 So without any more delay, we're going to go ahead and get started. So I'd like to introduce the moderator for this particular forum. Stephanie Holden-Apron, please give it up for Stephanie Holden-Apron. Very much. All right. Wow. Great to see so many awesome faces out here this afternoon. On behalf of the Athens Anti-Primation Movement, ADM, both of Jasmine Johnson and Noah Johnson, I am incredibly excited and honored to welcome you on this lovely afternoon to an opportunity to meet the 2022 candidates for the Athens-Clarke County Mayor's Race. Welcome to our candidates from other races who are here. Alan Jones from District 7, a representative if you'd like to wave. Are there any other candidates for other offices that are here? Okay, sir. What's your name? Let's know. Sorry, I told that you were a candidate. Jared Bailey. I used to be in the commission of District 5. Yes, sir. So Jared Bailey, District 5. Okay. Thank you, sir. Any other candidates from other races who board here? Okay. Great. Excuse me for one hour. I'm sorry? Oh. Paul Walton, current mayor of Hull in the Mettson County, Georgia, running for 10th congressional district. Atstanding. Thank you, sir. Thank you for being here. Appreciate that. Okay. Is that it? Yes. Diego's olives. Paul, it is so important that we're here. This is your candidate. It's not easy running. Right? So thank you all for being here. Whoever it is that you support, this is part of the demographic process. And I just want to thank you for being here. I see you're saying that. I also want to point out that we do have a few commissioners here as well. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thanks. I'm not a politician. I didn't realize that y'all were here. Thank you for being here commissioners. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else? I don't want to forget anybody else. Thank you all for being here. As said, my name is Chapman Cole Napper. And although I was born and raised here in Athens, I've only been living back here for less than two years. I am super proud of my hometown. And I hope that my hometown of Athens, Georgia, is proud of me too. Because the two things that I always like to talk about are the things that I'm most proud of, my education and my military service. You see, I hold three master's degrees in education, technology and media, including two from the Ivy League and an undergraduate degree from the historically black Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. In addition, I've proudly served for over a decade as an active duty Army officer and non-commissioned officer, deploying on four separate tours of duty to the Middle East and supportive operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. And I've had the very best that America has to offer, both the stellar education and the opportunity to serve my country during wartime. And it is only because I know who I am that I was born right here in this beautiful city, the city that nurtured me and made sure that I had the very best education that this country can offer. Because I know that Athens is a magical place. It's a special place. And I believe it is a transformational place. And if we are to move forward as a country, as a city, as a state, I believe that we must unite in ways that our forefathers never direct of. I believe that this requires waking up. We have allowed some people to tell us that the things that we know that are good for us are somehow bad for us. See, we have some folks who believe that it's okay to be asleep at the wheel. They have convinced us that being woke is a bad thing. Well, I'm here today to tell you, Athens, Georgia, it's time for us to get woke. It's time to wake up to the hatred that is out there. It's time to wake up to the violence that is being waged on our country and our schools and in our neighborhoods. Wake up to the suffering of others. Finally, we need to wake up to the light and death urgency of global warming and climate change. And it's all directly connected, but you can't see it if you're asleep. See, our planet is on fire, but many of us are asleep. And I'm here today to say that we got to wake up and help each other put out this fire that we have caused with our stellar dependence on fossil fuels. But you need to know that once you're woke, Athens, Georgia, you won't be able to get back to sleep and that's not a bad thing. Because there are people in the state who want you to stay asleep while the house is on fire. As you leave here today, I hope that your hearts and minds are awakened by the words of these transformational candidates that we have on the stage today. AADM is here to make sure that you don't go back to sleep after you leave here today. Help us by making sure that every commissioner, every school board member, every police officer, every principal, every University of Georgia student and professor, every school teacher, every, well, our governor, and all of the Board of Regents knows that being woke is a good thing. Don't let people take that back and try and politicize it It is only by being woke that we are going to be able to get better. So, I want you all to feel the power that is in this room today. I want you to look around because this is our strength. It is a multicultural, multiracial, multi-ethnic, intergenerational group of people in the city and I know that we can change if we want to, but we gotta wake up first. So, when I say get woke, I want you to call the response and say stay woke. Get woke. Stay woke. Get woke. Stay woke. Get woke. Stay woke. Doug won right. Now, let's go admins. Now that y'all are awake and pumped up, we are here today to appreciate our First Amendment rights to pre-assembly and free speech. Again, on behalf of AADM, we are excited to have four of the six mayoral candidates here with us today. We have Kelly Gertz, Pearl Hall, Micisha Ross, and Benny Coleman. Ms. Mars and Niga wanted to participate but had a scheduling conflict and we were unable to confirm Mr. Fred Mormon. So, without further delay, let's get started with some questions. First, each of our four candidates will have up to two minutes to get an introduction and to tell you a little bit about themselves and why they're running for mayor of the classic city. We will have four rounds of prepared questions. Then at around two, we'll open it up to questions from the audience and ones that have been submitted on the AADM website. So, and we will rotate the order that we go with these questions. So, first up, Mr. Kelly Gertz, please tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're running for a term as mayor of this great city. Thank you, Chaplain. And I appreciate everybody being here and particularly want to appreciate the other candidates here. Thanks for that. I've got the green light. Is it working? All right. Well, thank you to AADM. Thank you, Chaplain Cole. And thanks especially to all the candidates who are running here in the classic city. People don't give up themselves easily for any reason. You give it yourself as a candidate because you love the community you live in and so I want to offer affirmation to everybody who's here on stage. And I know I'm going to learn from the experience of this campaign as I have from past campaigns and I hope we all do because I think it was stated in the introduction that's the nature of democracy that we should always be learning and growing. It's a benefit of being alive and being on this planet. We, Athens, really have been forged in the fire the last few years. You know, we've had challenges that I don't think any of us ever woke up or went to bed imagining that we would have to face. And of course, we know that for some Athenians they've lived lifetimes full of challenge and what I'm grateful to be here for is the opportunity to meet those challenges to offer foundational supports to Athenians because that I think is what we're called to do to figure out how can we in a way that's going to create generational impact make sure that our young people are well resourced in every neighborhood and in every community from access to public spaces to opportunities for fresh food to the opportunity to move into productive and healthy lives and great jobs. And we of course need to make sure that we're thinking of lifelong needs for health Athenians. We need to make sure that we're working with our partners across the state and across the nation to bring better healthcare resources to all and particularly as we found so challenging in these last couple of years mental health resources and behavioral health resources to all. And we need to take care of the core infrastructure that maintains our ability to have a community that not just in five years but in 50 years is going to continue to be a magnetic space and as a government, as an organization we need to be doing all we can to reach out to every corner and every community within Athens-Clarke County because every individual is important every young person, every person of every color every person of every nationality no matter who you love or how you express yourself we want you to be welcome here in the classic city. Thank you Mr. Gerks. Ms. Hall. Good afternoon. As co-said, my name is Pearl Hall. I am a true resident of Athens, Georgia. I love Athens-Clarke County. I was raised. I was educated and came back and truly loved the city that I love. And you ask the question, Pearl why do you want a wealth of merit? Many reasons. Number one, I got my heart broken late on a Saturday afternoon. Oh how I loved UGA and I loved to watch the cheerleaders on Saturday I go down Hancock because I was born in on Hancock and it's always been like home to me and will be. And as I journeyed down Hancock riding in my car I saw to my right the red and black, the pompoms cheering and how happy my heart was I cheered, I cheered and I cheered but as I drove on down I noticed on my right there was a mother with five children one in her arm, one little seven year old pulling wagon with clothes and she's struggling with the baby that dropped my heart to pieces I kept on going, I wanted to stop I wanted to help them but I knew I couldn't if I had picked that mother up with her children, had an accident then the good I would have tried to do would have gone solid bad because they didn't have a car seat and as continued on I began to cry I cried and I cried I cried for that little seven year old because as she looked over to the side and stopped her mother dragged her and pulled her but all she wanted to do was look at those cheerleaders just like I did and as I looked and she cried more and she began to cry more and I began to cry more and I said Lord what can I do I look, I usually have a bonbon I didn't have one but I was afraid if I had one what would the mother say she may have said that I couldn't give it to her so Thank you Just so you all know we have a timekeeper right out here with red and red, yellow and green cards to help with our timekeeping so if you all could keep your eyes on Mr. Paul that would be great, thank you man Next is my Keisha Ross Hello everybody First of all I'd like to say thank you all for having me here The question is why I ran for mayor a little bit of what I do every day is I wake up with two children my son Kimon and my daughter Marie who I'm currently looking for in Holly but it's not here but every day I have a duty a responsibility to respond to the community feedback that I'm receiving as community outreach with them our organization used its life and a lot of what I do is partner with stakeholders and individuals in the community to form collaboration partnership and unity what's important to me is unity I don't see it in your hands so how can I address it I can start continually to start those meetings continue to gather those individuals who need to sit at a table with each other to discuss a better important community so my every day work not what I'm promising but what my actions are every single day is to address homelessness Clark County School District and the limited resources that we have for our youth that's why I build the organizations to help them build their own brand and to identify their sales because it starts with our youth what are they going to inherit to get their love with nothing and right now they have nothing but a generation of lost souls who's been crying out for this city some here stand up and fight for it hopefully but a lot of what I do each and every day is secure the food for the homeless I have an organization that addresses those issues I don't just drive by the homeless I go out to the homeless I meet them where they are a lot of what happens is lacking is the meeting them where they are and that's who I am I meet you where you are thank you thank you and Mr. Coleman it's a deep pleasure to be here it's a deep pleasure to be here I'm here to represent the little people my name is Benny Coleman I've been married for 40 years I have three kids and two grandkids we all have different ways of expressing ourselves in Clark County we all have different dreams different ways to live our lives as in Clark County is a melting pot as we all know we come from different races different backgrounds nationalities and well the little people here in Clark County need help we need someone to stand for them and we need to acknowledge the ones that are fortunate than we are the one who has the opportunity to do better than others the little people here in Clark County feel like they are nobody they are nobody as you can notice people sitting around in the library bus stops tents they are sad we are sad my choice here in Clark County is to represent everybody as many people as I can to bring unity among all people God is my master as you know so I owe nothing to no one here so I come here to give my love to everybody here in Clark County to run for mayor to have an open heart to have an open policy to hear each and every person idea and to accept what they may have among us I know I am green never ran for any office here in Clark County before I never stood before or sit before as many people as you are today but I'm willing to serve the people because that's my life thank you Mr. Coleman thank you all of our candidates for those questions now we are going to move into our first question our first question of the day is and the order for these questions is going to be Ms. Pearl Hall Mr. Gertz Ms. Ross and Mr. Coleman for this first question so starting with you Ms. Hall what do you see as your primary role as mayor of Athens Clark County do I see as my primary role as mayor for Clark County my primary role is trying to bring our city together in unity I want everyone to care for everyone regardless of where you live of what status you are I know that's hard to say I understand that because I got calls from people that live in Firepoint a place that I really never had the opportunity to visit other than to go to the store and to the back in that area because I had no other reason over there and I always wondered what it would like to really know someone which I do but to socialize in that area so and I'm sure there may be someone in here who never been into the Brock Spring of all of that area but we want to know what it's really like in that area and that's what I would like for us to do join together in unity and see what it's like for someone who is less fortunate than you are or who you may think is less fortunate than you are and exactly not so that's my purpose and that's really my heart Thank you very much Ms. Hall Mr. Gerbers there are certainly some formal tasks of the Mayor that are outlined in the Charter of the Unified Government what I'd identify broadly is that the role of the Mayor is to be something of a funnel and to reach out and take in all of the needs of the Athens-Clarke County community across every piece of our geography across every background and work to integrate those needs into a policy making framework that's going to work to our mutual benefit and so of course that means doing lots of listening and lots of outreach and lots of engagement and I've done that and will continue to seek to do that as your Mayor and then taking all of that formal outreach that you do through electronic mechanisms and in-person gatherings and gathering with the Athens-Clarke County Commission the policy making body to translate the needs of the community and the direction to figure out how do we put policies in place that are going to be supportive of the population in a permanent way around housing, around health care around youth needs around access to public resources and then putting the budget together together so that we actually have the direction of the funds and the staffing to make those things happen so it really is working from concept where you draw from the full community to execution where you're seeing tangible things happening on the ground for the community's needs so making that translation sees the key role of the Mayor of Athens-Clarke County Thank you Mr. Gertz Ms. Ross Yes just not saying things but Kelly just explained it perfectly and that's what I do every day so I'm laughing because that's my everyday role in this community so as mayor if you stay ready you don't have to get ready so with all of those things as a mayor you have to implement those when it comes to addressing the community my first thing we'll do will be to clean up the leadership do we have true real leadership here in Athens I don't think we do I think in leadership you have to have that experience you have to see people for who they are that's in all demographics but with that being said you gotta go out and implement an action plan so what is our sustainability plan what is the things that we wanna actually do for the homeless to help them get to another place so as mayor my first role will be to clean up the leadership as well as go over the budget and implement a community feedback coalition that will consist of a committee of people who are able to come to the meetings that they're aware of not forty four, forty eight hours in advance but to be able to address their real concerns and implement that stuff so that we can actually get some things done so as mayor I would say that my proposal will be to actually implement a community feedback and not just listen but take action thank you thank you Mr. Ross Mr. Coleman what do you see as your primary role as mayor I see it as my primary role as a mayor that serves and protects the city of Athens my main focus for running for mayor is to help my people we have belittled ourselves so much that we don't care anymore it's time to flip the switch in Clark County it's time for all the black people young and old to unite with unity to get an education to have a family to love one to grow wealth, to be happy to marry, to love just to be alive so my main focus here in Clark County is first to hit the low income area to show them how possible it will be for you to be somebody it's very important the last pandemic we had was called the COVID-19 pandemic has divided the black family they have pitted husband against wife, girlfriend against boyfriend, sisters against brothers white against white black against black if I had that position as the mayor at the time when it first came out I would acknowledge the situation since we don't know anything about as merchants decided to claim to know I would advise people wear your mask if you feel unsafe for those who don't feel they need to wear a mask that's their will that's their right that's their liberty that's their hope see this government and as in Clark County we speak in two different languages we speak in a language of the black man we speak in a language of the white man and we cannot communicate because one want to be over the other want to have power over the other but I'm here to join us all together as one one just so everyone knows we will be taking questions from the audience up until 1.45 1.45 so if you have a question that you would like to ask we hope to be able to ask three full questions at the end of this so that's why we're trying to keep our timing so tight so if you have a question that you would like to ask then please raise your hand and someone will bring you an index card and then we will sort those out and we will start asking questions at 2 o'clock yes sir raise your hand you're lucky you're right next to the intern that can help you Cassidy Cassidy is an Athens Anti-Discrimination movement intern and she is here to bring you a card and a pen if you have if you would like to ask a question okay we're going to move on to question number two and what would your budget priorities be for the Athens-Clarke County government and why and Mr. Gertz we'll go to you first thanks for the question and it's timely as I'm in the midst of preparing the budget for the fiscal year 23 as we speak and really as I look to not only this budget but the coming years we have a new arc of activity where we're creating the kind of firmament for Athens-Clarke County that's going to allow us to be successful now and successful well into the future and so that means that what I've programmed into this budget and certainly with some of our federal funds is a lot of youth support because we know that if we're supporting young people we're going to support a healthy future in this budget through our SPLOS program and other means an enormous amount of energy transition because we want to make sure that Athens is a community that's resilient and that's able to move sort of past a carbon carbon energy dynamic we've programmed a lot of funds for making sure that our streets are safer we know an enormous challenge over the course of the last couple of years has been an increase in vehicular accidents and vehicular deaths and so we want to make sure that we bend the curve on that and we similarly want to make sure that people can access all the things they need to do in the community employment, school, leisure in other ways other than just having a vehicle so we're programming more funds into bike and pedestrian facilities and public transit and we're also looking at a whole continuum of life need and so that includes support for seniors we've recently become an American Association of Retired Persons City and so we want to make sure that this is a place where you can gracefully age in place and we also are looking at those members of our community who may be returning citizens who may have been formerly incarcerated so that we can bend the curve on recidivism and make sure that people have opportunities here so we're putting resources into that as well Thank you Mr. Gurus Next we'll have Ms. Mikeisha Ross followed by Mr. Coleman and then Ms. Hall Ms. Ross again the question is what will your budget priorities be as mayor and why? So first my budget priorities it will actually cause a review at the review on the budget I would honestly change the staff who can distribute the budget which I would change the staff of the city manager I would propose to be able to you know get that position filled with someone that has a vision I'm not just I don't know if you have the vision that the community wants so having someone that actually has a vision for the community that's how you know where to distribute the money too so I would actually go into the awareness and resource that I would like to create for people to always know what's available to them because right now we have several resources and several jobs but I don't think our government do a good job at letting people know what's available so I would implement that and raise the salaries of teachers and the reason I say that you gotta want to be able to raise the salaries of teachers so they can deal with the issues that's happening and they can want to actually go to work but then actually making a sustainable development affordable housing plan that is actually important so that's what I would do with the budget but the main concern is for me to remove the people that is in control of the budget and making sure that they see the vision for the community that's my answer Thank you Ms. Ross Mr. Coleman What will your budget priorities be as mayor and why? Can we use that my reference? Yeah My budget priority is to make sure that the money is here Just put it a little closer So just put it a little closer Okay My main budget priority is to make sure that the money is here in Clark County that all the taxes are paid all the fines and fees are paid make sure all the roads and the driveable conditions make sure if I'm going to be able to live a lovely life in Clark County But let's be for real I'm not script for this type of you got it I have to come straight from my heart I can promise you a lot of things the action counts louder than words I would make sure that each and every one of you have an opportunity to call me up and please don't get on any of that I refuse to deal with emails call me up write me a letter of help to have personal contact and we as a citizen of Clark County we will make sure the budget is in line I'm green so you have an opportunity to mold me in a good way to understand that you have that opportunity in a good way that's why my budget for all of you is going to be to make sure the money is here in Clark County thank you Mr. Coleman Ms. Hall there's somebody you can see the library personnel can give us another microphone thank you Ms. Hall, yes ma'am what will your budget priorities be as mayor and why my budget priority for as mayor would be to make sure that all the citizens are able to obtain the things that they need I have gone through the budget for the 2022's that I have seen the commissioner put together and there are some things that I would like to put top priority as to what I have seen more five seniors I should see an area where we can say this money has been set aside for our seniors I understand fixing the street the trees and the highways and all those things but let's do something for the people in Clark County let's put set aside a budget that would help those that rent is due that can't be paid set aside a budget for those that need food we all help in every kind of way but I think there should be a budget set aside for the less fortunate for the senior, for the housing if there is a person as low in rent and can't pay it there should be a budget set up somewhere not to be misused but to say hey let's pay for their rent this is our town we are the peoples of this town and we need to take care of the people of this town so that will be my top priority is to do what the mayor should do no disrespect to you as to take care of the people in Clark County in whatever way you can thank you Ms. Hall we're going to move on to our next question in the order for this round is my Keisha Ross will go first Ms. Hall you will be second Ms. Penny Coleman third the question is for Ms. Ross what is your plan to address the affordable housing crisis in Athens? well honestly my plan would be I like to use models that go to other areas that have the same population that Clark County has was working and was not working so I traveled to a couple places and seen how they are actually answering affordable housing by connecting it to the resources and having new organizations and non-profit organizations available to them with the elders and the seniors attached to them I would like to address as well as with a sustainable development goal how can we do that you come up with a strategic plan of what is it that the people want to see because sometimes we're making these promises and not taking the action but also is that really what the people want what's the people wanting for the well-being of themselves the basic service needs that's also how you can address affordable housing and the people that's living in them but with that being said affordable housing is not here in Athens $1,400 a baby is not affordable housing UGA property is not affordable housing so making sure that the air of the people that hasn't here to land making sure that the people who can be able to stay with the job because we're underpaid, overworked and under employed so how can we be able to feel as people and I just I want to lead with you to make sure that we're using models that work what can address these because some of the arts and the people that apply rental assistance and wrap around service they're not really addressing our issues I've been in that position of property and been poor before and I was able to work my way out to the formula to address the affordable housing and so what I would do will feel something that is really affordable thank you thank you Ms. Ross before we go on to the next person Ms. Hall before you answer if you have a question now is you only have a few more minutes to fill out an index card so if you have a question or if you'd like to turn on a card now is the time to do it please raise your hand if you need some help Cassidy thank you sir anyone else okay thank you the question is what is your plan to address the affordable housing crisis in Athens Ms. Hall what shall I do about the housing you know that's a hard question for me because I don't know what is considered affordable housing you can live in a place where a teacher can make a great salary but she still can't afford a wonderful house so what do we consider affordable houses that's a good question I think we all need to think about what is affordable housing where you live is affordable if you're able to pay for it now there are some people who are living and they are struggling every day and with Athens there are places where we take so much pride and what we are there is so much shortage on houses so you're asking me about affordable houses I'm going to be honest once I find out the true meaning of affordable housing I will be able to answer that question thank you thank you Ms. Hall next Mr. Vinnie Colvin what is your plan to address affordable housing crisis in Athens well I've been working with I've been working for many of my home we've been called the manufacturer's home for 10 years we had came up with an idea of having a community a manufacturer's home at least 100 units in that community so manufacturer's homes are safe and affordable the minimum a maximum amount of monthly rent will be $500 or below that would be the excellent choice to something quick nothing that you could sit around and debate over years and years and then come out and say that to me no affordable homes we need something right now at this moment we need something on the ground going at this moment affordable housing is an opportunity for the new contractor that are coming out today but greed has overtaken all the contractors in Claude County and the city and the whole world material isn't as high as they seem to be it's just the label and the owner of the contractor company are making this so high so affordable housing just like Pearl said what exactly is affordable housing is what an individual can afford to pay at he or she level thank you thank you Mr Coleman Mr Curtis what is your plan to address the affordable housing crisis in Athens so we know that in Athens like in every attractive magnetic community in the country there's an affordable housing crisis and that crisis has really multiple layers there's simply the affordability element of it but then broadly there's also the availability element of it it's the volume of housing relative to the population so we got census data in the autumn and if you look at the last 20 years us in contiguous counties have grown from about 255,000 people to about 380,000 people and the housing stock has not grown at nearly the same rate so part of what we need to do is simply get more units on the ground as any of the kids who went through my economics class in the 7 years when I taught that would tell you part of this is a supply and demand question and so I'm really proud of an enormous number of things that we've launched here in Athens-Clarke County some of my commission colleagues are here in the audience who've been a big part of this just a week ago we launched an inclusionary zoning policy which is going to incentivize people who own old strip malls and parking lots to redevelop that property into housing from places where they never had housing in the first place and some of that will have to be permanently affordable housing and so as we see the volume rise some of that volume is going to be affordable we also have launched the SPLOST program that had the highest proportion devoted to affordable housing of any community in the state so I'm really proud of that work and finally we've devoted 11 million dollars of our American Rescue Plan Act funds to housing more than any of our other peer communities in the state saw a lot of communities those ARPA funds to garbage trucks or short term programs but we're devoting that to housing and that's going to include the rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing that our unsheltered persons need Thank you Mr. Gertz okay we're going to move to our fourth question this will be our final prepared question and then we'll take questions from the audience or we will take those cards the order for this answer this round will be Mr. Coleman you will go first Ms. Ross you will be second Mr. Gertz third and then Ms. Hall the question is regarding the recently established Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board what steps do you plan to take to expedite implementation of the Board especially in light of the Athens-Clarke County Jail Safety concerns and the complaints of staff and inmates that were submitted to AADM Mr. Coleman well this is a very hard question because Claude County rewarded bad behavior so how I would implement the Board in gearing toward the safety of the Athens-Clarke County Jail is we may have to let the little people that are working there come up with ideas over the ones who are making a big money I know drugs have been felled in our jail homes all those crime crimes going inside the jail homes but being a black man living in a neighborhood like Claude County we got to be acceptable for our crimes we got to be accountable in many ways mothers got to stop allowing their kids to cause trouble fathers got to step up to keep their kids from going to jail the whole black neighborhood needs to unite together we will eliminate a lot of this crime that's going on Claude County I know black men are the only one committed crimes but we are the only one who can listen in the paper are committed crimes we stand before the board of commission we plead for help and it takes police a long time to get in our communities we need to patrol our own community we need police our own communities and then this crime in the black neighborhood I'm not a radical person I'm just speaking what's really going on what you are always thinking what you are always seeing is what comes from our mind but you're afraid to say something because of your status you're afraid to make us angry because you may be at a different race for communication among us that's very important and that is the main reason why crime is so harsh today kids are not being kids in school mothers are being children and children are being mothers we need to be a family we need to bring the law back into our lives okay Mr. Claude thank you sir okay and next Ms. Ross okay so when Andreessen came to the Public Safety Oversight Board I was actually a part of that process me and Ashley and Mary and when coming up with those ideas it was from the feedback that we were receiving from the community but how do you address public safety when people can't sit together communication partnership collaboration but how I would address it is what are our resource officers they apply the necessary awareness resources that they can give to the families not just calling the 911 but mental health we need a lot of mental health answers instead of the police answering those calls so with that being said we need to have a hotline or a hub inside the police department so that we can address those 911 calls it's not an emergency I think my wife is still on but the leadership is one thing the other thing is mandatory meetings we need to have all law enforcement sit down and have a conversation with our local government the other thing is if you don't know the police staff is short the sheriff is short it's shortage it's staff shortage we have to get people recruited to Ashley so how do we do that you might want to raise their pay so with that being said we got to come up with those ideas that can help people answer our questions and they might be increasing pay if you don't know a lot of people know their work now so they're not going to go to work for nothing so that's how I would address the oversight police is implementing mental health and having mandatory meetings all in force thank you Mr. Gerbs so I'm proud of having been both as a county commissioner and now as mayor an advocate for public safety oversight board it's important that the community and our law enforcement officers be able to engage with each other and grow in mutual understanding that really is the reason that I was an advocate for that board and so what I've done is engage with the public safety units so that those members can be onboarded and oriented and also engage with the National Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement so they can continue to be an outside resource so they don't just have experts from within Clark County but they have national experts as well at their disposal what I would certainly say to the Public Safety Oversight Board and would want everybody in this room to know is that the Department of Justice has an important office about investigation of those people who are in incarceration and you may know that in fact that Department of Justice outfit currently is investigating the Georgia Department of Corrections for some of the failures in that series of venues what I also would note is that what we can do best as an entire community if we want to benefit not only people who are incarcerated temporarily in our jail but also the employees there is really see reduction in violence community-wide we benefited from a 25-year arc of reduced crime in Athens-Clarke County but we know it's not at zero every aggravated assault and every one of the four murders we had last year was one incident too many and so we need to resource our community in a way that we are going to reduce violence because when we have less violence we're going to have less incarceration and we're going to benefit all of us Thank you Mr. Gertz Ms. Hall I was honored to sit at Aberdeen Baptist Church where our pastor had called a meeting with the chief of police and all the officers and thank you Gertz and what he had to tell us was very important shortage of health inmates being released before their time is finished what do we do we sit down and we discuss issues about what's going on in the jail there's fighting going on in the jail but if you he say I quote if you jump into it you may be hurt or you can be sued so what can they do so I told him maybe they need to come up with a plan where they can meet with all the police officers that includes the chef or any law enforcement and let's get with them and come up with a plan as to how we can keep these inmates in jail as well as keep them safe and keep our officers safe our officers are very important we need to respect our police officers and we need to do whatever we can to help them make that are in the prison system so this is what we'll do thank you Ms. Hall okay that is the end of our prepared questions we have four questions that we will try to get to and we'll just go ahead and dive right in the first question and the order for this for the responses will be Mr. Coleman, Ms. Ross Mr. Gertz, Ms. Hall the question is give us an example of how you solved a community problem include the steps that you took and your thought process I'll read again give me, give us an example of how you solved the community problem give us your steps and thought process Mr. Coleman I saw how I solved the community problem that was the incident when there was a marriage couple having a fight I had this choice of intervening of just to get by but I chose to calm down I calmed down by realizing and letting them know that each one of you is somebody that you all need to stop doing what you're doing and by coming with that decision a lot that actually came from this couple was they realized the angle was just a sharp fuse it only lasted as long as the weight burns if I keep adding to that fuse the angle will continue to get longer and longer and they had to stop and they appreciated me talking to them because they said the public didn't have to get involved my mother didn't have to get involved my father didn't have to get involved my sister didn't have to get involved my brother didn't have to get involved you was a stranger didn't have anything to do with this situation but yet you took the time to communicate with us to tell and talk to us and that's how I solved the problem okay Ms. Ross a problem that I see every day in the community is the youth development the crisis of the youth as well as homelessness so what did I do? I started youth this way and with that it started in my closet in my home giving clothes, donating clothes to the ones who had a lack of clothes we also have a program with addressing the homelessness and feeding them a free distribution center where people can come and shop for free and get their clothes that have sole items as well as partnering with different local grassroots organizations who are actually on the ground who want to work that don't get recognized but yeah, we address a lot of lack of food insecurity within the homeless population each and every day so not just one day as well as food and each and every day as well as my kids who supply community service I went in stonehenge I cleaned up the recreation center so that the kids can have some way to play I also proposed on the T-Splots committee that presentation to be able to that side where also the workers can get to and from work and the kids can get to the best people before to play now I'm just looking for a playground so that's how I address issues in the community Thank you Ms. Ross Mr. Gertz So I could select a number of examples but I think where we're sitting right now is the perfect place to start and it was brought to my attention around five years ago that the library here needed extra security in the afternoons dug in a little bit and found out well the kind of need for security was born from the number of middle school students who were coming over in an unstructured way after school in the afternoon and just hanging out but not in any way that was focused so realizing that well, we could put some more money into security but maybe we could do something that was more fundamental and deeper as a solution I brought together Clark County School District personnel Athens Clark County folks people from the Office of Service Learning on the University of Georgia's campus and library employees and management and what we determined is that really we just had the case of a lot of young people who were looking for an outlet looking for an opportunity in the afternoon and so together what we were able to build is the direction of a VISTA post undergraduate staff member from the Office of Service Learning who was assigned to the library and that VISTA worker created partnerships with community organizations around chess around sewing around music production around literacy in many other places and so you had a lot of young people who now had productive activities to do here in the afternoon and things that were going to enrich their lives and we were going to actually diminish the need for security as a result so it was a creative solution and it was one that involved a lot of community stakeholders which is the way that I think we best build a community here in the community Thank you Mr. Hertz Ms. Hall give us an example of how you solve a community problem include your steps in your thought process How I do this is my house is open to parents I have many parents that call me that's having an issue with their teenagers and I say bring them to me and they come to my house for the weekend and I ask what's the problem many children come they sit there they bless their mothers out and father but I find a solution for the answer I say now it's time for you to sit here think about what you said to your mother and you all would be surprised that the number of people that has my number that call me I'm not afraid of them because I know somebody got to love them and I know their parents love them but they've been out all night half of the night they don't know where to go they said what we going to call Ms. Hall and this came up from a lady that I know very well who used to have children from defects they called her at night she joined me in with the program and those are my steps to helping parents I will take your child I will bring them into my house I will feed them and I will give them back to you those are my steps I have that's the love I have for people that's the love I have for children so everybody don't do that but I will do it so if you have a child that's unruly I see about them and I'm not afraid thank you Ms. Hall ok the next question that we have from the audience what are your thoughts on working with the Clark County school district to address issues of inequity and segregation of children within our K through 12 schools again what are your thoughts on working with Clark County school the Clark County school district towards addressing inequity and segregation of children within our K through 12 schools and this order will be Mr. Gerbs, Ms. Ross, Mr. Coleman and Ms. Hall so there was a great but I will say pretty lengthy and dense report that if you've got maybe a few hours of your time you might want to look at came out about five years ago and it was put together by the national superintendents round table and what an international bit of research found is that when you look at outcomes of school aged children a bit of those outcomes are born from what happens in the brick and mortar buildings of schools but a lot of those outcomes come from what happens in neighborhoods and communities but about a third of outcomes are born based on is this a healthy neighborhood do these kids have access to fun places to go to good things to do and so for us as the unified government an enormous thing that we can do is simply make for safer neighborhoods and neighborhoods that are better resourced where there are food resources accessible where there are parks accessible where their trails accessible and I think we should also take a step further and work directly with the Clark County school district which I'm in the midst of doing right now that about half a dozen times with a superintendent and one of the assistant superintendents and what I've recommended is that we put together an ongoing three way partnership between the Clark County school district the Athens Clark County unified government and the great array of community based nonprofits that are doing youth services work because we all care about the same kids we want to see the same positive outcomes and we should develop both information exchange platform and a funding scheme that allows us all to have mutual benefit for the young people in our community I've ever been a confidence that that's going to come to fruition this year at least in part with some of the American Rescue Plan Act dollars we've got but I think it's going to be a foundation that will be able to be utilized for decades to come so I'm very excited about that Thank you Mr. Gertz Ms. Ross Thank you for partying with me Any time Good things have no ownership I appreciate what you just say what I wrote so that's what I would do so yeah that's exactly what I would do because there is a model that if you collaborate and partner with the Clark County school district that you can have more community engagement you can have those organizations coming in because the community is relatable some of these kids as herning they're not relating to their teachers so with that being said you got to bring people from the outside that these teachers have our kids for probably eight hours nine hours a day and that's their release but then when they go back home to that environment you don't know what they're going through so even through the COVID and being out here and being able to give the packets and food and clothes for some of those kids their parents didn't know how to do the work their parents didn't know virtual learning they might not have internet and so addressing those issues and making sure that we're not just sitting back judging these people we're actually trying to find I don't want to say trying but we are finding a solution to their problem so with that being said and with Kelly sharing our idea I really do think we need to partner and if any one of us could really take that idea because the youth is very dear and passionate to my heart I have my own too over here and it's a life going on in the school district that we need to address but that's how we end school to prison pipeline that's my answer thank you Ms. Ross Mr. Coleman you know what I would totally do overhaul the whole school system if it possible to find them all get rid of them all I mean we're at the bottom of the list but how many years it doesn't make any sense to live in a universal system area to be at almost at the bottom of the list in the school system come on people something is wrong here isn't the kids or isn't the parents what is the problem so I guess you asked me what is the problem the problem is parents need to be parents kids needs to be kids teachers need to be teachers not law not babysitters not doctors, not lawyer, not chiropractors none of that they need to teach the school system so in order to have school system I think everybody who needs that school system need to be voted in by the public don't let anyone in the school system elect someone as superintendent the head teacher the teacher of the year let the people do because the people are the ones who are suffering understand the people are the ones who are suffering in the school system not the teachers and the kids are coming home to what distillation horror, fear uncertainty cannot even read cannot even count fussing and fighting so we need to overhaul the whole school system and at the law county thank you Mr. Coleman Ms. Hall as a retired Clark County school employee I always have to command the teachers the employees and everyone on a job where done what they try to do and work with what they have to work with we have to be honest about this thing there are so many things the school system needs they need more computers they need more laptop I think they need to bring their children for a great big training when we are off school and the kids don't have anyone to help them with math, science and social studies we can't blame the parents because they don't know because there are a lot of us in here that are grandparents that we don't know so there should be a setup somewhere in the system where we can help parents with children to come in and show them how to work with the children and not be embarrassed about it so I think if we can get more technology for the parents and get things brought in for the student to be able to care out their duties and responsibility and control the behavior which is unbearably in the school system and I can tell you that and there is so much that they can do the fighting is terrible and I'm here to tell you because I watched it I looked at it I woke them up the fighting is terrible and when you bring the parents in to say hey your child has done so and so then you got to deal with the parents so we have a problem with parents and student in the system so we need to work out a plan that we can work with the parents and the students that's my theory on how we can deal with the Clark County School District as a retired employee thank you Ms. Hall okay our next question please give us examples of situations where you have proven your ability to work with people who do not look like you or think like you specifically in regards to race economic issues or any area that you would like to comment on the order for this round will be Mr. Coleman Ms. Hall Mr. Gertz please give us examples of situations where you have proven your ability to work with people who do not look like you or think like you specifically in regards to race economic issues or any area that you would like to comment Mr. Coleman well I'm a former employee of the University of New York I was real here in Clark County and I was taught by my grandmother she said respect women just to laugh at you do respect a woman do not let a woman beat you down I used to work as a janitor there at the University of North Georgia I was opening doors for the young ladies you know what remark I would get you don't have to open a door for me I can open my own door that's the problem we have here today we don't want to understand and realize a woman is a woman a man is a man there are responsibilities for each and every one of us and what I would do and what I have done when I came upon a racial problem the best thing you could do is laugh it off because if you get too deeply involved into that problem you're going to become part of that problem you have to be the narrow rail which I was plenty time I've been called called names I've been spit on attacked even clans came after me yes here in Claude County but the reward that came from that a large percent of old people came back and said thank you Mr. Coleman for understanding what was going on understanding that's key we got to understand one another out here in this world and you and I are loved across one another and the best thing and the best advice like nearly anybody regardless of your race believe in yourself believe that you are somebody believe that you can make a difference and believe that you have the right and limited for the pursuit of happiness and joy Mr. Coleman Ms. Hall please give us examples of situations where you are proving your ability to work with people who do not look like you or think like you specifically in regards to race or economic issues or any area that you'd like to comment on that is very easy come to my family reunion we have all multi colors and we work together our family consists of black white, Hispanic so our children are able to play with each other and understand each other and we teach them that this is your family you can choose everything in life but you can't choose your family so we try to love each other and respect each other so that's how we carry out our way of diversity that is the way we learn to love one another regardless of race create a color because when you're sitting at your table for the family reunion you're looking at one of those faces so what can you say nothing but I love you so that is the way I handle situations when it comes to race create a color I always look back at my family so if you don't have any of us keep living they're coming thank you Ms. Hall Mr. Burris, please give us examples of situations where you have proven your ability to work with people who do not look like you or think like you specifically in terms of race, economic issues or anything you'd like to comment on so broadly the most important things I do direct engagement and outreach with this entire community I probably get the most fulfilling experience in that realm just by being on the streets on my feet talking to people that I encounter in any place in the community we've come through this really difficult couple of years where engagement has not looked like I think all of us are expecting engagement to look and people have seemed distant and I take it as a solemn oath of this role that I've got to work overtime now to continue to engage and that means meeting people where they are and certainly in the life that I've lived in Athens that have been lucky to live in Athens maybe the hallmark was the time that I worked for the Clark County School District and was doing homebound care and that meant that I had to go out to young people's homes if they were on long term disability and sit with them multiple times a week to make sure that they understood their lessons and often times those young people in their families didn't look like me didn't have backgrounds like I did so I think about Myra and I sat in her trailer with her mom Teresa and her week in week out African American family and I who had a master's degree being willing to have honest conversations and the necessity for me being willing to understand what their lives were like with no preconception but just understanding and taking in their experience so anyhow to them and all those young folks and their families who I was able to share time with that has been a blessing in my life Thank you Mr. Gertz Ms. Ross Do you have any situations where you have proven your ability to work with people you do not look like you or think like you specifically in regards to race economic issues or any area that you desire to come in on My everyday personal mission statement is to be the light and the darkness and my everyday job is community outreach specialist that's the everything I didn't know no matter where I go I am in a room of diversity if I might be the only African American woman in the room and with being that only person it gets to be you adapt to it you get flexibility from it so it's not so much as racism to me anymore or who likes you or what their opinion of you are you have to be able to sacrifice yourself sometimes take a stand and make a difference in life you got to be willing to sit at those tables and that's where some of the lack of leadership comes from because people are afraid to sit at those tables and I do that every single day so I'm on different committees, different boards and my everyday job is community outreach which is going into every area of this community and being able to be relatable with these individuals so it's a big challenge so that's the question Thank you Ms. Ross at this time that ends all of the questions that we had that ends all of the questions that we will have time for we would like to on behalf of the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement I would like to thank you all for showing up today to become a part of the solution and for staying engaged in this community that has never been more important and so to see the beautiful diversity that Athens, Georgia has brought out is just really fantastic at this time I'd like to tell you just a little bit about the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement ADM was created in 2016 by Mocha Jasmine Johnson and her husband Noah Johnson they launched it in an effort to combat repeated allegations of discrimination by bars and business owners in downtown Athens since that time they have worked tirelessly to build an effective movement the Athens Anti-Discrimination Movement advocates for racial and social justice and strives to combat discrimination through education and activism ADM offers various workshops, programs and resources designed to help citizens protect their civil and human rights they have three programs the Freedom Fund which addresses issues of police brutality the Teen Social Justice Program which is designed to cultivate future leaders build self-confidence and teach students how to respectfully use their voice to advocate for their rights the Education and Training for Change this program is designed to train community members to advocate for themselves gain more in-depth knowledge about the criminal justice institution improve race relations and develop activist skills they also have three services number one community service whether you need community service for school and independent activity or court order ADM can help you give back to your community and meet your community service requirements they have an Anti-Discrimination Advocacy Service advocates are available to provide support and guidance for people who they feel have been discriminated against by an individual or an institution they are here for clients as they seek resources and help provide them with a platform for their voice to be heard and then bail and legal support we understand at ADM that folks held in jail are innocent and so proven otherwise racial, economic and social inequalities create a system where more black and brown folks are forced into jails and given higher bonds these same inequalities create burdens for marginalized communities often making it difficult or outright impossible to pay the bond and leave the terrible conditions of jail ADM is committed to helping pay jail bail for those in need and to help reunite families and loved ones if you or loved one need support the number to contact ADM is 800-922-3607 you can also volunteer with the ADM movement by emailing admin at aadm aadm movement.org ok thank you all for coming thank you thank you thank you without any oh sorry let's just say one if we could get a round of applause for all of our candidates thank you