Committee reviews resolution to convey Council Oak and Stickball Park to Muscogee Creek Nation

City legal staff told the committee there is a resolution and an MOU with the Muscogee Creek Nation to transfer the Council Oak Site and Stickball Park, and described the transfer process and historical context.

Caroline, representing city legal, said the current paperwork builds on work begun under the previous mayoral administration and that the resolution before the council addresses utility easements and the deed paperwork. Caroline said city staff and the Nation "worked very directly with them to kind of make sure that we're on the same page as far as, them maintaining maintenance on it and maintaining the artwork that's on there as well. And their kind of future intention with the park wanting to make sure that they continue to hold it up as a public access park".

On historical significance, Caroline said: "Council Oak is historic to not only the city, but to also the Muscogee Nation. It was kind of their, final stop at the end of the Trail Of Tears. They carried ceremonial ashes from their ceremonial grounds and fires in Georgia, all the way here to, kind of resettle here." She noted the Nation has held annual ceremonies and that the Nation plans to create a parks department to help maintain the properties after transfer.

Committee members discussed the legal steps ahead, including the council vote (scheduled for Oct. 15) and subsequent deed execution by the mayor, and recognized the transfer’s potential as a precedent for restoring land with cultural and sacred significance to tribal nations. Staff emphasized the process is legally complex and that some easements and utility arrangements remain to be finalized.