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Short, sweet City Council meeting sets new meeting times for future The Washington City Council met for its regular June meeting Monday night and, unlike many other meetings, kept it short and sweet. Mayor Willie E. Burns met with council members Rev. G.L. Avery, Nathaniel Cullars, Pamela Eaton, Ray Hardy, Maceo Mahoney, and Edward Pope Jr., along with City Administrator Mike Eskew, City Clerk Debbie Danner, and City Attorney Barry Fleming. The most significantaction taken by the council was to change the meeting time for monthly meetings. At the request of Mayor Burns, the council voted unanimously to change the regular meeting time from 7:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. for all future City Council meetings. Tourism Director Ashley Barnett reported the most remarkable news of the meeting: that Wilkes County hotel-motel tax receipts had jumped by 35 percent from March 2006 to March 2007. "That means that as a result of our new advertising efforts, at least a third more visitors, tourists, are discovering Washington-Wilkes, coming here and spending money. That's huge," she said. Barnett also asked city council members to participate in the community fund-raiser for the July 4th Fireworks Celebration. The celebrity baggers will bag groceries Saturday, June 30 at Bi-Lo for donations. Councilman Mahoney asked for a status report on the swimming pool initiative. Eskew said that the feasibility study will be complete this week. Mahoney also asked if pool owners had to pay sewer fees for the water they used to filltheir pools. Eskew said that they did, as the council had agreed. Mahoney asked that the possibility of changing that requirement be considered at the next meeting of the Water and Sewer Committee meeting. In other business, the council approved a resolution to adopt the city's solid waste management document as proposed. At his turn, City Administrator Eskew reported that Mayor Burns would be appointed first vicepresident of the 7th District seat at the upcoming Georgia Municipal Association meeting. Councilman Eaton reminded all present that the next meeting of the Downtown Development Authority was on Thursday, June 21, at Farmers State Bank. Citizen Norris Ware reported to the council that overloaded log trucks were being driven on city streets near Ashley Park. Not only were they a danger to the children at the nearby ball parks, he said, they were damaging the street surfaces. He also reported that a culvert had been torn out at the intersection of Hospital Drive and Cedar Street. Eskew said that he and the mayor had just looked at that culvert that day and repairs were scheduled.
Opening the meeting, Payroll Development Authority Director David Jenkins thanked the city leaders for their role in attracting the new AviGenics facility to Wilkes County. "The state selected us for the leadership you've shown, and we're going to be the leader for the entire state, showing how rural Georgia can compete for these hightech industries."
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