CITY OF GRAY
Gray’s City Council took its first step in raising rates for city water customers at their April meeting.
The April 3 meeting was called to order by Mayor Ed Barbee, and the first reading of the ordinance to increase water rates was the first item of New Business.
Both councilmen Benny Gray and David Tufts were absent.
The rate increase was discussed at the March 20 committee meeting. At that meeting, Tufts said the city needed to raise its water rates due to an unexpected increase in water rates from Jones County. City Superintendent Cheyenne Morgan said the proposed increase would mirror the rate increase the city received from the county.
Morgan explained the rate increase was from $3.76 per thousand gallons to $4.44 per thousand gallons, which is significant because the city purchased 104 million gallons of water from the county in 2022.
The rate increase was on the city’s Feb. 23 invoice from the Jones County Water System.
The county increase was adopted by the Jones County Commissioners last summer but did not go into effect until January.
From the documents accompanying the ordinance, it appears the increase will not apply to the minimum usage bills up to 2,000 gallons. The 68 cents per thousand gallons increase is applied for usage of 2,001 gallons and above.
Attorney Bert King’s request for a handicapped parking space in front of his law office on Jefferson Street was also discussed at the previous committee meeting. The motion to approve the request was made by Councilman Terry Favors, and the vote was 3-0.
The next two items were budget resolutions necessary because of the receipt of funds. Main Street Gray received a $12,800 contribution from a shop local fundraiser and the Gray Fire Department received a $11,019 grant from the Morris Bank Foundation. The budgets of both departments were amended to reflect those receipts.
Main Street Gray Director Ashley Roberson was behind a request to authorize the mayor to sign an agreement with Yiftee Inc. for Shop Local Community cards. The community cards are basically gift vouchers that can be used as payment for goods or services at participating downtown merchants.
The authorization was approved with a vote of 3-0.
Roberson also requested the final two agenda items, which was approval of the public consumption of alcoholic beverages during two upcoming Main Street events. The first is the Main Street Gray Hometown Spring Festival April 15 and the second, the April 28 Fridays on Main event.
The first event where the alcohol consumption was allowed was the Fridays on Main event March 31.
The ordinance was passed March 6, and each event that allows the open containers is approved separately by council. The ordinance boils down to allowing the public to purchase a cup especially designated for the purpose of use at an approved event. The cup may be filled with an alcoholic beverage, beer or wine only, and carried around the designated area of the event.
Roberson said the March 31 event went well, and combined Bent Axle and Chevy’s Pizza sold 47 Main Street cups.
Mayor Pro Tem James Collins made the motion to approve the next two dates for the Main Street cups, and the vote was 3-0.
