The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current, September 12, 2013, Image 1

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The Georgia post., September 12, 2013, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextClassic Car Show KIWANIS CLUB CAR SHOW, Saturday, September 21, 2013 at Bass Pro Shops, 5000 Bass Pro Blvd, I-75 Exit 172, Macon, GAThe show is open to all cars & trucks. Entry Fee is $20.00 (pre-registered) and $ 25.00 on day of the show. 1 Week to Go! Join the Walk to Defeat ALS. Tread For Ed, our local 2K Walk, honoring the memory of Ed Tomberlin, will start at the City Park in Roberta, GA, at 5 p.m. (on-site registration begins at 4 p.m.). Music by "The Grands,” Ribbon Cutting for Corps D’ Elite will be held at 5:30 PM on September 16 at Martha McAfee’s Zumba and Dance Studio located next to Hudson’s BBQ, 88 East Agency Street. Issue 35 Thursday, September 12, 2013 City addresses fees for first Sunday Roberta City Mayor and Council met on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss issues concerning amendments to the audit, October 6 known as “first Sunday in October” and also agreed councilman Billy Bassett would assess city park use agreement with Keep Roberta Crawford Beautiful Director Joanne Hamlin. The budget for all departments was addressed and council decided a workshop for the board ot weigh in on where funds will be placed to run the city equitably between all departments would be needed. The First Sunday in October, an annual event, will be held October 6, 2013. All council members decided preparation for the event should begin by addressing permitting and permit fees. Primary to Mayor Becky Smith were the fees covering the cost of clean-up and other demands placed on the city during the event each year. There is a permit fee of $50 expected, unless the land owner on 341 North and South allows or has their own booth. The fee is then paid by the land holder. Questions arose as to what type fee was brought to the table which covered the health department food service fee and or peddlers license. It was noted by council no fee was required for yard sales held on land own ers property. Councilman Erv Patton made the suggestion to seek additional legal council from Mincey and Mincey Law Office before they proceeded. Food service fees will be adhered to through Crawford County Health Department and Al Halvarty is the inspector. All fees will be paid by vendors directly to CCHD prior to the event. This will be published in the local newspaper, The Georgia Post. Demands placed on city workers to clean up trash, police, sheriff, and state patrol and feeding those officers involved, providing extra officers to cover the event for the protec tion of the event participants and the city all came into play when council was weighing permit cost currently being used. Council agreed perhaps the fee needed to be more but did not decide to set another price. Instead they will further investigate where the fee is being used. The event and issues will be discussed again to prepare for the October 6 Home coming or First Sunday in October. Several of the council again urged that legal counsel be sought in this matter. Use Agreement of the David Bailey City Park will be handled by Councilman Bassett who will address fair guidelines for all who wish to use the park for events. It was suggested the city should allow one individual and rely on said individual to provide the information to all using the park for an event. The time set to close down any event was set for sundown when involving music. It was noted at the meeting, that sundown during the summer is different than that during fall or any other sea son. The agreement would be placed in the city documents offering fair guidelines to all wishing use of the park for an event was stated. Bassett will bring end results back before the council for approval. Audience member Charles Cook noted the guidelines for the park are posted on signs at the park and should first be enforced. All these items concerning use of the park will be summed up when the use agreement is set by council and Hamlin. It was again noted the guidelines should be fair and the same for all wishing to use the park. Going, going gone... auction plans coming along Roberta Crawford County Chamber of Commerce is working on their biennial production of Going, Go ing and Gone...Sold to the couple in the back! At last week’s meeting of the Cham ber it was noted everything was falling into place for the auction. Invitations are expected to go out by September 12 or 13 which means they should be received by Sept. 19th... one month prior to the Auction 2013. The auction will be held on October 19, 2013, at Martha Johnston Girl Scout Camp on Girl Scout Road set in a beautifully wooded area; the building will be decked out in fall colors to compliment nature. Cham ber members tickets will be $20 each and non-members $25 each. Charles Cook has charge of the Auctioneer who will yell out going, going, gone for the fine lot of merchandise, trips, dinners, condos and much more. A wonderful seven night get away in Roatan Honduras at Reef House Resort, www. reefhouseresort.com has al ready been offered as well as many other items including golf for four shotguns and rifles and so much more! More will come on items as the time closes in on the Auction date. Sponsors or donors offering $200, $500, $750 valued items or more than $750 will be given preferencial treatment with advertising progressively given according to item val ue, complimentary tickets or table their company benefits according to the donations. All donations of items will be gladly received by contacting AUCTION, Page 11 The Voice of Crawford County Since 1921 2 Sections, 16 Pages One Dollar also serving Byron and Peach County New bank in town The Citizens State Bank of Crawford County held a Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting Friday complete with cake, hot dogs, hamburgers and cold drinks. From left are Nancy Schroen, Vice President of The Citizens Bank of Taylor County, Jim Bond, Erika O’Neal, Homer Barrow, Leah Kelly, Gail Walker, Robin Rushing - Branch Manager and assistant Vice President, Jeffrey Alton, Steve Davis - President, Scott Beeley and his wife, Lucie Beeley, both owners. Hours at the new bank are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. but drive thru opens at 8 a.m.; Thursday 8 a.m. to noon in drive thru and 9 a.m. - noon in the lobby; Friday 8 am. - 6 p.m. in the drive thru and 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. in the lobby; Saturday 9 a.m. - noon at drive thru only. County manager grilled on budget by citizen at public hearing BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post County resident Frank Holmes had lots of questions at last week’s meeting of the Crawford County Board of Commis sioners concerning their annual budget. Commissioners held a public hearing on the proposed FY 2014 budget prior to their regular meeting. The bottom line on the budget is in excess of $7 million, up from $5 million from the previous year (amended bud get). With adjustments to line items, etc., Pat Kelly, county manager noted that the increase was actually closer to $400,000 after everything was said and done. Holmes wanted to know why the increase and Kelly told him grant funds made up a lot of the difference. The LMIG (Local Maintenance & Improve ment Grant) for 2013 and 2014 totaled $423,193 and there was a state siren grand for two additional warning sirens for $40,000 which were the areas of major difference in the budget. Holmes then questioned the increase in the water budget by $51,000. Kelly explained that the county was awarded a $500,000 Community Block Devel opment Grant (CDBG) to expand water lines and the county had to match those hmds in the amount of $51,051 to actual ly receive the grant. Next, Holmes wanted to know about the increase at the transfer station of over $20,000. The county manager told him that EPD required detection moni toring and reporting as part of the post closure plan for the landfill and annual cost for that service was the increase in that department. Previously the cost had been expensed in the budget for Admin istration. Kelly felt it made more sense to account for it in the Waste Disposal Budget, noting that the Adminstration Budget decreased by that amount. Holmes asked about the $500,000 plus increase in legal services which Kelly explained was an inadvertent error which was added into that legal line item and once the correction was made legal services would drop back to normal levels. Next Holmes asked about the EMA budget increase of $48,000. Kelly ex plained again that two additional early warning sirens would be installed if the county receives a state grant for them. Revenues, said Kelly, were increased by $40,000 in anticipation of the grant. If not approved then the sirens would not be installed. In revisiting garbage fees, Holmes also thought that it would make more sense for the county to increase the tax millage by one mil rather than go up on the gar bage collection fee to $15 which commis sioners passed at a previous meeting. He read options from the newspaper which had been noted at previous meeting, saying again a tax increase would solve the problem and everyone in the county would be paying it not just those with trash service. Thelma Blasingame also had questions for the board about garbage fee and fire protection since she has no hydrant in her area. She felt her district was not being protected as well as it should be in fire protection. She also asked for com passion for the elderly. She felt the board did not even consider the impact on se nior citizens and those on fixed incomes when approving the garbage fee increase and wanted the board to reconsider. Marilyn Johnson had concerns about the gargage fee as well. She questioned the vote by telephone on the issue and noted that in the area of animal control, cats were not regulated. Johnson noted that economic times were difficult and people were counting every penny. Blue Bird Lane had been discussed at the previous meeting and Kelly had met with the county engineer to determine a solution to the water run off problem. The county engineer (Puckett) had rec ommended a turn out cut on the north east side of the road and a storm water easement be created to carry the water off the road bed. Other options such as additional ditching, etc. were discussed. Commissioner John Thomas made the motion to proceed with the turn out as recommended and it was approved unanimously. On the matter of open meetings and the remote vote called in to question by some citizens, Kelly presented the board with the legal requirements of partici pation from the Georgia Open Meetings and Open Records Laws. Commissioners are allowed to vote remotely up to two times per calendar year as long as a quo rum of the board is physically present at the meeting. More than twice a year is allowed if the commissioner has a note from the doctor or health care provider that their health prevents them from physcially attending. Beasley Road presents a potential road hazard and Kelly brought this to the board’s attention. Upon inspection a contractor reported there was scouring under the road bed which needed to be corrected as soon as possible. A cost estimate of $19,995 was given for the re pairs. Kelly asked that Diversified Diving complete the repairs and bypass the bid requirements as this was an emergency situation. The recommendation was approved unanimously. The water department requested a util ity truck bed for the F-25- Ford pickup and the cost to install was $3500 includ ed matching the paint. USDA, according to Kelly, authorized use of the water maintenance fund to purchase the uility bed which was approved unanimously. Chamber President Charles Cook invit ed commissioners to the ribbon cutting for Citizens State Bank, Corps De’Elite on September 16 and noted the Chamber Auction would be held October 19 at the Girl Scout camp.