Gray’s Mayor and Council were sworn in and took care of all the first of the year business at their January meeting.
The first order of business was the oath of office for Mayor Ed Barbee given by Probate Judge Lewis Patterson. That was followed by the oath for Mayor Pro Tem James Collins and then councilmen David Tufts, Ikea Simmons, Terrell Fulford and Terry Favors.
The process was for another four-year term for each of the oath takers, with the exception of Simmons, who will be serving his first term representing District 2, formerly represented by Benny Gray.
The swearing in of Tufts officially makes him the city’s longest serving councilman, marking the beginning of his 37th year in office. In addition to his service as councilman, Tufts is also an active member of the Gray Downtown Development Authority.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Barbee called the Jan. 5 meeting to order. In his mayor’s report, Barbee welcomed Simmons to the council. The mayor said the past four years had been good for the city, and he is looking forward to the next four.
“The city’s on the move, but with controlled growth,” he said. “I appreciate the hard work of our council members.”
The only item of Old Business on the agenda was the second reading and adoption of the ordinance pertaining to bonding procedures for timber harvesting and protection of city roads and property.
New Business
The first items were the reappointment of John Newberry as city attorney and Patterson as judge of the municipal court. Both votes to appoint were unanimous by council members.
Collins made the motion to reschedule the Jan. 19 All Committees Meeting due to the date being the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. His motion was to move the meeting to the next Monday, Jan. 26, and it was approved unanimously.
Council approved a budget resolution in order to accept a $3,000 donation for the Gray Police Department. The motion to approve was made by Fulford and unanimously approved.
Authorization for the mayor to sign the 2026 LMIG Georgia Department of Transportation application was the fifth agenda item. The streets to be resurfaced are North and Ross streets.
The motion was made by Tufts and approved unanimously.
Barbee was also authorized with a unanimous vote to sign a contract termination for well maintenance between the city and USG Water.
Agenda item seven was postponed. Newberry explained request for a building permit for the Friendly Gus construction needed to go to Planning and Zoning and probably would not need a vote from the city.
The final item had good news for the city to replace the bad news of the closing of a local business. The agenda item was a request from Brad Dupree Sr. for a beer, wine and liquor pouring license. The license is for a new restaurant, Giganti on Main, that will be located at 125 West Clinton St.
Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe confirmed there was no issue with approval of the license, and Collins made the motion to approve. The motion was approved unanimously.
