CITY OF GRAY
The question of a brewery for Gray was again discussed at the meeting of City Committees, although the amendment that would allow the production of beer stalled at the previous council meeting.
The Sept. 18 All Committees Meeting was called to order by Mayor Pro Tem James Collins, and the first report was from the Finance Committee.
Finance Committee Chairman Councilman Terrell Fulford said 99.48 percent of 2022 property taxes had been collected with $5,488 remaining unpaid. The total amount was taxes collected was $1,056,979.
City Superintendent Cheyenne Morgan said the Georgia EPD wanted to do a site visit before allowing the city to drill a test well at Nature’s Walk. Morgan said the site is 60 feet from a stream, and the EPD requires 100 feet.
He said he is meeting with the agency and parties involved next week.
Plan Committee
Collins serves as chairman of the Plan Committee and brought up the question of the brewery ordinance. He said he understands there are questions and asked if the questions could be discussed.
Fulford, who was the councilman who indefinitely tabled the motion to approve the ordinance amendment, said he was concerned about the square footage of the production space, which had a maximum of 7,500 square feet.
The councilman asked if there was a building in Gray that could accommodate that space, and City Attorney John Newberry explained that 7,500 was the maximum allowed and the space could be less. Fulford also wanted to know if the brewery would be required to serve food as is required of other businesses that sell alcohol.
Newberry said the food was a question, and Fulford said he felt a brewery should be required to sell food. The attorney said the expectation was that it would require a high capital outlay.
“The business would not be thrown together,” he said. “I didn’t want to handicap them, but that is a decision for you all to make.”
Main Street Manager Ashely Roberson suggested if council members wanted to require breweries to sell food, maybe they could make the requirement less strict.
“A brewery is more than a destination place to bring people to downtown Gray,” she said.
Councilman David Tufts said the ordinance needed more fine tuning and asked for the discussed changes to be brought back in writing.
Councilman Terry Favors brought up the issue of increasing the salary for council members. Newberry said the new salary would have to be in place before qualifying takes place for the next election.
Collins stated he was not in favor of the increase.
“I think we are adequately compensated for what we do,” he said.
Streets and Sanitation
Morgan started the report for the Streets and Sanitation Committee. He said the 2024 LMIG list was due in December, and council needed to think about the streets they want paved. The superintendent suggested looking at East and West Clinton Streets.
“We could work on them each year until we get where we needed to be,” he said.
Tufts asked that they look at Dolly Street.
“It’s getting in bad shape,” he said. Morgan said drainage proposals for Autumn Ridge had been sent out.
Tufts said the city is spending more for waste collection than it is taking in.
“We need to break even,” he said. City Clerk Cindy Yancey said the city was losing $12,000 to $13,000 per month.
“We are charging $10 a month and should be charging $17 a month,” she said.
The councilman asked Newberry to look at the city’s current contract.
The attorney said the city can cancel the contract but would need to provide 60 days notice.
Tufts said he would like to put the contract for the city’s waste collection out for bid.
Yancey encouraged the council to put the contract out for bid now.
Council members agreed to put the service out for bid, and Morgan said he would take care of it.
Newberry added that council should consider requiring better service even if it was not a lower price.
Main Street
Roberson said the landscaping had been replanted on the streetscape, and Atlanta Road was being repaved and restriped.
She also reminded council members that the Sept. 29 Fridays on Main event would be held with pregame tailgating at Jones County High School from 4-7 p.m. She said planning was underway for The Not so Scary Grayberry Spectacular Oct. 21 in downtown Gray.
The next meeting of the City Council is scheduled Oct. 2.
