Blue Ridge City Council to have second public millage rate hearing 48 hours after the first

BLUE RIDGE, GA – In a surprise move, the Blue Ridge City Council has included a second public hearing concerning the fiscal year 2019 millage rate nearly 48 hours after the first public hearing was offered.

At the regularly scheduled council meeting Tuesday, September 10, the council held the first of the required two public hearings to discuss the millage rate. With no public commentary offered Tuesday, the council has added onto the agenda a second public hearing to take place before a joint meeting with the Downtown Development Authority scheduled for Thursday, September 12, at 6 p.m.

During the council’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, the announcement was made at the end of the meeting that a joint meeting with the Downtown Authority would be held Thursday, but no mention of the second public hearing of the millage rate was given.

“… (T)he announcement of the joint meeting with the city council and the Downtown Development Authority, September 12, 2019. We will have a meeting, a special called meeting, and do I need the agenda (…) to be able to announce that?,” Mayor Donna Whitener said in the closing moments of the meeting. Whitener was assured that a copy of the agenda would be provided to media outlets.

FetchYourNews.com obtained a copy of that agenda late Wednesday afternoon.

Additionally, the council has scheduled the first reading of the fiscal year 2019 millage rate ordinance to take place Thursday after the second public hearing.

The council is set to begin their meeting with the Downtown Development Authority at 6 p.m., Thursday, September 12, at City Hall.