Milledgeville City Council held its first meeting of the month March 11.
All members of the council were present, though District 4 Council Member Walter Reynolds and Mayor Mary Praham-Copelan joined online through Zoom for the meeting.
City Manager Hank Griffeth announced a planning meeting will be held Saturday to discuss the Public Facilities Authority and the bond issuance for the water treatment plant.
“We need an additional citizen representative on the Public Finance Authority that was created by the General Assembly for the city last year,” Griffeth told council members. “So, if you all (council) could be thinking about some names that we could discuss at the planning meeting for that.
“The requirements are that they live within the city limits of manageability,” he added.
Griffeth also brought up that there was still a vacancy on the zoning board of appeals, and if the council had recommendations, they could bring those to the meeting Saturday.
The first resolution authorized a contract with Pye Barker Fire and Safety for fire hydrant flow test inspections for ISO purposes.
Pye Barker Fire and Safety will check each of Milledgeville’s fire hydrants’ water flow and ensure they are in good condition for use by the fire department. They will also have an employee of the city with them to GPS pinpoint the hydrants. This system of GPS coordinates will help to dispatch assistance to the hydrants closest to each call.
All six council members voted to adopt this resolution.
Then, the meeting flowed into discussion of a resolution urging continued local government appointments to the Central State Hospital Local Redevelopment Authority Board.
Griffeth stated he spoke to Senator Rick Williams about this resolution and the bill that brought this to the council. Senate Bill 260 was written in hopes of creating a Central State Hospital Redevelopment Authority, which would include a single member appointed by the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house of representatives.
“The fourth member will be a non-voting member and will be appointed by the state property officer,” Griffeth said. “The members of the authority will serve fouryear terms.” This authority would be subjected to an independent audit yearly. All vacancies will be filled by the person with appointment authority. The authority would have the power to create subcommittees, and these committees can be filled with people from the community. The authority can also accept loans and grants from the federal government and its agencies.
“Having heard this information, I feel like maybe it will be necessary, may or may not be necessary, but I would like to ask the council, are they still willing to move forward with the resolution as it is on the agenda,” city councilwoman Denese Shinholster said.
Councilman Steve Chambers motioned for the resolution to be removed from the agenda.
“I do not disagree in substance with the intents of SB 260,” Councilman Walter Reynolds said. “I believe that there is actually a great deal of benefit that could be brought about by elevating this authority to a state authority under the Department of Economic Development.”
This led to a discussion among multiple council members wanting local appointment or representation to be a part of this authority because “Milledgeville knows what it needs.”
Some felt the bill was rushed through the senate and hope since it is in committee in the house that speaking up may make way for a local appointment to happen.
“I just want our city to be recognized,” said councilwoman Shonya Mapp.
They voted for removal of the resolution and in a 4-2 vote the resolution was kept on the agenda. It was adopted after suggested changes by Chambers, striking the word “strongly” from point one and Mapp seconded this suggestion.
Then there was a suggestion to add the verbiage “code enforcement” to the resolution. With a unanimous vote the amended resolution was adopted.
The next council meeting will be held March 25 at 5:30 p.m. at Milledgeville City Hall on East Hancock Street.