During a Blue Ridge City Council meeting on July 10th, the city council motioned and approved a motion of an annexation of the 515 right away.The annexation of the 515 right away will include an annex for the city going north all the way to Highway 60 and south to the County line. Council Member Michael Eaton said during the meeting that the annex would only include the highway for the city of Blue Ridge, but would allow for businesses with frontage on the highway to also be annexed. City council members also said during the meeting that any businesses that would choose to have the annex would have more available city police to patrol them. This annexation was necessary because of a Planning Commission recommendation that was also on the agenda for the night’s meeting.

The recommendation, made after the first annexation request, was for a piece of property located south of Cadence Bank in Fannin County. The recommendation called not only for the annex of the property into the city but for 2.29 acres to be rezoned to C2 commercial property.

Mayor Whitener later told FYN that 6 acres located south of Cadence Bank had already been zoned as C2 zoning and the additional 2.29 acres will adjoin it. Whitener also told FYN that sources from Florida are looking at purchasing the property to build a possible “Go Kart” track.

The city council also then decided to rezone both sides of 2159 E. First Street, the address of the Blue Ridge Community Theater, from M1 zoning to C2 zoning. Businesses such as the Trailer Drive-In Restaurant as well the theater are located in this area, and the rezoning will keep any major manufacturing from moving into this location. Mayor Whitener said that the zoning of this property will be more suitable for the community and to the location of the property.

City Council then approved the purchase of a pole saw for the city street department, and a bucket truck for the city.

The purchase of the pole saw was for safety precautions regarding help the city street department crew and the pole saw was purchased for approximately $600. City Council then approved a motion to go ahead and purchase a bucket truck for city use. The purchase of the bucket truck was for approximately $6200 and will be used for such things as replacing bulbs in streetlights, putting up and taking down banners, and trimming trees. Mayor Whitener said of the purchase,

“We constantly have to use a bucket truck for something. This will give us a chance to cut down trees in high areas that are blocking roadways, and it will be a lot safer for city employees.”

Lastly, at the end of the city council meeting, City Council member Michael Eaton regretfully announced the termination of Faye Steppe and the abolishment of the position of Deputy Clerk. Eaton said that upon the recommendation from the City’s governing attorney that the city had decided to terminate Stepp and the position of Deputy Clerk. Steppe who is suffers from Palsy of the face has been absent for over a year due to the illness, and even on November 11th requested that the City of Blue Ridge lay her off because she had ran out of sick days. However, the city decided to extend Steppe’s sick leave until February 26th. Eaton said that for that last year the city had paid for State health insurance and that Steppe had exhausted her sick leave, her vacation days, and her 12 weeks of family medical leave. Eaton even mentioned the additional 12 weeks of family medical leave that the city had given Steppe had now been expired too.

“At this point there is not really an end in sight, after talking with our attorney we have come to the decision that we will terminate her and abolish the position she had.”

As far as the position goes, Eaton said that they city had already reassigned Steppe’s duties to other employees before she left, and that since her remaining duties had been assigned to other people since the position was no longer needed. An amount of how much the city will save as a result of the abolishment of the position is unknown. FYN will update you on this information as soon as possible.