By Charles Romans
Carter County Times
Grayson City Council started off their regular monthly meeting last week by hearing from a local resident who told the council that items removed by a contractor during a city project had not been replaced. Specifically, the resident noted, fencing and bushes had not been replaced that had been taken down by contractors during the city’s sidewalk project that began last August. The council listened to the resident’s complaint, and Mayor Troy Combs said he would look into the issue to determine why the promised replacement had not been resolved.
The council also heard the audit from Bobby Cox representing Kelly, Galloway, Smith, and Goolsby. The audit is standard practice and required for the city, and Cox reported that there were no irregularities in the audit and that it was ‘clean.’
The mayor told the council that he had been given an update concerning road paving by utilities commission superintendent Gerald Haney. The paving is being done to repair areas of roadway disturbed by line replacement within the city.
“The replacement of lines on various roads has begun,” Combs told the council.
Combs said that as the work progresses, Haney has been going door to door, letting residents know about the work being conducted.
“At this point they (utilities commission) are ready to begin paving over the parts that had been dug up,” Combs said.
The ’spot paving,’ Combs reminded the council, was temporary until the utilities commission was able to pave the entire roadways in affected areas. That work should take place in August or September according to their schedule.
“But what has been dug up will be paved by Memorial Day Weekend,” Combs told the council.
The utilities commission posts updates to their paving schedule on their website as well as on various other local government websites.
The council discussed issues with a derelict house located at 408 E. Fifth Street. City Attorney Jason Greer told council that the building was in much worse condition than it was initially thought to be and was not fit for habitation. Greer said it would need to be inspected by a qualified inspector, but if the city council moved to condemn the building, then the city could prevent anyone from entering the building for their own safety.
In other business, tourism director Lana Axtell told council that she had been working with Memory Days, but that the Memory Days Committee had things under control. Axtell also told the council she had been working with the street department to get the skating rink out of storage at the Blue Goose building and set up to be used during Memory Days.
The Blue Goose is scheduled to be demolished in the near future but is being used until after the Memory Days event. The Grayson Tourism Commission is the corporate sponsor for Memory Days, having donated labor, marketing materials, and in monetary fashion.
Mayor Combs made the council aware that several members of the tourism commission were up for reappointment, and one commissioner would need to be appointed due to the recent resignation of a commissioner. Combs also requested a budget workshop for May 27 at 5:30 pm.
Contact the writer at charles@cartercountytimes.com
