Milledgeville’s City Council meeting Tuesday evening was uneventful, but one agenda item led to a relatively uncommon result.
Mayor Mary Parham-Copelan left in the middle of the work session immediately prior to the regular meeting, and Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Chambers presided from that point on.
The only matter presented for the council’s consideration that ended up being contested came up near the end of the meeting. A resolution was offered that would have authorized an agreement between the City of Milledgeville and Baldwin County to establish a land bank.
The purpose of that entity would be “to acquire tax delinquent and other properties in order to foster the public purpose of returning property which is non-revenue generating and non-tax producing to an effective utilization status in order to provide housing, new industry and jobs for the citizens of the State of Georgia,” the resolution reads in part.
The matter had been discussed in the work session prior to the meeting, but when the motion was made by Walter Reynolds and seconded by Shonya Mapp, nothing was said, and Chambers immediately called for the vote. Reynolds, Chambers and Mapp voted to enter into the agreement, while Denese Shinholster, Dr. Collinda Lee and Jeanette Walden voted no on the proposal. Nothing further was said then.
The 3-3 deadlock amounts to a ‘no’, as a majority vote is needed for the measure to pass. Had Parham-Copelan been present, she would have cast the deciding vote.
Council went into an executive session for a personnel matter at the conclusion of the meeting, and when members went back into open session, Reynolds made a motion to reconsider the land bank resolution. No one seconded that motion, and there was some question as to whether that was appropriate, as opposed to it being on a future agenda.
“If this council is interested in taking this up for consideration at a later meeting, that would be suitable with me,” Reynolds offered.
Walden had hesitated in casting her vote initially, and she offered an explanation.
“My reason for voting no was I don’t want one little group of people getting the land,” she said. “That doesn’t seem fair, and I want to be sure that we have verbiage in there that is not going to let that happen.”
One concern expressed by Walden and Lee was the opportunity for nearby residents of the affected properties to have adequate knowledge of the process and the opportunity to pursue ownership.
“I want to see blight taken care of, but the people that live next to that property, they could get it,” Walden said. “If they want to clean it up and do something with it, they deserve the opportunity.”
Reynolds pointed out that there currently is no mechanism for interested parties to purchase land in that situation, and the Land Bank will address that.
Following additional discussion, Reynolds withdrew his motion to reconsider the resolution, and the matter will appear on the June 27 agenda.
Two zoning requests were heard, and no opposition heard. In fact, no one spoke at all in the second public hearing, prompting a comment from Chambers.
“This is about as easy as it will get,” he declared. “This concludes the presentation of the evidence, I guess of which there is none.”
Both requests involved upgrades to parcels recently sold that were grandfathered in the city regulations and required formal approval for its use to continue.
The final agenda item was the request for an alcohol license to sell beer packaged to go at Family Korner Food at 181 W. Andrews Street. The measure was approved unanimously without any comment.