Council Discusses Services

The Monticello City Council met in a work session on Tuesday to discuss Service Delivery, a USDA grant, and telecommunications for the City of Monticello.

The council members decided to discuss the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) that pertains to the City of Monticello, the City of Shady Dale and Jasper County. City Manager Doug White presented the council with a copy of the SDS that was drafted and signed in 1996 and then resigned in 2006 with no changes by Susan Holmes and Jack Bernard. Mr. White took the document directly from the DCA website. The document listed all services and the responsibility of those for the city, county and Shady Dale.

Mr. White pointed out that within that document is a narrative on code enforcement and that it was handled by the county. It was also noted that the document was a state record.

Councilman David Wease asked why there were two different definitions for code enforcement. Council woman Jenny Murphy asked if anyone knew when the city decided to take care of code enforcement and that the document stated that there was a recorder’s court for the city. She inquired as to what that was and if the court had heard code cases before or if anyone had ever been prosecuted in the city for those violations.

There was some discussion amongst council members as to fee collection. Councilwoman Murphy asked if the county collected fees or was the city expected to pay those and was answered that the county collects fees for plan review, building permits, and electrical permits.

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Mayor pro tem Stone Workman said that the document needed reviewing before the regular meeting on Monday, but that there was some double taxation to the citizens of the city if the DCA document on services was upheld. He listed several items to address on services including: code enforcement, economic development, the hospital, the library, parks, water supply, courthouse and juror parking, and the fire department hydrant fees.

“These are things that need to be addressed,” according to Mr. Workman.

“City residents are already paying ad valorem taxes and the city pays for some services, such as parks, streets, solid waste, water distribution, planning and zoning, and elections, above and beyond. We don’t want to double tax our citizens,” he said.

After all of the discussion the council concluded the discussions agreeing to review the SDS and discuss and make a further decision at their meeting on March 5. However, an agenda for Monday’s meeting sent to the newspaper does not list that item.

Prior to the SDS discussion the council heard from John Hewitt regarding the USDA grant that was intended for the newly purchased land and wells. Mr. Hewitt told the council that with the USDA application the city cannot pledge all of the utility revenues as debt service according to the USDA policy.

Mr. Hewitt apologized and said that was the first that he’d heard of not being able to use the revenues being that it was included in the write-up submitted and had been discussed to give the city more financial strength and to avert having a rate increase for citizens.

Mr. Hewitt explained that there could still be the possibility of getting the grant, and to not have a rate increase, and that the GEFA loan is still in place. He said that the loan would work as there was a new financial analysis prepared for the $4.5 million grant. He also noted that as this is being prepared, the debt service is being repaid and there would be less when the USDA grant came through.

Mr. Hewitt’s recommendation was to get in line for the grant but to delay the acceptance while paying down the bond on the water plant.

Mr. Hewitt said that the work was virtually done and that in real numbers the city would have to borrow $9 million and pay it back at approximately $13,000 each month.

After the discussion with Mr. Hewitt, the council voted to go into about a 35 minute executive (closed) session for the acquisition of an interest in real property.

The council also discussed telecommunications after the closed session. Mr. White informed the council that there was some interest in the Georgia Public Web bringing broadband internet services to the city and that it could be funded through a grant program with USDA. He said that he’d talked to a representative in the city of Monroe that had received the grant and that there were still a lot of questions to be answered about the project.

Mr. White was to get more information on Thursday of this week when he meets with a representative. He said that there are 65 days after the application opens to complete and submit for consideration. He also said that the application was not open yet. Mr. White did note that with the grant that public entities such as schools, the library, and sheriff’s office would receive two years of free service initially.