Council Discusses Charter, MOUs

The Monticello City Council held a two-and-a-half hour work session covering numerous items last Thursday, before its regular meeting Tuesday. Because it was a work session, no votes could be taken, so some items were to be discussed again Tuesday.

One item that garnered much discussion was the Charter Amendment. City Attorney Joe Reitman said the city’s charter seriously needs updating. He said that the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) has a model charter that would work for Monticello and would clean the local charter up. He said the existing charter is antiquated.

Mr. Reitman offered to bring a copy of the GMA charter, with Monticello’s particulars filled in, to Tuesday’s meeting to compare to the city’s current charter. Councilwoman Cynthia Miller said that she thought council members needed to study the existing charter before looking at the proposed one. Mr. Reitman explained how a charter amendment in 2015 had unintended consequences, and said the city wants to guard against that.

Because the charter would have to be approved by the state legislators, time is of the essence, he explained. Councilwoman Miller said she did not like the deadline, as Mr. Reitman said the new one needs to be approved by council to be introduced in the legislature no later than immediately following the city’s February meeting.

Mr. Reitman said that the updated charter would include a municipal court, which was done away with in 2015, and then the city could enter an intergovernmental agreement with the county for the Magistrate Court to hear city code enforcement cases or the city can institute its own court. The city and county have been working together for some time to make this happen. The city passed a resolution adopting the same code enforcement policies as the county in August in order to enter into an intergovernmental agreement for this to happen, but apparently that is not enough.

Mr. Reitman said some judges believe the charter amendment is necessary before they will hear the case, implying that Chief Magistrate Tim Lam was reluctant to hear the cases unless this is done. Mr. Lam had approached the city last December saying he would be happy to hear the cases when it is legal for him to do so.

Mayor Pro-tem Gail Harrell said the only way to achieve the city’s goal “without heartburn” is to adopt the new charter. Local legislators likely would not resist introducing a new charter, whereas they may be reluctant to introduce an amendment to the charter re-establishing the municipal court. The new charter was not on Tuesday’s agenda.

Robert Jordan gave a presentation on the city’s Mine Lakes property which council is considering developing into a recreation facility. The preview presented by Mr. Jordan would include a 3.3 mile hike/bike trail around the lake, a pavilion, entrance signage, trailhead signage and kiosk, a motorized gate, and fishing dock tees.

The preliminary plan he drew up would make the property usable for just under the $150,000 the city has budgeted for the project. He said he’s ready to move forward when the council gives the go-ahead. He also offered to do his work at no charge to the city. Mr. Jordan said he desired to create the maximum public benefit with low maintenance amenities.

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City officials spent considerable time discussing the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the city of Monticello and the Monticello-Jasper County Chamber of Commerce (COC). The current MOU has the COC in charge of city parks and the Square. Pam Mayer spoke to council representing the COC as she said she has the longest history with the COC. She said she created the MOU, and it was tweaked in 2014. Since that time it has not changed.

She explained that the COC is the tourism arm of the city, and that the Visitors’ Center is the Scenic Byway Trailhead and was designated that when the city government complex was built.

The mayor pro-tem asked if other cities give up control of city property to other entities. She went on to say that the city received no income from the market festival, filming or other activities. She said the city bears the cost of clean-up.

City Manager Angela Redding said that a voter registration drive was recently declined, and a rally was allowed. She said since she has been here that City Clerk Karen Pennamon has been doing event planning, and was concerned about the city officials being aware of what events are upcoming.

Mrs. Mayer explained that events started being restricted when there was much evidence of wear and tear to the Square, and she said it needs to be monitored. Otherwise, she said, she could set a bounce house up on the Square, regardless of what else was happening, and have a party, for example.

Mr. Reitman spoke up and suggested the city develop an events ordinance.

Councilwoman Jenny Murphy said the COC has done a good job, and that she doesn’t want to be called every time someone wants to use the park.

Mayor Pro-tem Harrell who also sits on the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) board, said that DDA also promotes the city and tourism. She said she has a problem turning over use of city property to someone other than the city.

Councilman David Wease said the COC is on the agenda every month telling the city what is happening. After much discussion, council agreed to have Mrs. Mayer make updates spelling out specifics, and bring it back to council at the regular meeting Tuesday.

Then the council heard from Roberta Anderson, director of the Get Ahead House about that MOU. The last one expired in 2018, and refers to the Carrera grant. Mrs. Anderson said that grant ended in 2015. They currently have a teen pregnancy grant that expires the end of this year. There was much discussion about providing the city an audit. Mrs. Anderson said that she couldn’t give them an audit, but could show how they spend what the city gives them.

The council discussed tree limbs and debris removal. The city has been enforcing its ordinance, only picking up certain size stacks of debris, and there have been many complaints from residents. Council members agreed the ordinance needs to be changed and the city will continue to pick up debris.