The Waynesboro City Commission met in regular session on Monday, January 11th, 2021 at City Hall in Waynesboro. Commissioners present included Mayor Chris Bevis, Vice Mayor Jeff Davis, Commissioner Lynn Warren, Commissioner Jeff Howell, and Commissioner Tony Creasy. Also in attendance were City Manager John Hickman and City Recorder Paige Jackson.
Mayor Bevis called the meeting to order, and Commissioner Warren offered the invocation.
First on the agenda was approval of the minutes from the December 14th, 2020 commission meeting. Prior to a motion being made for approval of the minutes, Vice Mayor Davis stated that he would like to clarify his passing on the vote for the position of City Judge at the previous meeting. The vice mayor said that he wanted to make it clear that he had nothing personal against Attorney James Ross, who was voted on by the commission to become the next City Judge. Davis said that he felt that Ross had been portrayed as the only attorney in the county qualified to fill the position of City Judge, and he felt that the position should have been advertised before a vote was taken. A discussion followed, with the other commissioners stating that they never intended to present Ross as being the only person qualified for the position; they just felt that selecting Ross would be financially beneficial to the city because of Ross’ ability to hear juvenile traffic court cases instead of transferring them to the county court.
Following this discussion, Commissioner Creasy made a motion to approve the minutes from the regular commission meeting on December 14th, 2020. Commissioner Warren seconded the motion, and the minutes were unanimously approved.
Next, City Manager Hickman read to the commission a letter received from Harvey Baker expressing Mr. Baker’s appreciation for the renaming of the soccer fields at the Sportsplex in his honor. The commission voted at the previous meeting to rename the fields in Mr. Baker’s honor for all the time and hard work he has dedicated to the soccer program over many years.
City Manager Hickman then made a recommendation to cancel the next commission meeting scheduled for January 25th. He said that with COVID cases still on the rise, it would be wise to handle the city’s business in only one meeting per month rather than two unless an emergency situation arises. The commissioners agreed, and the next meeting will be held on February 8th, 2021.
The only item of new business on the agenda was the approval of three new water tap requests: 1410 Old Highway 64E, 1412 Old Highway 64E, and 475 Faye Drive. City Manager Hickman said that all required fees had been paid for the water taps. Commissioner Howell made a motion to approve the three taps, and Vice Mayor Davis seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
Under open items on the agenda, Commissioner Creasy asked once again if the engineers who designed the city sewer plant were going to be consulted about the odor problem at the plant. City Manager Hickman said that one of the engineers would probably be at the February commission meeting to discuss the issue.
Vice Mayor Davis said that he had seen an advertisement for a city police officer, and asked how many the city is in need of. City Manager Hickman said that one position is open at this time.
Commissioner Howell asked how much road salt the city has stockpiled, and City Manager Hickman said there is definitely plenty – probably enough for at least three years.
With no further business to come before the commission, Commissioner Howell made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Creasy seconded the motion, and the meeting was adjourned.
