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Decatur City Commission, Agnes Scott will discuss ‘climate resilience plan’

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Decatur City Commission, Agnes Scott will discuss ‘climate resilience plan’

Commissioners, pictured left to right, are: Mayor Pro Tem Tony Powers, Lesa Mayer, Kelly Walsh, Mayor Patti Garrett, and George Dusenbury. Photo obtained via the city of Decatur
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Disclosure: Agnes Scott college is a financial supporter of Decaturish.com. 

Decatur, GA — The Decatur City Commission during its Feb. 1 meeting will discuss a “climate resilience plan” created in collaboration with Agnes Scott College.

The discussion will occur during a work session that begins at 6:30 p.m. The regular meeting starts at 7:30 p.m.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting will be conducted virtually. Here are instructions about how to attend:

1. View the live broadcast of the Decatur City Commission meeting at https://www.decaturga.com/citycommission/page/streaming-video

2. Register in advance to participate during either the “Public Comment” or “Requests and Petitions” portions of the meeting at https://zoom.us/j/93375352623. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. You may also participate by phone by calling (929) 205-6099 and entering the meeting ID (The 11-digit number shown in the Zoom registration link.)

If you are unable to participate in the virtual meeting, you may email your “public comments” on agenda items or submit “requests and petitions” by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 1st     to: Andrea Arnold, City Manager, [email protected]

The climate resilience plan has been in the works for two years. Mayor Patti Garrett made reference to it in the January 2020 state of the city speech.

The college announced the partnership in July 2019.

“Agnes Scott College has taken another bold step in climate leadership by partnering with the city of Decatur to develop a joint climate resilience plan,” the press release from the college said. “The scope includes preparedness for weather events and emergencies related to climate change; anticipating possible health effects, especially for vulnerable populations; potential joint energy efficiency initiatives; and possible shared infrastructure for commuting, green space, stormwater management and local food production.”

The press release notes that the joint climate resilience task force was established in August 2018 and built “on work each partner was already doing to prepare for and respond to various climate change impacts.”

“City members on the task force include representatives of agencies with infrastructure and public safety responsibilities, while Agnes Scott is represented by staff members from the Department of Public Safety, Information Technology Services, the Office of Human Resources, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Facilities, along with Susan Kidd ’78, M.A.T. ’07, executive director of the college’s Center for Sustainability, and Gianni Rodriguez ’17, former sustainability fellow,” the press release says. “Columbia Theological Seminary has also joined the partnership.”

According to the press release from Agnes Scott, the partnership began after Kidd reached out to Decatur officials after the college expanded its participation in the  American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment in 2017.

The college pledged to plan for climate resilience defined as “the ability of a system or community to survive disruption and to anticipate, adapt and flourish in the face of change,” the press release says.

The regular City Commission meeting agenda is light.

The action items on the regular agenda are:

– Renewal of a traffic signal maintenance agreement with KCI Technologies Inc. at a cost of $43,200 for monthly traffic signal inspections and monitoring at 34 key intersections in the city.

Here is the list of traffic signals covered by this agreement:

– Approving a change order in the amount of $29,000 with Blount Construction for additional grading and paving work.

“The purpose of this memorandum is to recommend approval of change order #1 to our contract with Blount Construction Company for additional work to the current paving project on South Columbia Drive,” Assistant City Manager David Junger wrote in a memo attached to the City Commission agenda. “The current contract work includes milling, necessary repairs and repaving and is approximately
90 percent complete. The contract amount is$856,142. The approved project budget is $1,050,000.”

For more details about that project, click here.

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