Newspaper Page Text
Friday, December 11,2015
Lake Oconee News
Page A3
GREENE COUNTY
Lewis encourages city to change holiday incentives
Jackie Gutknecht
jackie@lakeoconeenews.us
Greensboro City Councilman
Vince Lewis wants to reevaluate
the city’s annual holiday incentives
for its employees in the upcoming
calendar year.
Lewis, who is the newest coun-
cilmember on the Greensboro
City Council, said there is no set
methodology to the city’s current
holiday incentive. The incentive
city employees currently receive
in the month of December of each
year - if approved by the council
- is equivalent to that employee’s
week’s pay.
Councilman Chris Moore said he
agreed that the incentives needed
to be reviewed, but if the council
was interested in making a change
in the 2015 incentive it should
have been done months ago. He
made the motion to approve the
2015 employee incentive with the
stipulation that the council would
reevaluate the incentives before
December 2016.
Lewis, who calls himself a
fiscally conservative, said he could
not agree to gift taxpayer money to
anyone without methodology.
“I can’t in good conscience agree
with it,” he said, adding that incen
tives are supposed to be used to en
courage and motivate workers, and
the current system, in his opinion,
is not an incentive.
Moore’s motion to approve the
current year’s holiday incentive
was passed 4-1, with Lewis being
the only opposing vote.
In other news, the city council
approved this year’s holiday closing
City Hall for the Christmas holiday.
Itwill be closed after noon on Dec.
24, all day Dec. 25 and Dec. 28.
City employees will be on-call to
offer help in emergency situations.
MORGAN COUNTY
Madison planning director talks housing grants
Jeff Warren
jeff@lakeoconeenews.us
At a regularly scheduled
work session of the Madison
City Council Friday, Dec. 4,
Planning Director Monica
Callahan briefed council
members on a proposed city
application for housing im
provement grant money. The
money would come from a
Community Development
Block Grant, federal dollars
sent down from the Depart
ment of Housing and Urban
Development. Georgia’s
Department of Communi
ty Affairs administers and
awards these grants as they
are bestowed within our
state.
The grant money Callahan
talked of applying for would
go toward home improve
ments for people in economic
hardship. As she began her
remarks, Callahan referred
councilors to a map already
in their hands. It showed an
area of the city where resi
dents living in poverty make
up 30 percent of the neigh
borhood. That figure has
recently increased from 23
percent as aging residents
enter retirement and face
reduced incomes, Callahan
explained.
The eligible area outlined
is bounded on the west by
State Route 83, on the north
by the city limits, on the east
by the Airport Industrial
Area and on the south by the
railroad. The area includes
about 300 houses, houses of
the Canaan historic neigh
borhood among them.
In total, a half million
dollars would become avail
able if granted through
Georgia’s Dept, of Com
munity Affairs, Callahan
said. Such house improve
ment grants are pointed
at resident homeowners,
she said. Grants to resident
homeowners supply 97
percent of the home im
provement cost with the
homeowner supplying the
other 3 percent.
The Canaan neighbor
hood has shifted to a com
munity of rental proper
ties, Callahan noted. Some
grants are made available to
landlords, she said, but those
tend to be harder to get and
split the funding 50/50. The
grant pays for half of the
home improvement with the
landlord paying the other
half. To receive a grant, a
landlord must commit to
operating the property as
low-income housing for 15
years.
“It is not a pretty bathroom
grant,” Callahan said. “It is
not a new kitchen grant. It
is to bring houses up to code,
so people’s living conditions
are clean and sanitary.”
Callahan advised the
council no vote was required
at the time of her presen
tation, but she asked for a
council go-ahead to move
forward with the plan.
Councilors expressed their
agreement with the idea.
Callahan said this is the
second time the city will
apply for a Community De
velopment Block Grant to
fund home improvements.
The first application went
unfunded, she said, but that
is standard on the first try.
“It is hard money to get,
and it is hard money to use,
but it can really make a dif
ference in [housing] safety
standards,” Callahan said.
Another grant mentioned
by Callahan was a federal
Redevelopment Fund Grant
already secured for a new
store at the corner of Burney
and Fifth streets in the
same neighborhood. This
HUD money flows from the
federal government through
state government to city
government, which becomes
owner of the funds.
For the store project,
the city will loan that
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grant money to Madi
son’s Downtown Develop
ment Authority, Callahan
detailed. The Authority
will use it to tear down
an existing concrete block
building and replace it with
a clapboard store correct for
the historic neighborhood.
A storekeeper will rent
the building, allowing the
Downtown Development
Authority to use collected
rents to pay back the loan
from the city. Once all of the
money returns to the city,
it becomes available to spin
again into another com
merce-promoting, job-cre
ating type loan, Callahan
explained. For the “corner
store” project, government
acceptance of three final
documents opens the way
for construction, she said.
With the new corner
store coming, Mayor Fred
Perriman asked about
reopening the railroad
crossing at the foot of
Burney Street to reconnect
the Canaan neighborhood
to Madison south of the
rail line. City Attorney Joe
Reitman said railroads
can be challenging to deal
with. He suggested that if
the city wants to reopen
the crossing, it should press
for that immediately and
continue to press until a
crossing is granted.
Jeff Warren/Staff
This concrete block building at the corner of Burney and Fifth streets is slated to
soon be replaced with a clapboard store more in keeping with the neighborhood. A
federal grant will fund construction.
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