New city council meets, adopts new rules of procedure
City Council January 18, 2022
FANNIN, Ga. — The new Blue Ridge City Council held their first meeting on Jan. 18. After appointing several city employees and board members, the council took action on water leakage issues and gutter replacements at the Historic Baugh House. The council also adopted a new set of procedure rules along with a city mission statement.
Mayor Rhonda Haight recognized councilmembers Angie Arp and Bill Whaley for their work in creating the new mission statement and procedure rules. Whaley read the mission statement during the meeting, “Our mission is to enrich the quality of life in Blue Ridge for all our citizens. We pledge to work in partnership with our residents, all stakeholders and the Fannin County government to protect, preserve and secure the quaintness of our small-town community and to enhance the natural beauty of our environment.” He also touched on the core values that the council will operate within, including accountability, collaboration, stewardship, and professionalism. “If you read the whole thing, we’re holding ourselves to a standard of behavior amongst ourselves, and a standard of openness to the community,” Whaley said about the mission statement and procedure rules. The full document can be found in the agenda packet for the Jan. 18 meeting.
After being tabled at the last council meeting, the council approved a purchase of gutter replacements for the Historic Baugh House on 425 West First Street. Mayor Haight confirmed that the building is on the National Register of Historic Places, meaning the city would need to purchase appropriate gutter replacements at a cost of $17,000. “We want to preserve it, and it costs more to put up aesthetically appropriate gutters,” Whaley said. The council unanimously approved the purchase.
An approval for the purchase of third party leak detection services was also on the agenda. “I would actually even recommend that you guys think about doubling what we’ve got here because they’re going to be doing leak detection at Mountaintops, which is our highest leak area,” Mayor Haight said when presenting the agenda item. “It would double the price, but it is in the budget to do that,” Haight continued. The council discussed the need, citing the concentration of water loss in the Mountaintops area, and eventually agreed to increase the number of services from four to eight.
Blue Ridge City Council meets for the last time before elections
Business, City Council October 20, 2021
FANNIN, Ga. — The Blue Ridge City Council held their last meeting before elections take place Nov. 2. At the meeting, the council dealt with several issues including city finances, infrastructure, and water management.
2022 Budget
Mayor Whitener announced the budget for 2022 is set at $3,157,500, a large decrease from last year. She explains, “that was due to the extra funding we received from GDOT and we received the FEMA money.” The budget was unanimously approved.
2nd Reading of Ordinance BR2021-14
BR2021-14 deals with the city’s purchasing policy. During the meeting, Fitts raised concerns about accountability with tax payer money, even suggesting that Mayor Whitener does not always follow the purchasing policies. Questions raised about the transparency of the policy led the council to table the approval.
Ordinance BR2020-09 on Storm Water Management
Tony Byrd spoke to the council to suggest enhancing the current storm water management ordinance. He brought the council an example ordinance from Chamblee, Ga., and the Georgia Stormwater Maintenance Manual, both of which he advocates for incorporating into the city’s own ordinance: “I would love for the lawyer to take this ordinance here and go over it with council … and have one made for our city.” The council made a motion to table it, to let the city look over the ordinances with engineers.
State Fiscal Recovery Fund Application
Utilities Director Rebecca Harkins explained the importance of the potential grant money: “The city has an opportunity to receive up to 50% matching that grant application.” She noted that the grant can only be used for water and sewer infrastructure. Harkins then explained that the Mountain Tops Subdivision constituted 15%, or 22 million gallons, of 2020 city water loss. For that reason, she suggested using the grant money to repair the area’s water infrastructure. The council agreed that applying was a “no-brainer” and unanimously approved it.
Millage Rate
The council unanimously approved Ordinance BR2021-15, which Mayor Whitener explained is: “an ordinance to the ad valorem tax rate for the city of Blue Ridge, for the calendar year of 2021 and the fiscal year of 2022; to provide for the time of the payment of said taxes; to provide for interest and penalties for the failure to pay taxes; is the procedure for the collection of delinquent or ad valorem taxes; to provide an administrative procedure for the collection of delinquent taxes ad valorem taxes for the years prior to 2021; to repeal conflicting ordinances to the extent of the conflict, and any other purposes.” This ordinance also sets Blue Ridge’s millage rate at 5.014, which Mayor Whitener notes is a reduced rate.
Public Comment
Richard Arnold, a candidate for the Post 4 seat on city council, attended the meeting and spoke during the public comment section. He addressed the council, “I was pleased when this council voted on and approved … resolution BR2020-29 requesting the Georgia General Assembly to adopt a local act amending the Blue Ridge City Council charter to provide a city manager form of government.” He then asked the council if they would be resubmitting it. Council member Nathan Fitts told Arnold he does support the change, and hopes the council resubmits the resolution. Council member Ronda Haight also provided her input saying, “I think what Speaker Ralston wants us to do is have another town hall meeting about it. So we were proposing to have one in November, and then maybe submit it right after that.”
The council also took time to discuss changing how the council hears public comments. The council discussed among themselves, and even asked the audience what they would like to see. Members of the council decided to table any changes until next month, so they can discuss changes further.
Report confirms asbestos and mold at old Whitepath building
Board of Commissioners, News April 14, 2021
BLUE RIDGE, Ga – A hazardous materials survey revealed asbestos, mold, lead-based paint, and lead-containing paint within the former Whitepath facility.
A state-certified asbestos inspector with Contour Engineering surveyed the property on March 17, 2021. They conducted a visual inspection and collected samples for testing. “89 bulk asbestos samples were collected with 106 samples or layers from 55 homogeneous areas of suspect asbestos containing materials from structures.”
Testing identified 12 instances of asbestos containing materials (ACM) inside and outside the building. EPA and OSHA define ACM as materials containing greater than one percent of asbestos. The locations are as follows:
Asbestos containing materials analytical results. Every ACM was marked as low damage potential and category 1 per EPA standards.
- Vinyl Composition Floor Tile
- Floor Tile Mastic
- Remnant Flashing
- Roof Coating
- Remnant Parapet
- Remnant Roof
- Flashing
A Georgia Environmental Protection Agency licensed asbestos abatement contractor was recommended to remove and dispose of the asbestos before renovations begin.
All instances of asbestos were non-friable or less likely to release harmful fibers into the air. The type of asbestos was chrysotile, which is the most common and dangerous if inhaled.
Lead-based paint
Five out of 23 paint samples came back as lead-based paint on the metal door to the basement, wood door to the shop, structure beam, and warehouse structural support. Lead-based paint is defined as a coating with a lead content of 0.5 percent or greater by weight.
Lead-containing paint was located in two areas pink paint on the concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls and white paint on the front interior CMU walls. In lead containing paint, the concentration of lead is greater than 0.06 percent.
During renovations, a contractor must first perform an initial exposure assessment of all workplaces to determine employees’ exposure potential. Also, people who encountered lead-based or containing paint must be monitored.
Mold
Two instances of observable mold, six water stains, and 10 active water leaks were located by Contour Engineering. The mold appeared on the wallboards in the front office and on the carpet/ carpet glue in the engineering offices.
Mold grows due to elevated levels of moisture and can potentially release allergens or toxic spores into the air. Roof and window leaks were close to the entrance and offices. The roof leak also produced several instances of standing water inside the warehouse. Contour Engineering recommended visual and air clearance takes place before renovations begin. Further mold remediation depends upon the extent of the renovation plan.
Additional mold, asbestos, and lead-based paint may be present. Any suspected materials should be considered ACM and lead-based paint until tested.
See where the mold and water leaks were located.
Contour Engineering out of Kennesaw investigated the building for the purpose of future renovation by the county. Fannin County purchased the building in 2019 for $1.3 million with the intent to use it for administrative purposes.
Earlier in 2021, Post Two Glenn Patterson requested that Whitepath undergo hazardous material testing to gauge the state of the building. Patterson’s the only remaining board member from 2019 when the commission approved the purchase.
After executive session on Tuesday, Chairman Jamie Hensley said the entire report will be available on the Fannin County website.
FYN will update this story as soon as more details become available.