The city’s July meeting of all committees started with committee reports as usual but got into some tough issues as it drew to a close.
Mayor Ed Barbee called the July 15 meeting to order, and Finance Chairman Councilman Terrell Fulford presented the finance report. He said 91 percent of the 2023 property taxes had been collected. That amount totals $1,057,965. The amount remaining to be collected is $9,140.
All council members were in attendance with the exception of David Tufts and Benny Gray. City Clerk Cindy Yancey reminded council members and department heads that she needs budget figures for 2025 a week before the Aug. 19 committee meeting.
City Superintendent Cheyenne Morgan reported for the Water and Sewer Committee. He said the city’s water woes during the past couple of weeks had gotten better. Morgan said Jones County and the City of Gray had worked together to resolve the issues.
“I want to thank all the guys for their help last week,” he said.
Failing water pumps in city and county wells and then a big water leak on Lite N Tie Road had caused the water levels in the storage tanks to get extremely low. City workers assisted the county in repairing the water line, which provides the city with water.
Mayor Pro Tem James Collins said the county had thanked the city for its help.
Morgan thanked Gray Fire Chief Keith Eisele and city firefighters for their work to maintain the water pressure for the Jones County Law Enforcement Center. The jail was the only location in the city that was without water.
“They kept water supplied to the jail all night,” he said.
Main Street Gray Director Ashley Roberson told council members that the leases were up Aug. 1 for the businesses at 102 E. Clinton Street. The Gray Downtown Development Authority had been handling the rental spaces since the city purchased the building last year. Roberson said the building would be empty as of the end of August.
The director said there had been a lot of issues with the building. She suggested having a contractor look at it and coming up with a plan.
“It needs to be fixed or demolished. Now is a good time to start planning,” she said. “You don’t want it to sit empty if you’re not going to demolish it.”
Collins said he agreed that the city needs an estimate of repairs. He said the long-term goal was to demolish it and the current city building to construct a new City Hall.
Roberson said, if the building was repaired and rented, the funds could be set aside for that longterm project.
City Attorney John Newberry said they could definitely look at options.
Collins asked for a report of the number of spaces in the building and an estimate of revenues if it was rented.
Roberson said it currently had six suites, but it was designed for four.
The director brought up the end dates for the terms of DDA members. She said somehow there were five of the seven members whose terms are due to end in 2026.
Roberson said the terms were originally staggered, and she felt the dates were probably changed during COVID. She said three of the members had agreed to change their ending dates to 2025. Her request was for those changes to be placed on the Aug. 5 agenda for a vote from council.
Council members agreed by consensus to the changes as long it was agreeable to DDA members.
Charter discussed
Under the Plan Committee, Collins brought up issues that had currently come up with the City’s Charter. Gray’s Charter is dated 1911.
The mayor pro tem said he understood there was a review of the charter years ago and felt it was something that needed to be addressed.
“It at least needs to be cleaned up,” he said.
In February of 2007, the city council appointed a Charter Committee that worked to revise it to include a city manager at the council’s request.
Those committee members were Rooster Cogburn, Bill Boyd, Lee Arthur James, Jerrold Pitts, Gus Wilson and Lehman Wood. The committee met for a year and was assisted by representatives of the Carl Vinson Institute to create the new charter.
Council members came to the conclusion in December of 2008 that a city manager would be a waste of money and used none of the work of the committee or the Carl Vinson Institute had done on the charter.
Newberry said most of the recent problems were due to the council having a missing member. He went on to point out that the charter does not specify that it takes three votes by council to be a legal vote.
“I relied on what was previously done, but the charter does not spell that out,” he said.
The attorney said council could make changes to the current charter and could get help from an outside organization to do that. He said there could certainly be more clarity.
“The question is do you want to wait until after the next election to do that?” he asked.
Collins said it would be an opportunity to bring up issues, such as having meeting attendance tied to pay and term limits, if there was interest.
Fulford alluded to the previous charter review and noted the council at that time decided a city manager would be a waste of money.
“But council can decide,” he said.
Roberson presented the Main Street Gray report. She said July 19 would be the next Fridays on Main event, and August would be the last one for the year. She said the new ice cream shop at 123 Clinton Street was hoping to open the end of the month.
Councilman Terry Favors asked a question about sanitation. He said he has noticed that trash containers are always sitting out on Arnold Drive. He asked if anything could be done to get the containers moved off the street.
Roberson suggested mailing out friendly reminders.
Eisele reported Gray firefighters were currently working on the fire hydrants in the city. He thanked the firefighters for all they do to keep the city safe and announced the next firefighters’ class would take place in October.
Zoning revisited
Newberry said the zoning request for Allen Green Road needed to be on the agenda for the August meeting.
Collins asked if there was new information that could cause him reconsider his vote to deny the rezoning of the property to allow the construction of townhomes.
Morgan said the city has a test well on the property that could provide the city with 120 gallons per minute, equaling 172,000 gallons per day. He said that would have made a big difference during the recent water problems.
“Keep that in mind. If schools had been in, they would have been closed,” the superintendent said.
Fulford asked the number of units that would be built, and developer Scott Jackson said between 30-35. The developer explained that the restrictions because of the well head had diminished the size of the property to the point that residential homes did not make sense.
“We’ve been working on this for a year, and were doing great until we had to move the well,” he said. “We are going to have to work together on it. You can’t run a road over the well.”
When Jackson allowed the test well to be on his property, it was agreed he would donate the land for the well in exchange for water and sewer taps for the development. Unanticipated changes in EPD requirements caused the well to be moved, which changed the amount property involved in the wellsite.
The developer said he had spent $7,000 in engineering costs for the project.
Collins stated that the city council overpaid for a wastewater treatment plant and now wants to change the zoning.
Morgan said the real issue at hand was the city’s water supply.
“It’s simple; supply and demand,” he said.
The debate continued withThe Pines HOA President Don Johnson entering into the conversation. Among other suggestions, Johnson told Jackson he should build his townhomes elsewhere.
Newberry eventually shut down the discussion, and the meeting was adjourned.
The next meeting of City Council is Aug. 5.
