RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
City to cut down old oak on The Square; landscaping to include new willow oaks
At Monday night’s regular meeting of the City Council, Payroll Development Authority Director David Jenkins passed on a request from the Downtown Development Authority. After consulting with tree experts and landscapers, the DDA has recommended that the city undertake a redevelopment effort on The Square that would include cutting down the dying 100-year-old oak in the center area and removing a large, unsightly holly tree near the front of The Square. “They would do it right after Christmas to disrupt shopping the least, and be done by early in January,” Jenkins said. Councilman Pamela Eaton asked that landscape designer Robert Aiken describe the plan to renovate The Square. “In the plan that the DDA has approved,” Aiken said, “we’re going to take the big oak down, grind the stump down, leave the brick wall around it and mound the soil and plant three nice size multi-stem evergreen trees.” The new evergreens will create a new centerpiece for The Square. “Then on the four corners of the brick pad, we’re going to plant four good-sized, ten-inch willow oaks, which will, with some TLC, grow quickly to create a canopy of shade even larger than the old oak.” There will be plantings under the trees and lighting, too. “It’ll be a massive undertaking,” Aiken said. After some discussion, the council approved the DDA request to renovate The Square. Councilman Maceo Mahoney managed to insult his fellow council members and Mayor Willie Burns when he tried to bring up a minor budget item that had been decided upon weeks ago. The council, in committee and in full session, had agreed to leave out a $500 expenditure for the DARE program since the school system had its own drug education efforts and no longer needed DARE for fifth graders. Mayor Burns pointed out that Mahoney had already voted to keep it out of the budget this year, and budget hearings had already been held, and that since the final budget vote was about to be held, it should be tabled until next year. But Mahoney made the motion anyway, and when the council voted against it, he insulted them all. “Oh, I see what the city really feels about drugs in the community.” Council members took exception to Mahoney implying that they were somehow in favor of drugs. Rev. G.L. Avery, who won’t even vote in favor of a beer and wine license, said sternly that council members were all certainly against drugs, but that Mahoney had to try to understand how matters were handled on the council. The meeting’s main point of action was to approve the 2007 budget that had been studied in depth at several previous meetings. The budget motion itself was complex: “I move that we adopt the 2007 budget as presented,” councilman Eaton read, “which includes no change to electric rates but restructures the residential and commercial rates in a revenue-neutral manner by establishing a six-month hot-weather rate and a six-month non-hot-weather rate; it includes a 20 cent per thousand increase in inside-the-city water and sewer rates; and a $1.25 increase in residential and a $7.50 increase in commercial garbage rates and a merit pay employee increase. Further the approval of a new rescue truck is contingent upon the county making a similar appropriation.” The budget was approved, with councilmen Mahoney and Nathaniel Cullars voting against the budget they had approved in committee. In other business, the council approved the adoption of a list of updated Georgia state codes for 2007. Several licenses for alcohol service were renewed after hearings were held prior to the main meeting. Distilled spirits pouring licenses were renewed for Washington Jockey Club, the Washington VFW Post 5899, and La Cabaña restaurant. Package licenses were renewed for WD’s Package Store, The Crossing package store, and BJ’s Package Store. Later in the meeting, a Beer and Wine license name change for Golden Pantry was also approved. As is his custom, Avery voted against each license request, and councilman Cullars voted against the license for the Washington Jockey Club. All renewals passed. In Chamber of Commerce business, Chamber Executive Director Donna Hardy reported that the Chamber had been busy working with contractors all over the county to prepare their paperwork to be grandfathered in under the new state-mandated contractor licensing program. Some 40 contractors had attended meetings, she said, and there were 20 more contractors in Lincoln County who have made use of the Chamber’s services.
The council also discussed, without taking any action, work being done on the Pope Center, the status of the pool feasibility study, speed bumps, and employee holidays.
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||
)
