Monticello Council Handles Business

Members of the Monticello City Council had much discussion at their regular meeting Tuesday evening on Sands Drive Park and the merry-go-round at Funderburg Park.

Apparently the city purchased a new merry-go-round for Funderburg Park some time ago, but it has never been installed. The new maintenance man for the city, Frank Dumas, told Mayor Gail Harrell that he could fix the old merry-go-round, and that the new merry-go-round had a totally different footprint.

Councilwoman Cynthia Miller was adamant that the new merry-go-round be installed at Funderburg Park, saying we bought it for there, let’s use it. She later made a motion, seconded by Councilman Larry Thurman, and passed unanimously to install the new merry-go-round at Funderburg Park.

As for Sands Drive Park, Mr. Thurman said it just needs fences. However, Billy Johnson with the American Legion was in attendance, and he offered for Legionnaires to build new dugouts at the park if the city would buy the materials.

Mr. Johnson was at the meeting seeking permission to build a memorial wall at the Legion building. The city agreed to the building of the wall, if the Legion receives a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA)from the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) when it meets next Tuesday, Jan. 18, at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

David Thompson, who serves as chairman of the HPC spoke to council. He said that the HPC had acted on 41 COAs in 2021, and that 2022 was starting with a bang. He said the HPC would be reviewing the bylaws, and encouraged city/county coordination on zoning and code enforcement. He also stressed the need for communication, and said that design guidelines should be distributed when people sign up to receive utilities.

City officials also signed an intergovernmental agreement with the county for election services in the upcoming special election for Mayor Pro-tem.

Mayor Harrell, who presided over the first regular meeting of her tenure, agreed to represent the city on the Jasper County E-911 Authority, and on Northeast Georgia Regional Commission (NEGRC). The group will look into what the representative’s duties are as one person is also needed to serve on the Georgia Public Web.

Council recognized Johnny Ward for his years of service to the city, and praised his dependability and work ethic. The council heard Jasper County Chief Appraiser Lynn Bentley at a called meeting last Thursday, and voted Tuesday not to take any action on that.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, council voted to employ Peggy Billerman as interim city manager until the city can hire a full-time manager.

Council members also voted to increase their retirement from $7 a month of service to $25 per month of service.

Council also reviewed the list of holidays for the city and the dates for payday for council members.