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WEDNESDAY, JULY 2, 2008 THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS PACE 3A Park Avenue water line project presented SIGNING OVER EASEMENT Banks County resident Ray Lewallen (L) signed a document on Thursday night giving the City of Baldwin an easement on his property to install water lines as part of the Park Avenue proj ect. The city plans to install new water lines and widen the road as part of this project. Also shown are: Harriett Wells (C) and Greg Bennett, Engineering Management, Inc., the city's engi neering firm for this project. Photo by Sharon Hogan BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council held a meeting on Thursday, June 19, to present the plans for the Park Avenue water line project slated for the city. Several representatives from Engineering Management Inc., Lawrenceville, were on hand to answer any questions the resi dents might have about the plans. The city received a $500,000 grant to fund this project. The city had $320,000 in Banks County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds that was used as a leverage to get the grant that will be used on this project also. This is primarily a water line project, but the city has plans to widen the road while the project is being done. New fire hydrants will be installed, the service lines will be changed over and improvements will be made to the drainage. A six-inch line is required for fire protection and some of the old lines along this project route are two- inch lines. Six-inch lines will also be run down Perry Manor Drive, Presley Street, Stonepile Street and Church Street. Acting mayor Ray Holcomb said the city would be able to put more cut-offs on the water lines and in the event of a problem the whole city will not have to be without water. The lines can be isolated and water cut off in the affected area only. Holcomb said when the change over is made, the residents will be without water for a very short time. Jerry Hood, EMI, said, “We’re an engineering consulting firm here to provide engineering, administration and program management to make this a smooth project for the city.” There arc 79 total parcels of land on this project. Four of these parcels are located in Habersham County with the balance being in Banks County. The city needs 11 perma nent easements, 51 temporary ease ments and 22 driveway easements. EMI engineer Zack Bryan said, “Any time you work on a nar row right-of-way that has a lot of conflicts...we start seeing a need to encroach on some private prop erty.” The temporary easements are needed just during the time that the water lines are being installed. There are some permanent ease ments needed in areas where there are drainage facilities, Bryan said. Angela Steedley, grant writer, Steedley Hosey & Associates, said since this project is federally fund ed the easement acquisition pro cess will be subject to the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970. The policy states that the city must notify the property owner in writing that they intend to acquire a temporary or permanent easement. A brochure by HUD will also be delivered that gives the rights to donate or sell an easement. Steedley said, “Typically, most city residents don’t charge for temporary easements. If someone would like to be paid for a tempo rary easement, they would need to get together with the city officials and the city attorney on this matter. We’d hope everybody would be a good neighbor and do this for the common good and not charge for those temporary easements.” Steedley said a total of $12,000 was budgeted into the project for acquiring easements. “We are deal ing with a really limited budget," Steedley said. Banks County resident Ray Lewallen was the first property owner to sign a form giving the city a temporary easement on his prop erty. By the end of the meeting, the city had five temporary easements forms signed. Bryan estimated the project to take five months to complete once all the easements have been acquired and work begins. In other business, Holcomb asked everyone to observe a moment of silence in memory of Mitchell Gailey, former Baldwin City Council member, who passed away on Wednesday morning. Gailey served on the council for 10 years. Baldwin approves personnel policy changes BY SHARON HOGAN The Baldwin City Council approved several changes to the city's person nel policy at the council meeting on Monday night, June 23. Council member Jeff Murray explained several of the changes to the policy. One change in the policy is that only a member in management can contact the council about a problem. The old policy was vague about the chain of command and Murray said employees were bypassing management and calling the council members themselves about problems. The policy also states that a purchase order must be pre-approved with the amount of the purchase before a purchase is made. As of June 28, no smoking or tobacco use will be permitted in any city building or city vehicle. Murray said this includes cigarettes and chewing tobacco. Other changes in the personnel pol icy dealt with: 1) all resumes coming in to a department will now go to Betty Harper, Human Resources; 2) the first six months of employment will be a probationary work test period. The employee may accrue personal leave during this time, but they may not use the personal leave without recommendation from a department head or the city council; 3) pay upon separation; 4) employ ees must record their time worked on a daily basis at the end of each shift; 5) personal leave; 6) leave without pay; 7) hazardous weather pay; and 8) compensation time. A complete copy of the changes approved is available at city hall. OTHER BUSINESS In other business, the council: •held a public hearing on the pro posed 2008-09 general fund bud get. Baldwin Financial Officer Betty Harper presented a proposed budget total of $1.7 million. This total will give all employees a three- percent raise. However, it cuts out any Christmas bonus for employees. Harper said it will take a one mill tax increase to cover this budget. The council will vote on this proposal at a meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, in the courtroom at the police department. •heard from Baldwin resident Andrea Harper concerning several items on the proposed budget. She suggested that the city take $3,000 that is proposed for Christmas dec orations and apply it somewhere else. “Ya'll already have some great Christmas decorations,” she said. Harper suggested that the city look at merit raises and not across the board raises for city employees. “It might be an incentive for them to work extra hard,” she said. Acting Mayor Ray Holcomb said, “The problem with that is you get into the good old boy problem.” •heard from Baldwin property owner Phyllis Marshall concerning the proposed three-percent raise for all city employees. Marshall said, “I don’t see an across the board raise for everyone. Can’t you look at the salaries and decide who needs a raise. Not everyone has to have a raise.” Marshall suggested that if someone is making too much the city should bring those salaries down. “I think they would under stand,” she said. Marshall asked the council to consider maybe a one or two percent across the board. “If you have a nice home over here, you are going to be paying a lot of taxes here in Baldwin,” Marshall said. R. Holcomb said, “We have looked at a lot of options and we have cut a lot of items.” Good employees are an asset to the city and we feel like we need to try to keep them, he said. “We have cut out the Christmas bonus and we have cut some of the sick leave. The employees have to live also,” Holcomb said. •approved spending $10,000 in Habersham County Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax 4 revenue to install 175 new water meters as Phase 1 of the project. The city plans to replace a total of 700 meters at a cost of $32,500. This project will be done in four phases. The city's water crew will be doing the work. •heard from Baldwin resident Linda Caudell on code enforcement issues. Caudell said that she is con cerned with some of the buildings that are sitting in the city that are probably condemned. Caudell said she has been instructed that the city might check with the state on possi ble grants to help pay to move some of these dilapidated houses in the area. Caudell said, “These houses bring the property values in the area down.” Caudell asked, “Don’t we have an ordinance on yard sales?” Council member Beverly Holcomb said, “You are allowed to have three yard sales per year, this can be done three days in a row or on three sepa rate days.” Caudell also said there were homes in the city that still have old cars sitting around in the yard. “When I ride around town, I see these things. I know we have a code enforcement officer and I'm sure he's doing his job, but I see them over and over,” Caudell said. •heard from A. Harper concerning trees that were taken down by a city crew and left on her property. Harper said the sewer easement on her prop erty was cleared and the trees were just pushed over to the side and left. Harper brought in a plastic bag with trash that was left on her property by the crew. Harper said, “One of the trees that was taken down was 85 feet tall. I don’t understand why they took down the 85-foot tree.” Murray called Public Work Director Tim Hall during the meeting and Hall said he would see that the area was cleaned up on Tuesday morning first thing. Murray said, “Tim said he guessed that was his fault, he didn't go down and check on it himself.” •heard from Harper that the Concerned Citizens of Baldwin group were planning a meeting on Tuesday night, June 24, at her house. Harper said the group is concerned with sev eral code enforcement issues. •received a letter from the Environmental Protection Division stating that an inspection was per formed at the city’s water plant on June 10 and the facility had substan tial compliance. •met in closed session for 45 min utes to discuss personnel. No action was taken. ★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★■A- ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Re-Elect ★ ★ ★ Na*vcy Schaefer State Senate Nancy... A legacy of Public Service Nancy... A life dedicated to helping families Nancy... A love for God and Country Nancy... A lifetime of leadership ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ Vote Naney Sohoofor Republican Primary July 1S* \A Champion for Northeast Georaia Paid for by the candidate ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★