The Feb. 18 All Committees Meeting for the City of Gray covered a lot of bases in preparation of the March business meeting, including accepting the resignation of a longserving councilman.
It was toward the conclusion of the session that City Attorney John Newberry talked about the resignation of Councilman Benny Gray, who has represented Gray’s District 2 for more than 30 years.
Newberry said he received the resignation Feb. 14, and the city charter states a special election shall be called within 15 days. He said he was researching the state statutes to find out if there is an exemption due to the city’s upcoming election.
“The plan is to have the next election as usual, but I will get back with you,” the attorney said.
All positions in the City of Gray will be up for election this year. Qualifying for the city election begins Aug. 18 and ends Aug. 22.
Advanced voting dates for the election are Oct. 14-31.
The deadline to register to vote in the municipal election is Oct. 6.
Gray’s most recent specially called election was in 2018. That took place when Kema Clark, who was elected in 2017 and took office in January of 2018, resigned two months later, in March.
Mayor Pro Tem James Collins was elected in the 2018 special election to replace Clark.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Ed Barbee, and the first report was from Finance Committee Chairman Councilman Terrell Fulford. He reported $1,228,696 in 2024 property taxes had been collected, which is 93.86 percent.
Fulford said the unpaid balance is $80,409.
City Superintendent Cheyenne Morgan reported for the Water and Sewer Committee. He said construction has started on homes in Piedmont Lakes, and the developer needs capacity letters for water and sewer.
Council members agreed by consensus to issuing the letters.
Several residents from the Jackson Heights neighborhood came to the meeting to talk about drainage and flooding issues. They said water runs under the houses when it rains, and it is destroying the floors and foundations.
The most heard request was for the water to be diverted to a settlement pond located near the homes.
Councilman David Tufts asked about plans from city engineers in the past, but the residents were not on board with those plans.
One of the residents said she had been dealing with the problem since 1984, but it got worse when new businesses were constructed. She said residents have put in French drains as suggested, but that was a waste of money.
Fulford asked Morgan to take a look, and the superintendent said he still had the engineers’ drawings of their original plans to fix the drainage problem.
The residents were in agreement that the properties causing water runoff should be responsible for fixing the problem.
Mayor Pro Tem James Collins gave the Main Street Gray report in the absence of its director, Ashley Roberson, who was at training classes. He said the Galentines event was a success and had a good turnout.
Collins said he had spoken with John Trussell with the Friends of Lafayette, and an event is being planned in Gray March 27 from 3-5 p.m.
Barbee commented that the new decorative lamp poles downtown looked good, and Collins agreed.
Tufts asked Newberry about the new truck ordinance for the city that would keep 18-wheelers from driving through the city. Newberry said he had received some specifics from Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe, but he was still working on it.
He said he felt there needed to be some exemptions for trucks owned by businesses in the city.
Fulford said the issue that needed to be addressed was the big trucks that are just driving through downtown Gray.
The attorney said he was working to change the ordinance to eliminant the through traffic.
Fulford brought up a lot on James Street that was allowing trucks to park there overnight. Newberry said that would need to be a separate issue. He said the zoning of that lot would need to be checked.
The attorney said he wanted to be careful with the truck ordinance in the city.
“We don’t want to put anyone out of business, and law enforcement will have discretion,” he said.
Newberry said the city’s current ordinance already limits some city streets.
Following the discussion about Gray’s resignation, the meeting was adjourned to enter into closed session.
