The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current, December 23, 2015, Image 1

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The Commerce news., December 23, 2015, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextThe Vol. 139 No. 46 24 Pages 2 Sections Commerce New Wednesday DECEMBER 23, 2015 www.CommerceNewsTODAY.com 50 Cents COVERING THE COMMERCE AREA SINCE 1875 Officials to be sworn in Dec. 28 A lot of swearing will take place Monday night at 6 when the Commerce City Coun cil meets in the Commerce Room of the Commerce Civic Center. Swearing in, that is. The city council will hold a called meeting to official ly swear in Mayor Clark Hill and council members Mark Fitzpatrick (Ward 3), Bobby Redmon (Ward 4) and John ny Eubanks (Ward 5). Hill, Fitzpatrick and Eubanks won re-election on Nov. 3, while Redmon ran unopposed for the Ward 4 position currently held by Steve Perry. All of their terms are for four years. Magistrate court (and municipal court) judge Billy Chandler will officiate. Maysville approves 2016 budget BY ANGELA GARY The Maysville City Coun cil approved a $1.38 million budget for 2016 in a called meeting Thursday morning, Dec. 17, that is up slightly over the current budget of $1.31 million. The council held a public hearing on the budget Thursday night but no citi zens attended. The city council also approved the millage rates of 0.69 for Jackson County and 0.51 for Banks County. The budget includes $642,730 for general govern ment and $737,600 for water and sewer. The water and sewer bud get includes a proposed fee increase of approximately $5 per month for water and $2 for sewer. The city has not increased the rates since 2009. The council also approved an additional expense for EMI testing samples to be billed separately in lieu of being included in the monthly fee of $3,050. This fee will be approximately $410 a month. INDEX Church News .... 11A Classified Ads 8-9B Crime News 6-7A Obituaries 9B Opinion 4A School 9-10A Sports 5-6B Social News 8A Letters to Santa . 1-4B MAILING LABEL BELOW New dog ordinance effective Feb. 1 BY MARK BEARDSLEY A new version of Commerce’s ani mal control ordinance will take effect Feb. 1, putting tighter controls on dogs deemed dangerous or vicious. The Commerce City Council did not, as expected, approve the new version at its Monday night meeting. City attorney John Stell advised that it is not yet in ordinance form. None theless, the document will take effect on Feb. 1, and Stell will have the document ready for approval at the council’s February meeting. Mayor pro tern Keith Burchett, who presided in the absence of Mayor Clark Hill, explained that a situation on Spring Street led to the change. “There was a dog on the street that had already bitten two people and had tried to bite two more kids that day” Burchett said. The father of one of the kids went to talk to the owner about the dog, and when the dog charged him he shot the dog. “The reason it got that far,” said Burchett, “is that our ordinances is old and needed to be updated so Roger (Gaither, the animal control officer) had the tools to do his job and keep people safe.” Burchett said three kids have been bitten by dogs over the past six to eight months. Police chief Brandon Sellers assured the council that there is no list of dogs deemed to be vicious. “The dog has got to take some kind of overt act for us to deem that it is a vicious animal or a vicious dog,” he said. “That is when the registration process kicks in.” Even then, Sellers said, there will be a hearing so the owner of the animal can contest the designation. Other Business In other business, the city council: •approved a policy required by state law dictating how city credit cards are used •approved the renewal of licenses to 19 restaurants or stores selling or serving alcoholic beverages •approved a lease with the Boys and Girls Club of Jackson County for the new building under construction. The lease is identical to the lease Jef ferson has with the club and with the former lease Commerce had for the current clubhouse. •voted at the recommendation of city manager Pete Pyrzenski to move the January council meeting from Monday Jan. 18, which is Martin Luther King Jr. Day to the following evening, Jan. 19 •presented service awards to 10 city employees recognizing five-year milestones. Each employee also received $5 for each year served. •recognized Ward 4 city council man Steve Perry for his service. • recognized Chas Hardy and Bobby Redmon, each of whom is retir ing from the Commerce Fire Depart ment after 22 years of service •heard finance director James Wascher report on the city’s finan cial condition as of Nov. 30. The General Fund and Electric Fund have combined revenue over expen ditures of more than $750,000, while the Water/Sewer Fund and Gas Fund have combined deficits of about $450,000. The Gas Fund is expected to improve as cooler weather arrives. ■ ^ Lit up for Christmas The home of William Thomas on Lakeview Drive across from Commerce High School is lit up with a variety of lights and fig urines. Photo by Wesleigh Sagon Commerce finances City auditor: Operating revenues outpace expenditures, reserves up BY MARK BEARDSLEY From an auditor’s view point, the 201415 fiscal year that ended June 30, was good for the city of Commerce. Making the annual presen tation Monday night to the Commerce City Council, Beth Grimes of Bates Carter & Co. had nothing but good news to report. She gave the city a “clean opinion,” which she pointed out is “the highest level of assurance you can get on a financial audit.” She pointed out a few oper ational highlights, including: • For the first time in years, General Fund revenues sur passed its total expenditures, producing a net income of $99,000. “That is what I con sider pretty close to break even, with a positive,” Grimes commented. • The General Fund’s expenditures were up by $625,000, due to capital expenditures that were up $559,000 because of grants and special projects. •The city’s General Fund fund balance amounted to 35.62 percent of its cost for operations, well over the industry benchmark of 1S25 percent. •The General Fund had a cash balance of over $2 million. •The city took in $884,000 in special pur pose local option sales tax (SPLOST) revenue and spent $753,000, $232,000 spent on roads, $296,000 spent on water and sewer projects and $224,000 used on other projects. •The Water/Sewer Fund has $1 million in reserves and $13.1 million in long-term debt. • The electric system had operating income of $411,000, $363,000 of which was trans ferred to the General Fund of $363,000. It has long-term debt of just $56,000 and $1 million in reserves. •The gas system gener ated $843,000 in operating income, $331,000 of which it transferred to the General Fund, and $325,000 in debt service. Its longterm debt is $2.3 million. City planners cancel their Dec. meeting There will be no Decem ber meeting of the Com merce Planning Commis sion. Planning director David Zellner announced that the meeting, set for Mon day Dec. 28, at 6 p.m. at the Commerce Planning Commission, was can celed because there was no business to consider. The planning commis sion makes recommen dations to the Commerce City Council on matters of zoning and land use. It meets the fourth Monday of each month at 6 p.m. in the Peach Room of the Commerce Civic Center. CMC Consulting building burns CMC Consulting’s South Elm Street office was heavily damaged, if not destroyed, by a fire Saturday night, but the company was back to making service calls by Monday morning. “I continue to be amazed,” said owner Chris Bulls, “about how much sup port we had. “I was just stunned truly by the number of people who offered us space for free. It’s what I like about living in a small town. Nobody was hurt; it was just stuff. That’s a blessing.” CMC is operating out of space offered by the City of Commerce in the basement of City Hall. “We are already back in business, thanks to the generosity of the city and Pete Pyrzenski and the elected officials,” Bulls said Monday afternoon. “They’re leasing us space. We’re on their fiber network. They came in and helped us. Mark Fitzpatrick (Ward 3 councilman and a Windstream service technician) came in and switched our phones over. We’re a small company and we’re fairly flexible. We’re taking calls at our business number.” The company, for the time being, cannot serve walk-in clients, but its tech nicians are making service calls. Bulls said the company will have to rebuild a couple of networks due to equipment damage. According to Bulls, the state fire marshal said that the blaze was caused by cleaning chemicals, whether a mixture of two chemicals or because fumes came into contact with nearby batteries. “My business didn’t burn down,” Bulls said. “My building burned down.” The rear of the building, which is located in front of the Lanier Technical College, was gutted. The rest of the building and its contents were heavily damaged by heat, smoke and water. Bulls said she was at Six Flags over Georgia Saturday night when the build- An accidental fire Saturday night heavily damaged the CMC Consulting building on South Elm Street. The fire started on the back (pictured). ing burned. She learned about it from a number of callers. Commerce fire chief Kevin Dean said the call came in “right at 6 p.m.,” and the first fireman on the scene found flames on the back side of the building. The Nicholson and Jackson County Correctional Institute fire departments also responded. Bulls has owned the building for 14 years. CMC consulting operated out of it for five years, leased it to a now-defunct bank for five years and has been in it for the past four years. She said she expects to rebuild at the same location.