New councilmen are named; City awarded CDBG grant

The three seats up for grabs on the Lincolnton City Council has been filled.

The announcement was made at the regular meeting of the mayor and council held Monday, September 10.

According to Kay Remsen, city clerk, none of the candidates who qualified to run had any opposition; therefore, there will not be a municipal election this year.

The winners are:

Post 1 - Incumbent Chuck Beggs.

Post 2 - Councilman Robert Glaze decided not to seek another term due to health reasons. Jeremy Dawkins will take his place.

Post 3 - Councilman Dwain Moss has reached his three-term limit and could not run again. Former councilman Larry Goolsby will represent Post 3.

During the meeting, Mayor Dwaine Biggerstaff thanked Councilman Moss and Councilman Glaze for their time and devotion to the city. "It's a thankless job," he noted.

In his comments, Glaze, who has served on the council a total of 24 years, said, "I've tried to do my best and vote from my heart. I've really enjoyed my time here."

He went on to urge the council to crack down on those who do not properly maintain their property. "I want all parts of the city to be clean and look nice. We need to let people know that we mean what we say."

In other business, Mayor Biggerstaff announced that Barry Fleming, city attorney, plans to run for Paul Broun's seat in Congress. Fleming currently represents Lincoln County in the Georgia House of Representatives.

In further business, the mayor informed council that the city has received a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for Phase II of the city's sewer renovation project.

"I would like to thank Governor Sonny Perdue, Mike Beatty, the people at DCA, and Barry Fleming for helping us obtain these funds," said Mayor Biggerstaff.

Also during the meeting, the council:

.. Voted to send a proposed water service delivery strategy map to the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners for review.

"When drawing the boundaries, we looked for areas that were logical for the city to service in the future," said Kenny Greene, an engineer with G. Ben Turnipseed Engineers.

.. Heard the Water Department Report given by Superintendent Stanley Parton, who said, "With the heat index at 108 degrees, water production increased quite a bit in August, climbing from 15 million gallons in July to 17.95 million gallons in August."

In other items of information, Superintendent Parton pointed out that the plant has been experiencing a high concentration of manganese in the raw water from the lake and is doing quite a bit of flushing. He went on to stress that the manganese does not pose a health threat to the public. "It's just stained water," he said.

Parton further reported that someone broke into the water plant and ruined the door on the newest supply building. However, nothing was found missing.

.. Granted a request made by Nancy Hohlwein, president of the Lincolnton Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce, to close certain streets, provide traffic control, and so forth for the 10th Annual Holidays in Olde Lincoln Festival set for Saturday, De- cember 1.

.. Voted to hire the Municipal Code Corporation (MCC) of Tallahassee, Florida, to codify the city's ordinances at a base rate of $7,500. .. Was informed by the city clerk that as of Friday, September 7, all merchants have purchased a business license for the year.

.. Heard Mayor Biggerstaff give an update on renovation efforts at the Lincolnton Clubhouse.

.. Discussed purchasing a new garbage truck and using the old truck as a backup. Repairs had to be made to the old truck recently, which made it necessary for the city to borrow a truck from the City of Washington.

"I would like to thank Mike Eskew, the city manager for Washington; Mayor Willie Burns; and the city council for helping us out," said Mayor Biggerstaff.

.. Voted to enter into executive session to discuss personnel. Upon returning to regular session, the council took no action.

The next regular meeting of the mayor and council will be held Monday, October 1, at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.