They tabled until July 10th the Wetherington-Nelson annexation request,
and approved the city budget; also a beer and wine license.
And voted to accept a bid from EZsite to fix their website.
Council Mason Barfield said in Council Comments he loves being
on video, and sees the Internet as the future of local government.
County Manager Jonathan Sumner noted Hahira’s budget is in the black,
and, unlike other local governments, does not need to raise its millage.
Hm, maybe they could afford to do their own videos, then.
Since their website is still broken, I don’t have an agenda.
Here are links to the videos, followed by a playlist. Continue reading →
They talked about a new website; is it up yet?
Nope, according to
http://www.hahira.ga.us/cityofficials.html
Wayne Bullard is still Mayor, Rose Adams is still on the Council, and new
Council members Kenneth Davis and Mason Barfield are nowhere to be seen.
However, former Council member Bruce Cain has vanished,
even though he’s
the actual Mayor per last November’s election.
Here are some videos from the May 15th special called meeting
of the Hahira City Council where they talk about that proposed new website.
Commissioner Franklin Bailey summed up the Dollar General proposal for Hahira:
There’s just a lot here we don’t have.
Hahira City Council votes tonight
on the Teramore Development items, which are for a Dollar General
(like
the one in Naylor),
as we discovered
at the
Greater Lowndes Planning Commission Regular Session 26 August 2013,
even though the agenda doesn’t say.
GLPC recommended for it, even though engineering details hadn’t been done
for water management, the site plan wasn’t finalized, and no solution
was proposed for Dollar General’s corporate habit of using sidewalks
for cart storage, among many other issues.
The Teramore Development items are for a Dollar General
(like
the one in Naylor),
even though the agenda doesn’t say (see Planning Commission videos).
Since City Council District 2 Allen Bruce Cain, Sr. resigned to run for Mayor
the
ever-contentious,
ethically–
investigated
garbage contract
last voted on 2 August 2012
could go differently this time.
Thanks to City Clerk Jonathan Sumner for providing the agenda upon request,
even though it’s not on the web.
Stay tuned for LAKE videos.
-jsq
Hahira City Council
September 5, 2013
Agenda
7:30 pm- Hahira Courthouse
Call to order
Establish quorum
Pledge of allegiance
Invocation
Review/Correction of Minutes
July 29, 2013 Work Session
August 1, 2013 Council Meeting
August 22, 2013 Special Called Meeting
Public Hearing
HA-2013-01: Rezoning Request by Teramore Development (Planning
and Zoning Administrator)
HA-2013-02: Variance Request by Teramore Development (Planning
and Zoning Administrator)
To get a decent deal on streetlights, a small Georgia city may have
to help change the Georgia Public Service Commission.
Or, an energy concern in Hahira happened to coincide with
a visit by PSC candidate Steve Oppenheimer.
Ralph Clendenin, City Council member, is looking into converting
Hahira's streetlights to LEDs or maybe solar.
He has discussed that with Georgia Power, which will do it for
$250,000 up front.
At a savings of $1,000 a month, that would take quite a while to pay back:
more than 20 years.
Just like you're looking at options the city might do for better choices for lighting
in terms of serving the people and meeting your budget, as Georgians we need that, too.
He indicated that there are more solutions than we're being told.
To me what's improtant are homeowners rights,
and we get control over the power rates,
because our residential rates and small business rates have gone up about 31% in five years.
What it comes down to is people like you in this room in the small communities
figuring out what pieces do we put together to make our community better for tomorrow.
Afterwards in the entranceway,
Ralph Clendenin showed Steve Oppenheimer how
he'd figured out that Georgia Power was charging about 73% maintenance
above the electricity cost of the streetlights.
Oppenheimer said there were many options.
Clendenin suggested one:
The option I see right now is, the Commission somehow, has got to change the rules
on how Georgia Power… structures payments.
Oppenheimer suggested a way to get there:
We need a commission with some new leadership,
with some separation from industry, that doesn't have the
apparent conflicts of interest.
Ralph summed it up pithily:
Ralph Clendenin: 73% is that forever payment to Georgia Power.
Steve Oppenheimer: It's a great deal, if you're on the right end of it.
[laughter]
What say we change the end of the stick we the taxpayers are getting from the PSC?
Here are the rest of the videos from the Hahira City Council meeting of 2 August 2012, including the very interesting scheduled agenda items in which each Council member, the City Manager, and the Mayor give their thoughts on issues relevant to the City of Hahira.
Regular Session, Hahira City Council (Hahira), Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE), Hahira, Lowndes County, Georgia, 2 August 2012.
