Marietta work sessions: tax collections short of budget; SRO MOU moved for more review; GIRMA insurance proposal advanced

The City of Marietta's committee and special called work sessions addressed fiscal-year revenue figures, school resource officer contract revisions, an insurance proposal from the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), land-division approval and adjustments to commercial immobilization fees, and recommended a change to the municipal ethics code.

In a finance presentation, staff reported June hotel-motel receipts of $336,259 and total annual hotel-motel collections of $3,762,000. Staff said the city's budgeted general-fund share for the auto 3% rental tax was $1,282,000, with actuals of roughly $1,074,000, a shortfall of about $208,000. Staff said partial reserves will be set aside — $114,000 from auto-rental collections and $25,000 from hotel-motel receipts — and that preliminary year-end closing shows a roughly $2.8 million positive position to address final invoices or capital needs. Staff cautioned these numbers are preliminary while the year-end close proceeds.

Why it matters: the shortfalls affect near-term discretionary capital and reserve planning; staff said events and anticipated activity in the coming fiscal year could boost future receipts.

The School Resource Officer memorandum of understanding (SRO MOU) with Marietta City Schools drew detailed questions. Staff said the five-year agreement (to run through 2030) has redlined edits, clarifies officer assignment decision-making (calling out the Police Chief and the Superintendent), and reflects higher equipment and vehicle costs since the 2019 agreement. Council members and staff agreed the school board had outstanding questions; the council moved the item to the agenda work session so edits and any additional school-board concerns can be highlighted and resolved before formal approval.

"If any changes are made to the contract, they will be highlighted and brought forth for the agenda work session for review," staff said during the discussion.

GMA's group-insurance arm (GIRMA) presented a proposal for the city's property, casualty and fiduciary liability coverage for the 08/17/2025'026 policy year. Stan Deese, Director of Risk Management Services at the Georgia Municipal Association, described GIRMA as a not-for-profit, municipality-focused pool with broad coverages and member services, and said GIRMA's preliminary quote was materially lower than a quoted market renewal.

Deese said GIRMA's proposal included flood and earthquake limits (reported in the staff memo at $10 million), crisis management coverage, property appraisals every three years and a 24-hour legal hotline tied to employment-law counsel. "These coverages are designed for cities," Deese said, adding GIRMA provides cyber liability coverage up to $250,000 for a city the size of Marietta at no charge.

Council directed staff to obtain competing written quotes and to move the insurance item to the next Monday agenda so the council could review absolute numbers before making a selection.

Land-use action: the Judicial/Legislative committee approved a final plat to subdivide the parcel at 213 Frasier (Fraser) Street into two lots (to become 198 and 202 Summit Avenue). Developer Richard Gardner told the council the new drawing "squared up" an earlier jagged line and said the small boundary adjustments would be recorded in the deed records. Staff and council discussed required cross-easements for a shared driveway and noted two additional sewer connections were installed to service 194 Summit Avenue (placed now as an option because the manhole depth made future construction less expensive than returning to dig later). The committee approved the final plat after discussion.

Parking enforcement and fees: Buckhead Parking Enforcement asked the city to raise immobilization (booting) fees for commercial/heavy vehicles. Staff pointed out that the city's ordinance ties immobilization-maximums to state towing tariffs and that the vendor's requested $396 cap for 10,001'0,000-pound vehicles slightly exceeded the state towing maximum ($390). Council members agreed to keep the 10,001'0,000-pound class within the state maximum and adopted recommended caps to not exceed $390 for that weight class and not to exceed $462 for vehicles over 20,000 pounds (the committee recorded a 3-0 recommendation).

Ethics code: the ethics committee proposed adding a new code section to prohibit filing ethics complaints against candidates or incumbents during a discrete election window (from qualification to election day). Council members discussed effective dating and the potential for perceived self-dealing if an immediate effective date covered the current election cycle; the council recommended adopting the new section with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2026, and approved a motion to hold line-by-line JL sessions to resolve the broader ordinance rewrite.

Votes at a glance (actions recorded in the sessions): - Receive and file the hotel-motel/auto tax and finance reports: motion passed (committee notation: 3-0). (SEG 092'00) - Move SRO MOU to the agenda work session for additional edits and school-board questions: motion passed (3-0). (SEG 187'195) - Move insurance selection item to the Monday agenda pending additional written quotes: motion passed. (SEG 546' 557) - Move workers-comp TPA renewal (Brentwood) forward to the agenda for approval: motion passed on consent (unanimous). (SEG 567' 606) - Approve final plat for 213 Frasier Street (to create 198 & 202 Summit Ave) after discussion: motion carried. (SEG 1418'1423) - Set commercial immobilization (booting) fee caps at not-to-exceed $390 (10,001'0,000 lb class) and $462 (20,001+ lb): motion passed. (SEG 1666'1697) - Recommend ethics-code amendment with an effective date of 01/01/2026 and schedule special JL sessions for the full ordinance rewrite: motion passed. (SEG 1789'1985)

What comes next: the SRO MOU will return to an agenda work session with highlighted edits from staff and any school-board changes. The insurance procurement item will return with competing written quotes. The ethics ordinance will move to special Judicial/Legislative sessions for line-by-line review. The final plat is now authorized to proceed per the committee action.

Attributions: direct quotes and reported numbers above come from committee presentations and staff remarks recorded in the meeting transcript. Where a named speaker appears in the transcript, attribution in this summary follows that text verbatim; other procedural votes and motions are described as recorded in committee discussion and roll calls.

Ending note: Council members repeatedly noted the preliminary nature of several figures (insurance quotes, year-end close) and asked staff for written backup and competing bids before final decisions.