Gray’s City Council members agreed to the renaming of a city street in honor of a long-serving councilman at their June business meeting.
Mayor Ed Barbee called the June 2 meeting to order and asked for approval of the meeting’s agenda. Mayor Pro Tem James Collins requested an amendment to the agenda to discuss the renaming of Jefferson Lane to Benny Gray Jr. Drive.
Collins made the request in the form of a motion that was unanimously approved.
In his mayor’s report, Barbee read a thank you note from Julie King with the Jones County Public Library in appreciation of the city’s support. Gray includes the library as a line item in its annual budget in the amount of $2,000.
He also passed along the appreciation of Jones County Pilot Club member Beth Coon for the use of the Civic Center for its meetings.
Barbee concluded his report with invitations to council members to attend a Board of Commissioners work session the following evening to discuss the next joint Special Local Option Sales Tax and the June 5 meeting of the Jones County/ Gray Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan at the government center.
With no Old Business items on the agenda, the mayor moved to the first item of New Business.
Zoning Officer Tim Pitrowski presented an idea for the amendment of the city’s sign ordinance at the request of Collins, who is a member of the Downtown Design Review Committee.
Pitrowki’s suggestion was to amend the sign ordinance to a percentage of the total wall area of the business or the current sign limit of 32 square feet, whichever is greater.
Pitrowski said the concern was the numerous requests for variances for signs in Gray. He said that was due to 32 square feet not being sufficient for larger buildings. The officer gave examples of Tractor Supply, Ingles, Harveys and Advanced Auto Sales that all requested sign variances.
He said the city could set the percentage at 10 percent of the total wall area of a commercial building. Of the four examples given, only one exceeded the 10 percent recommended limit.
The wall area would be calculated by multiplying the height of the wall by the width.
Multiple signs on a single building could be permitted, provided the total sign area did not exceed the designated limit.
Councilman Terrell Fulford asked if changing the sign ordinance would affect existing business. The officer said it would only affect new businesses.
Pitrowski said, if council decided to go forward with changing the ordinance, it would require a text amendment.
City Attorney John Newberry said the change would basically streamline the process for new businesses, and Pitrowski said that was correct.
Collins asked for the sign ordinance to be placed on the agenda for the June 16 committee meeting.
The abatement of taxes was the next item. The unpaid taxes totaled an estimated $365 for three business properties owed from 2023 that are no longer in operation. The abatement was discussed in the May 19 committee meeting.
Fulford made the motion to abate the taxes, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Items three and four were quickly approved. The first was authorization for the city clerk to open a bank account for the 2022 CHIP grant and the second a budget amendment accept LMIG funds.
Councilman David Tufts made the motion for the final agenda item, which was to rename a portion of Jefferson Street in honor and memory of former Councilman Benny Gray Jr. with whom he served for more than 30 years.
Newberry said upon quick review, he belives all that was required for the renaming was the vote by council.
The details of the renaming will be worked out later, but the vote to approve the motion was unanimous.
At the conclusion of the business on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting of the council is the All Committees Meeting scheduled June 16. Gray Fire Chief Keith Eiesle requested the meeting to be held in the D.V. Childs Civic Center to recognize Deputy Chief Karl Zimmer, who is retiring.
