Lake Carroll Lawn

The Friends of the Whitesburg Public Library bookstore Harvey’s House of Books is having a “Stock Up for Summer Reading” sale through June 17th

CUSTOMERS MAY BUY FIVE ADULT

The two entities will create a seven-seat joint commission to govern proposed annexation south of the current city limit and to review any proposed multi-family or high-density developments anywhere in the city. The commission will be made up of three city appointees, three BOE appointees, and one appointee representing Carroll County Board of Commissioners.

This joint board will operate for the length of the bond repayment, which is expected to be 18 years at most.

The City of Villa Rica is committing to encourage commercial, retail, and industrial development along Highway 61 south of Interstate 20 and to revise its comprehensive plan and future land use map to reflect this. The TAD itself includes age and bedroom restrictions within Node 3 that are intended to help limit enrollment growth for the schools. Additionally, the city has committed to seek age restriction agreements with builders in the Node five development area of the TAD.

“We are already seeing growth in Villa Rica, and we know more is coming,” Turner said. “This agreement gives us the opportunity to work with the city to bring in growth that will make Villa Rica and the school district better.”

School Superintendent Scott Cowart said the school system appreciates the opportunity to strengthen its partnership with the city.

“Throughout this process, we’ve been able to sit down across the table with the city and talk openly and honestly about our needs and their needs,” Cowart said. “We are able to talk about how growth impacts each of us, and we think the joint commission will be an excellent way to stay engaged at the table in the future.”

Most hardback books are $2 and some “giftable,” like-new books are $3. The store at 1140 Main Street in Whitesburg has 20,000 adult and children’s books, audio books, magazines, DVDs and music.

All sales benefit the library.

Hours: Tues & Thurs 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wed & Sat 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fri 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

470-345-9397

For updates on sales and new arrivals find Harvey’s House of Books on Facebook

Villa Rica council approve one-vote Consent Agenda; announce TAD partner; talk about railroad crossing waits

story by Janice Daniel

Mayor and Council of the City of Villa Rica met Tuesday, May 9, 2023, for a regular monthly meeting, following a work session held the same day in which they prepared a Consent Agenda (for a single vote) with 23 items (see story this page).

An invocation was offered by Barry Thompson, Pastor of Care, Prayer & Connections, Midway Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Officer Austin Massey of the Villa Rica Police Department.

In Public Comments, two concerned citizens spoke about high dchool dtudents arriving at school and leaving in the afternoon by the back parking lot, and the nuisance they were causing on South Street, Meadow Lark Drive, Clearview Street, and Rocky Branch. Charlotte Evans relayed to mayor and council how the students drove “50 or 60 miles per hour” on these side streets where they also throw trash in yards and are disrespectful to the homeowners. Evans said they would like to see speed bumps put on these streets to slow the traffic down. Both citizens opined that these students were a hazard to themselves as well as the residents of the property.

Mayor Gil McDougal spoke about the passing of the Carroll County Fire Marshall

Nick Turner on May 5th; the parade of law enforcement, first responders, and fire fighters who honored Turner; and said how much he will be missed.

Mayor also said that the city has been in touch with their railroad liason about crossings being blocked so often and for such long periods. He said “the reason this is happening is because the trains are shorter now, so we asked if they could split the cars to keep from blocking crossings.” .

A Consent Agenda prepared at the earlier in the day (1:00 p.m.) work session was read and approved in a single vote.

There were ceremonial presentations made to five city employees who were celebrating five years of employment with the city: Charlene Clark, utilities department; Sydney Augustus, Villa Rica Public Library; and McKenzie O’Bannon, Paul Lewis, and Jeffrey Shelton, Villa Rica Police Department. Kai Waldo, who was unable to attend the meeting, has been with the VRPD for 20 years, and Charles “Charlie” Davis announced his retirement after more than 20 years with the city.

City Attorney David Mecklin presented the required second reading of the Home Rule Ordinance change to the city charter to set

Villa Rica council and mayor put together a 23-item consent agenda for a single vote

story by Janice Daniel

The City of Villa Rica Mayor and Council met for their monthly work session 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 9, 2023, to discuss upcoming business items and to prepare the Consent Agenda for their regular meeting held same day at 6:00 p.m. (see story this page.)

Consent Agenda was as follows:

1.request to reappointment Claudia Best to Carroll County Library Advisory Board.

2.declare the week of 5/21 through 5/27/23 as the 63rd Annual National Public Works Week, this year’s theme being “Connecting the World Through Public Works”.

3. resolution to set date for accepting applications for packaging stores in the North Quadrant and the South Quadrant of the City to a period from 5/15/23 through 7/14/23.

4.annual election of GMA’s District 4 Officers for 2023-24, as follows:President: William “Dub” Pearman, Mayor, Senoia

1st Vice President: Barbie Crockett, Mayor, Centralhatchee

2nd Vice President: Joseph H. Walter, Mayor, Zebulon

3rd Vice President: Mike Johnson, Mayor, Temple

5. request to replace the current carpet and flooring in the Powell Park facility by Sealey Ventures, LLC dba Five Star Flooring, at a cost of $16,563.18. Budget for this item is $15,000. Staff recommends the overage of $1,563.28 come out of the budget of the Building and Project Department’s maintenance and repairs.

6.request to appoint Candy Wilson and Landen Prather to the Main Street Advisory Board to replace two current members who resigned.

7.request to approve a Community Development Grant Program application in the amount of $10,000, for the annual Thomas A. Dorsey Birthplace & Gospel Heritage Festival, Inc. for June 23rd and 24th at the Mill. This grant, combined with the annual funding from the city’s General Fund, will result in available funds for special events of $20,000.

8.with $10,000 of the available $20,000 going to the Thomas A. Dorsey Birthplace Festival, the second part of this request is to terms of service for all board, committee, and authority members of the city (with the exception for Planning & Zoning) to end on 12/31 of the respective year of the end of each person’s term. Since this change has to be advertised to the public, the ordinance will become effective once it has been advertised in the city’s legal organ.

Mayor announced that the framework for an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the city and the Carroll County Board of Education has been tentatively arranged, but the terms will only be effective when the agreement is actually signed by both parties. The terms of the agreement will be available to the Public once the agreement is completed.

(See TAD story front page.)

In Community Development, council approved the following:

1. food truck vendor application for La

Catrina Street Tacos

2. variance to the sign ordinance for Pilot on Liberty Road approve the second annual Alzheimer’s Group of Carroll County Movie at the Mill event on September 30, 2023, at a cost of $2,750.

3. variance to the zoning ordinance for 395 W. Bankhead for a front-of-the building pickup window for the Little Caesar’s, contingent upon GDOT’s approval of the exit being rightturn only and an increase in the green space density.

Council tabled (vote 3-2) until the July meeting a request to consider the rezoning of 45.26 acres at Punkintown Road and Dallas Highway in order to get more information from the applicant. This item was discussed in great detail, and many citizens spoke against the proposed development.

Council denied unanimously a request for rezoning at 974 Dallas Highway due to the difficulty of entry/exit off Highway 61 at the property.

9.with the balance of the $20,000 being $7,250 still available for financial assistance to events that are culturally and economically beneficial to the city, the third part of the request is that this balance be granted to the Villa Rica Lions Club and Golden City Lions Club for a fundraising event to take place on Friday, October 6th, at the Mill, by Matt Stone, named by Graceland as one of the Top Ten Elvis Tribute Artists in the world. Both of the City’s Lions clubs voted unanimously to have this fundraiser to support the clubs’ charitable missions.

10. request to equip the VRPD with seven Motorola APX-4000 portable radios, including charger, battery and microphone for each. This purchase of $25,375.28 is a budgeted item to give all officers on active duty radios to carry on their duty belts. Some current radios being carried by some officers are no longer serviceable or repairable.

11.Director of Public Works Hal Burch, asked council to hire consultant, Davenport/ Lawrence, to evaluate city’s Solid Waste Services collection options and revenue potential for Villa Rica alone, and along with several surrounding communities, to conduct a feasibility study on internalizing Municipal Solid Waste/Recycling collections with the potential to also offer these services outside of the city limits. Costs to use outside sources are continuously rising. Cost of the consultant would be an amount not to exceed $25,000, which is not budgeted, but would come from General Fund.

12.request for funds of budgeted $56,000 for Cowans Lake Pump Station Improvements, that being the addition of three-phase power that will allow both pumps to operate simultaneously, and to install larger pumps when required.

13.request for funds of budgeted $16,300 for engineering services in designing the repairs to the Cowans Lake and Paradise Lake dams, where inspections have identified slope See CONSENT AGENDA MORE page 15