City Council Meeting Recap: October 19, 2026

The Mayor and all Councilmembers were present.

• Approval of the agenda – Councilman Dodd made a motion to approve the agenda. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0.
   
• Approval of the minutes from the council meeting held on October 5, 2026 – Councilman Hill made a motion to approve the minutes from the October 5 City Council Meeting. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0.
   

• Approval of a street closure request on December 3, 2026, for the Hometown Holiday Parade – Bridget Daniel, President and CEO of the Forsyth-Monroe County Chamber of Commerce, presented a street closure request for the Hometown Holiday Parade. The route will remain the same as in previous years but will be reversed, beginning at the Performing Arts Center and ending at Ingles, where participant pickup will take place. The deadline to register for the parade is November 19 to allow adequate time to conduct safety meetings.

  Councilman Wilder made a motion to approve the street closure request. The motion passed unanimously, 6-0.

• Presentation by Johnathan Shaw of NFP – Mr. Johnathan Shaw, Managing Director of NFP, an Aon company and a full-service employee benefits brokerage firm located in Statesboro, Georgia, specializing in public-sector clients, provided a presentation introducing the company and its services.

  Following Mr. Shaw’s presentation, Council discussed the reasons for considering a change in brokerage firms, including rising costs and a breakdown in communication with the City’s current firm, as well as the benefits NFP has to offer.

  Councilman Goodson offered a motion to move forward with NFP as the City’s consultant. The motion was unanimously approved, 6-0.

• Forsyth Water Update – Mr. Craig Helms of H2O Innovation provided an update on efforts to reduce manganese concentration levels at the City’s water treatment plant and throughout the water distribution system.

  During the previous City Council meeting, Council approved permanent feed systems to replace the temporary feed systems that were implemented to introduce caustic prior to filtration following favorable results from the new process. Mr. Helms reported that since introducing caustic before filtration, the post-treatment manganese levels have decreased to .05, resulting in clear water leaving the plant. Once the permanent systems are installed, which is expected within the next two to three weeks, the current process should become even more reliable.

  Mr. Helms also discussed potential next steps for the reservoir, including dredging and bottom-diffused aeration. He addressed actions to eliminate manganese throughout the distribution system, which would require system-wide flushing. This process could result in temporary discoloration as accumulated manganese is disturbed.

• Convention & Visitors Bureau Quarterly Report – Ms. Gilda Stanbery, President and CEO of the Forsyth Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), presented the bureau’s quarterly report to Council. Ms. Stanbery reported that the CVB’s newsletter continues to exceed expectations. The CVB’s website is also performing well, recording 50,108 sessions year-to-date compared with 38,506 sessions for all of 2025.

  Ms. Stanbery also announced that the CVB will host Junior Leadership Monroe’s class for Travel and Tourism Day and launch a new video series titled “In for the Night.”

  The CVB’s Tourism Works handout was also provided. It reported that visitors spent $89.2 million in Monroe County in 2025, an increase of 11.2% over 2024. Of that total, $19.9 million was spent on lodging, $30.2 million on food and beverage, $12.3 million on recreation, $14.1 million on retail, and $12.8 million on transportation.

• Financial Update – Assistant City Manager Regina Ivie provided the financial update. As of September 30, the City had received $1,086,178 in revenue for the reporting period, bringing year-to-date revenue to $8,615,475 and representing 74.79% of the annual budget target. Revenue from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) is expected to exceed the budget by $310,000.

  In presenting the year-to-date summary of departments, Ms. Ivie noted that 10 of 15 departments are operating below the budget target of 74.79%. She also reported that year-to-date General Fund revenues exceed expenditures by $297,000. As of September 30, the City’s Combined Utilities Fund's year-to-date revenues exceed expenditures by $863,733.

  The next Financial Report will be presented at the November 16 City Council Meeting.

• Executive Session – Councilman Dodd made a motion to enter executive session to discuss personnel matters. The motion passed, 6-0.

No additional actions were taken following the Executive Session.