Fil-A and Air Tran. City Departments helping with this year’s race were: Police, Fire/EMS, Public Works and Recreation and Leisure Services. Forest Park High School provided volunteers to help from Beta Club, ROTC, and FBLA.

* Kiwanis Stadium – Semi-Pro Football – Southern Football League played on October 27, 2007. Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy played a playoff game on October 18, 2007 and a championship game on Saturday in October 2007. Also our youth soccer teams practiced at the Stadium on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday in October.

* Halloween Carnival – On October 31, 2007 6pm-8pm the Forest Park Recreation Department held its annual Halloween Carnival. This year over 300 children ages 12 and under participated in the event. Kids played games ranging from bean bag, ring toss to 6 and under mini free throw. Each child received a wide range of candy just for participating at each booth. 75 kids from all age groups participated in the costume contest. Contestants competed for first, second and third place prizes. Spiderman, Winnie the Pooh and a number of Princesses were a few of the costumes seen on this day. The Forest Park Fire Department had the educational Smoke House truck setup outside to teach the children what they should do in the event of a house fire. The Forest Park High School ROTC helped make the event a huge success by running the booths and handing out candy. Participants of this year’s event are already looking forward to next year’s carnival.

* Daily gym use- 554 for the month of October 2007.

* Wellness Programs

Water Aerobics – Monday & Wednesday 6 pm-7 pm

Yoga – Wednesday evening 6:30 pm-8 pm

Water Exercise – Monday, Wednesday, Friday 12 noon-1 pm

Teen Weight Lifting – Tuesday & Thursday 5 pm-6 pm

Swim For Fun – Tuesday & Thursday 1:30 pm-2:30 pm -

55 & up Exercise/Weight Room – Monday-Friday 9 am-8 pm and Saturday 10 am-4 pm

SENIOR ACTIVITIES

October was a busy and fun month for the seniors. The weather is changing and everyone is getting ready for the holidays coming up.

* The Red Hatters went out to dinner and a shopping trip. We went to Fayetteville and had an enjoyable trip.

* The Yard Sale was work and fun. Between selling hot dogs and all items, it was a busy day. It seems like all the seniors enjoy going to the yard sale or selling old things.

* Our trip to Ellijay for apples and pumpkins is always fun and the vans come back as full as they can get. Of course we have to stop and eat along the way and everyone has to taste the pumpkin and apple ice cream.

* Our knitting class is staying busy knitting hats to sell at the craft show and getting ready for the Christmas Sale at the park. They have enjoyed making the hats and slippers, which we have in all colors and shapes.

* Autumn in the Park gets us ready for the start of the holidays. We get out all of the Christmas and Thanksgiving items, and then we start to decorate the Center. Everyone likes to come and decorate.

* We ended the month with our Halloween Dinner. Everyone brought a covered dish and then after dinner listened to the Walnut Grove Band. They all liked the Gospel and Blue Grass music. So we all had a full month of work, fun, and entertainment, then are ready to start November.

UPCOMING EVENTS

* November 6, 2007 – City Election 7 am-7 pm @ gymnasium

* November 9, 2007 – Veterans Day Celebration – 10am @ Senior

Center

* November 26, 2007 – Christmas Parade & Tree Lighting – 6:30 pm

Parade Route – Main Street to Starr Park

Elaine Corley, Director

(404) 363-2908

DEPARTMENT OF POLICE SERVICES

The Police Department recently participated in a critical incident exercise to help better prepare our response in the event of a crisis. In the event of a terrorist attack or a major natural disaster, supplies of critical medical items in local communities, such as Forest Park, may be rapidly depleted. In anticipation, the Federal Government established the Cities Readiness Initiative (CRI) to augment local supplies of critical medical items. The CRI is managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and contains large quantities of medicines, antidotes, and medical supplies needed to respond to a wide range of scenarios. Potential scenarios include natural biological incidents, commercial hazardous material incidents, as well as terrorist attacks using conventional explosives, chemical agents, or biological weapons.

The Clayton County Board of Health has the responsibility to conduct operations to receive, store and stage CRI material, as well as to use the materials to treat the public by dispensing pharmaceuticals, providing vaccinations, or supplying treatment centers with needed medical supplies. The City of Forest Park volunteered to help the Clayton County Board of Health with the objectives of providing this service to everyone within the City of Forest Park. This exercise was designed to help the City of Forest Park and the Clayton County Board of Health accomplish these objectives. The exercise went well and helped identify problem areas in the response of local agencies.

Triad

Triad members took a trip to the National Archives in Morrow with Cops officers and Major Matson. There were 25 to 30 members in attendance.

Citizens Police Academy

Citizen’s Police academy is ongoing. Some of the topics the members of the class have learned about are the Community Oriented Policing Program, the School Resource Officer Program, and the department’s crime prevention efforts.

Hispanic Citizen’s Police Academy

The Hispanic Citizen’s Police Academy is also ongoing. On October 11^th the participants attended a session where they learned about police judgmental shooting and were able to utilize the FATS machine.

Administration

The mock assessment for CALEA was conducted October 4^th and 5^th. The assessors noted corrections that needed to be made prior to the on-site which is scheduled for December 8-12. MPO Presley will be attending the CALEA conference November 13-17 for additional training on the accreditation process.

MPO Presley’s daughter Seanna participated in a soccer tournament in Charleston S.C., along with her teammates on the 93 Silver Lightning U-16 girls soccer team. The team took first place in a tournament with more than 110 teams participating. Seanna is the goalie for the team.

Community Oriented Policing

C.O.P.S Officers conducted “Halloween Safety” at the Little Ones Daycare

(40 kids).

C.O.P.S. Officers assisted Hendrix Elementary School with the Red Ribbon Parade as 400 students and teachers marched from the school to Yancey to Puckett St. and back to the school.

Officer Turnage attended Autumn in the Park in which 80 people were possibly in attendance. Officer Turnage passed out pamphlets and flyers of various programs and awareness along with stickers, rulers, erasers, coloring books etc….

C.O.P.S. Officers conducted a Safety Presentation at Georgia Power for around 150 employees with a great response from the personnel.

COPS officers also participated in:

• Apartment Manager’s Coalition meeting
• Neighborhood Watch meetings were held for Boling Dr residents, Longleaf Dr. and Tanglewood Dr.

Chief Dwayne Hobbs

(404) 366-7280

OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER

Sidewalks to Schools, Phase III and Transit Oriented Pedestrian Improvements Projects

The revised Concept Plan was submitted to GDOT on September 6^th and the revised ROW drawings submitted September 14^th. Pond & Company are now working on the construction drawings. The City is waiting for GDOT to approve the revised concept plan and ROW drawings.

Livable Centers Initiative (LCI)-Main Street Streetscape Project

City officials have been meeting with property owners on Main Street whose property will require a temporary construction easement or a driveway easement. There are a total of twenty-five (25) properties requiring ROW.

State Farmers Market Project

EDAW is preparing the final deliverables for the project. Renderings for the additional services contract have been submitted to the City for review.

Community Development Block Grant Projects (CDBG)

The City of Forest Park received $125,000 in CDBG funds to replace the roof on the Recreation Center.

Forest Park Business Coalition

Forest Park Police Chief Dwayne Hobbs and Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner will speak at the Forest Park Business Coalition meeting. The FPBC will meet Tuesday, November 20, 2007, 11:30 a.m. at the Community Services Authority Building 1000 Main Street.

John Parker, City Manager

Angela Redding, Mgt. Analyst

(404) 366-4720

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATION/FINANCE

Expenditures (preliminary totals) for the General Fund for the month of October are $1,428,475 or 8.12% of the budget. Year-to-date preliminary expenditures for the General Fund are $5,105,673 or 29.03% of the budget (fiscal year July 2007 – June 2008). For comparison purposes, the period of July through October represents 33.33% of the budget year. Total expenditures for the General Fund are under budget for the month of October and year to date.

Local Option Sales Tax revenue received in October is $366,578, compared to $490,262 for October of the prior year. The prior year amount was unusually high and probably included an additional non-recurring distribution. The current month amount is slightly less than the previous month of the current year. The fiscal year-to-date total received is $1,587,095 or 29.95% of the budget; the percentage of the budget year through October is 33.33% of the year. Revenue from Local Option Sales Tax remains slightly under budget through October. The monthly amounts will continue to be monitored closely. It should be noted that the budget amount is slightly more than the prior year budget.

The annual audit for the City began on September 10 and the fieldwork (audit procedures) was completed in October. Preparation of the financial report has begun and is expected to be completed by the end of November or early December.

New business licenses issued during the month of October:

Name Description

La Tiendita Snacks and Ice Cream

Caribe Chiropractic Center Chiropractic services

Battery Distributors, Inc. Wholesale Batteries Sales

Boca Del Rio Marisqueria & Tequeria Restaurant

Mexicana Market Grocery and Meat Market

Pack Rat – Forest Park Mobile Storage

Servico Hispanos Y & S Translation Services

Sattec Electronics Retail sales of TV’s, VCR’s, etc.

First Copy, Inc. Document Repographics

Mike Blandenburg, Director

(404) 366-4720

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS

Street Division:

The major event for the month of October was the Semi-annual “Clean Sweep event on October 6th. The Street crew and volunteers worked hard to move the vehicles that entered our facility. Street crews also cleared right-of-way of low limbs on several streets, crews cleared debris from the curbs along Main Street and Hemlock Drive. A total of 8 abatements were completed and 12 special sanitation pickups.

Building Maintenance:

The Building Maintenance crews stripped and waxed all floors at the Public Works building and installed an exhaust fan in the work shop. Roof drains were cleaned and bad ceiling tiles were replaced at City hall. Preparations for the pandemic exercise were completed. Crews built electrical boxes in the park preparing for placement of Christmas decorations, and removed yard sale banners and hung fall festival banners and set out 20 fall festival signs. Work orders were completed on all City buildings.

Parks Division:

October was a busy month for Parks Division crews cleaning City right-of-ways and park areas. Particular attention was given to the Starr Park area in preparation for the Fall Autumn in the Park Festival and the 5K Road Race. The Recreation Center was set-up for the pandemic exercise and the Halloween Carnival. Other standard maintenance issues were completed by the crews, which included helping Building Maintenance crews with moving picnic tables and re-concreting grounds in the park area, clean-ups and set-ups for events in city building and the maintenance of fields for sporting events.

Mike Gippert, Director

(404) 608-2310

DEPARTMENT OF FIRE/EMS

On October 30^th the First Annual Fire Department Awards Banquet was held at the Senior Center. Approximately 100 were in attendance. The following awards were presented at the Banquet:

Firefighter of the Year

FF/EMT Chance Williams

Medical Save Awards

Sgt/Para Tim Willey, FF/EMT Antonio Thomas, FF/EMT Steven Stone, Sgt/Para David Flagg, FF/EMT Jody Thompson, FAO/Para Jon Baker, Sgt/Para Rusty Hicks, FF/EMT Gene Harvey, Major Matt Jackson, Sgt/Para Carter Cagle, FF/EMT Jim Shaw, Sgt/Para Conway Ferguson, FF/EMT Mark Register

Trauma Save Awards

Sgt/Para Rusty Hicks, FF/EMT Gene Harvey, FF/EMT Richard Mahoney, FF/EMT Mark Register

Lifesaver Citations

Lt. Barry Welch (3), Capt. Barry Hopper (2), Lt. James Tyson (2), FF/EMT Brandon Hornsby, FF/EMT Mike Earles (2), FF/EMT Jim Shaw, Capt. Robert Brackett, FF/EMT Scott Skipper, Lt. Damon Hall, FF/EMT Frank Grantham, FF/EMT Richard Mahoney, Lt. Joel Turner, FF/EMT Mike Cobb, FF/EMT Britt Holloway, FF/EMT Josh Young

Recognition for Assisting in South Georgia Wildfires

Deployment – Lt. Damon Hall, FF/EMT Steve Stone, Sgt/Para Jeff Landrum, FF/EMT Josh Young, FAO/Para Jon Baker, FF/EMT Jim Shaw, Staff Assistant Elaine Tyson, Sgt/Para Kevin Milton

Recognition for assisting in Americus Tornado

Deployment – FF/EMT Britt Holloway, FF/EMT Gene Harvey, Sgt/Para Rusty Hicks, FF/EMT Mike Cobb, Lt. Damon Hall

Recognition for Assisting with the International Fire Chiefs Conference in Atlanta

Major David Halcome, Major Matt Jackson, Capt. Sam Batten

This Fire Department is extremely proud of the caliber of our personnel and as indicated above these personnel are dedicated to not only their career but also the citizens they serve.

With October being Fire Prevention Month, the following activities were logged for the month.

• 400 elementary school students were taught Fire Safety techniques utilizing the Fire Safety Trailer in the schools by all shifts.

• B-Shift attended Career Day for the ninth grade at Forest Park Senior High and talked to the students about their Fire Service Careers.

• B-Shift and some CERT Members used the Fire Safety Trailer to teach Fire Safety at the Autumn in the Park Festival. Approximately 200 children were taught Fire Safety in this event.
• Rescue Unit assisted with Relay Walk for Senior Citizens at Ashton Walk.

• 87 children and 25 adults were taught Fire Safety utilizing the Fire Safety Trailer at the Clayton County Head Start Festival

• C-Shift passed out candy for Halloween with the Chick-Fil-A Treat in the Trunk program.

• A-Shift assisted 50 children with the Fire Safety Trailer at the City Halloween Carnival.

Run Activity

· 5 – Structure Fires

· 3 – Vehicle Fires

· 1 – Brush Fire

· 1 - Other Fire

· 9 – False Alarms

· 1 – Mutual Aid Given

· 4 – HazMat Calls

· 6 – Other Hazard Responses

· 16 – All Other Responses

· 218 – EMS Calls

· 69 – Engine Assist EMS

333 Total Calls

Chief Eddie Buckholts

(404) 608-2382