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Johnston Council August meeting: Councilman
to depart for Iraq in two weeks Edgefielddaily.com web posted August 9, 2005 The Town of Johnston held its August regular meeting tonight, Monday August 8, at the Town Hall. All council members were present. After the invocation and Pledge the Mayor had council go into a Public Hearing on the Community Development Block Grant Citizen Participation Plan. Ruth LaForge, of the Upper Savannah Council on Governments, spoke and explained the CDGB application process to citizens and council. Ms. LaForge explained that the new guidelines require all the homes to be repaired with the grants to be in a compact area so the impact of the money spent can be easily seen by officials and the public. The state will make 2.5 million dollars available for all projects and the highest amount available per request is $500,000, “basically with $500,000 grants there will be only five given out,” Ms. LaForge said. She stated because of the close proximity to Augusta Edgefield County is available for funding and the Town of Johnston, having the entire town meeting Lower to Middle Income requirements with 51% of the town falling under the set target of income levels. The funds will be made available in September. In the Public Comments period A representative for Bethany Baptist Church asked the council why they received a letter demanding the clean up of debris in the back area of the property and being only given thirteen days to complete the work before legal action is taken. Councilman Tommy Burton commented he did not think it was fair to force a thirteen day deadline on the Church while allowing the owner of the Old Flour Mill, “two and a half year and he still isn’t’ done.” Mayor Campbell said that was a “special” situation and the owner was given a year and has been granted a six month extension because it was such a large undertaking. Most of the properties that are given the thirteen day deadline are small projects that can be done in a matter of a day or two the Mayor said. The Mayor then moved on to approval of the Minutes of the July meeting and the July Financial Report and council voted 6-0 to approve both. The Mayor also asked council to look over the review of the July bills. Under Old Business Councilman Tommy Burton state he had been approached by the owner of the NAPA store and they were complaining they were not getting a “fair share” of the business from the town. Mayor Campbell stated the town makes a point to “spread our business around to all the businesses,” as best as possible. The Mayor did ask to Clerk to look into the NAPA complaint. Under New Business the Mayor stated the only item he had was an announcement; Councilman Frank Nicholson III was a member of the National Guard and his unit was being shipped out to Iraq on August 28th. “This is his last council meeting for about 18 months,” the Mayor said also explaining there would not be an election to replace Councilman Nicholson during his absence. “His seat will just remain empty,” since he was not resigning, “he is merely going to fulfill his obligation to the National Guard and we appreciate him for doing that,” Mayor Campbell said. Mr. Nicholson is a member of the 122nd Reserve Unit out of Saluda. Administrator Gambrell gave his report and said the CDBG work for the water and sewer work has been completed and they were just waiting on a few small items to be taken care of. He also stated the town had hired Kenny Randall to fill the position of a retired worker. Mr. Gambrell also stated he wanted to give a very special thank you to the City of Laurens for the use of a piece of equipment, a side loader, they loaned to the town for two weeks and could not have completed the work otherwise as the town’s equipment was broken down. He also wanted to thank the County for the use of a part from an older piece of equipment that fit a truck they needed to repair and it, “saved us about $4,000.” When asked how the town got the part Mr. Gambrell looked at the press with a grin and stated the county had “given” the part to them. Under the Mayor’s report Mayor Campbell said the work for the CDBG grants was important and that communication between the council members and the citizens was important as they faced several upcoming issues and he wanted the town to, “finish strong,” in the last half of the year. With no other business on the agenda the council voted to adjourn. Return to Main Page
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