Good News in the City!
Happy 2018 to all our citizens! This year begins with great promise and opportunity and it is an honor for our Mayor and Council to serve in the representative democracy closest to our constituents in our fair city.
The 705 acre “Mine’s Lake” property, including a 58 acre reservoir and wells permitted for 800,000 gallons a day of extraordinarily clean water, is now purchased. The USDA grant/loan request is moving forward to connect this source with our city water system and the public hearing, conducted entirely in accordance with the law, is complete.
I met with the Jasper County Water Authority at their January monthly meeting and the city has sent letters to the Authority and County Commissioners that the city has no intention of polluting the water or watershed which we have worked so hard to acquire to insure an adequate supply of water for times of drought and future use. Preliminary planning is moving forward on possible recreational use of the property and the City Council would love to hear ideas from the community.
Sometimes the good news comes from what prior councils don’t do. While the Plant Vogtle, phase III and IV are in the news from the massive cost overruns and bankruptcy of the primary contractor, Westinghouse, the prior City Council voted with just six other MEAG cities not to participate in these projects.
Georgia Power, the Electric Member Co-ops, and the other participants are now “on the hook” for the billions (with a B) in cost overruns and will have to charge their customers for this now and in the future. Since South Carolina has “pulled the plug” on their Vogtle-like projects stranding billions in debt, more news on this project should be expected.
The city continues to try to address our lack of code-enforcement capability due to the Magistrate Judge, Tim Lam, refusing to hear cases brought on behalf of the Citizens of the City of Monticello. Frankly, for two years we have struggled to find a solution to this problem and I don’t think we are any closer to a solution. This leaves the Council with three options.
Option 1. Re-establish a City Court which our State Representative is not in favor.
Option 2. Partner with the County to provide code enforcement which the County Commission has not been in favor.
Option 3. Abolish City Code enforcement and turn Code Enforcement duties over to Jasper County.
The Council will take some type of action in the near future.
An exciting project is based on the City of Monticello’s ownership of Georgia Public Web and the broadband “POP” located in the city. We are working with Georgia Public Web to explore the possibility of building a fiber ring in the city for our hospital, schools, industry, and business use.
We are also working with Paladin Wireless who will provide wireless broadband capacity to city residents as well as the possibility of providing service throughout the county. Paladin would be a customer of the city broadband ring and would rent space on our water towers for their antenna. This project is in the preliminary stage and more information will follow. Rural Broadband is a MUST for the future of our citizens. Please let the city know your needs in this area.
If you have questions about any city project, please go to City Hall and meet with our professional City Manager, Doug White or the Mayor (he’s in town more now!), or any Council Member. You don’t need a Freedom of Information Request to get your questions answered!
Our Mayor and Council are here to serve. No one serves in small town rural government for the money and it is amazing some people use the method of insinuation against business leaders, against elected officials, even against entire churches, for their own evil purposes. Good things are happening in the City of Monticello, good folks live here, and as Dr. King said,” Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Looking forward to a great 2018!
