At the monthly Blue Ridge City Council meeting on Tuesday, April 12th, the City Council decided on a new procedures for citizen comments during the City Council meeting. These procedure changes actually make it easier for a person to make comments at the meeting. Now, if a person decides to speak during the course of a meeting, a person can have two minutes during the public comments section. People who wish to speak for five minutes must still sign up a week prior to the meeting. The Council also asks that people who are speaking for five minutes send a short bullet list of points to Kelsey Ledford, the City Clerk. Mayor Whitener said that one’s sending information about the topic ahead of time will allow the Council to prepare information and answer questions that may come up during the comment. These changes presented by Council Member Arp and Mayor Whitener are quite different from the ones that Ms. Arp suggested back in February, when she wanted all citizen comments to be two minutes and no citizen be allowed to speak without signing up five days prior to the meeting. (See related article “Angie Arp Instigates Changes in Citizen Comment Rules.)
Caesar Martinez, on behalf of the Downtown Business Association asked Mayor Whitener about East Main Street renovations timeline and porta-potties for downtown events. Mayor Whitener promises a time line will come out this summer. The city can’t release one now because neither the designs nor the builders have been finalized. The plans are still on for early August through early September construction. A luxurious portable restroom trailer for events downtown will still have to be a thing of the future. For now, the city will stick with the typical porta-potty facilities present at downtown events. There is some talk of placing a few of the units at Robert’s Way.
The Downtown Business District has a new building and zoning ordinances coming out. The ordinance changes are to accommodate Lehigh Homes and Developments’ multi-residential building complex that is coming to the old Temple Baptist property on West Main Street. The new ordinances do the following:
Fannin County Public Library Branch Manager Clare Barton asked the Blue Ridge City Council to support the library’s request for SPLOST 2016 money. Ms. Barton told the council that a major improvement a new library will have is large meeting rooms and these would be available for any Fannin government entity to use. Mayor Whitener said that that would be hard to do as Blue Ridge wants a slice of the SPLOST pie too. Mayor Whitener said that large bills for repairing aging infrastructure will be coming up within the next six years and for which the city will need SPLOST money.
The owners/publishers of Destinations magazine, an event magazine for Blue Ridge tourists, spoke during the Citizen Comments section. The owners were concerned about the Blue Ridge’s new sidewalk ordinance which requires a five-foot wide obstacle free pathway along the street. They had also heard rumors that the sidewalk ordinance may come with permits for magazine stands. Mayor Whitener assured them that, as long there was a five-foot wide pathway in front of their stands, their stands could say. She also said that the permits were to make a record of who owns which magazine stand, so that if the stand is abandoned the city can contact the owner before scrapping the stand.
The Mountain Tennis Association asked to rent the tennis courts at the city park this summer in order to give tennis classes to customers. When Council members realized that Mountain Tennis Association was asking for the tennis courts every morning June through August, they were reluctant to discuss the matter more. The Council Members felt that the tennis courts belong to all of Blue Ridge. And, that a private organization making a profit cannot monopolize a community amenity. The Council decided to table the tennis, so to speak, until later.
Wilds Pierce’s 1930’s era working firetruck and equipment seems to finally have found a home. Mr. Pierce offered the fire truck to the city in January. Since Blue Ridge doesn’t have a fire department, the city suggested giving the truck to the county. The county did not want to pay for storing the truck. Mayor Whitener is glad to have the truck back. She hopes that the city and the Baugh House can come to a storage arrangement for the truck at the Baugh House where it can become part of its exhibit. Along with the truck and equipment, Mr. Pierce is donating the calliope that was once used on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad.
Carlie Hammond spoke about the design for the downtown city park, specifically where the grill pit will go. The Council patiently listened to her distress about how moving the pit will affect the Good Samaritan’s Labor Day Bar-B-Que. Mayor Whitener reminded Ms. Hammond that she had asked Ms. Hammond several times what the ideal location would be and that she (Ms. Hammond) had yet to make it clear. All Council Members assured Ms. Hammond that they would meet her at the park and walk off where she (Ms. Hammond) thought a good grill location is. Ms. Hammond had several of her fellow Good Samaritans there to support her. After the meeting, they told Ms. Hammond that the Council is working in good faith to place the grill where it will be useful to the city and the Good Samaritans.
Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad resigned its annual lease on the depot for $43,176.48
PRESS RELEASE- We are so proud of our FCCLA members for an outstanding showing at…
PRESS RELEASE- We are proud to recognize the outstanding educators nominated as the Teachers of…
Arrest report with photos provided by the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office. The Georgia Open Records Act…
February in Blue Ridge, GA is just beautiful, with clear mountain vistas, a touch of…
Balanced Effort Lifts Lady Rebels Past Gordon Lee A strong team performance…
GEORGIA - Brian K. Pritchard attended the kickoff for the latest candidate to join the…