CITY OF GRAY
The City of Gray’s February meeting began with a gift to help keep Gray Police officers safe.
The Feb. 5 meeting was called to order by Mayor Ed Barbee. After the opening preliminaries, Woodmen Life representatives presented Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe with a check in the amount of $4,840 for the purchase of eight bulletproof vests. Lowe and Barbee thanked the Woodmen for the donation.
In his mayor’s report, Barbee congratulated Main Street Gray Director Ashley Roberson for being named Jones County/ Gray Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and Main Street Gray for being named Civic Organization of the Year.
New Business
Council members held a first reading of an ordinance to amend a section of the city’s code to clarify the closing time for brewery production and sales in the city. Items 2 and 3 were also connected to breweries.
Item 2 seeks approval to start the process to amend the text of the city’s Comprehensive Land Development Ordinance to allow breweries inside the city as a conditional use. Item 3 is to start the process to amend the ordinance text to allow breweries as a permitted use.
Mayor Pro Tem James Collins made the motion to approve both amendments, and the motions were approved unanimously.
Collins made the motion to change the date of the All Committees Meeting to Feb. 26 due to the Feb. 19 President’s Day holiday and a motion to approve the public consumption of alcohol at Main Street Gray’s Galentine’s event Feb. 10. Both motions were approved unanimously.
Item 6 was authorization for Barbee to issue a letter to citizens of Gray regarding the use of Ryland Environmental as the exclusive contractor for the city. City Attorney John Newberry said the target of the letter was the commercial customers in the city that were still using Waste Management.
Collins made the motion, and it was unanimously approved.
Item 7 was to authorize the mayor to execute a loan amendment and modification with the Clean Water State Revolving Fund administered by Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, and the final item was authorization for the mayor to execute the loan.
At the conclusion of the agenda items, Barbee asked for comments.
Collins added his congratulations to the awards received by Roberson and Main Street Gray. He then spoke directly to the director.
“We have made investments in downtown. I’ve said it before; I feel like the person who has brought all this to fruition is you. You certainly are deserving of the award,” he said. “I want you to understand the council is behind you and supports you. We see how hard you’ve worked and how it’s paying off.”
