Barrow Journal

Last weekend’s torrential downpours not only flooded city streets and backed up sewage, but they also brought back the tabled proposal for a new storm water tax in Winder.

City sources said this week that the council’s water committee would meet as early as next week to begin work on an ordinance establishing a storm water utility and tax.

In tabling the initial proposal Aug. 3, the council directed the committee to study it with the intention that any new tax would not go into effect until this time next year. However, the flooding of yards, streets — and the entire football field of Winder-Barrow High School — has moved the issue back to the front burner. [Full Story »] 

After a political roller-coaster ride over several days, the Winder City Council on Tuesday night decided not to move forward with a controversial $4.9 million federal loan for a new public works complex.

It also tabled for further study a proposed storm water ordinance that would have levied a new tax on every developed property inside the city limits as soon as October.

But the council did approve – in a tie vote broken by Mayor Chip Thompson – to implement a new pay scale of up to $132,666 for the next city administrator.

The high-dollar issues carried potentially huge political stakes, particularly for the mayor, after several business leaders joined in the council’s public debate and argued against both the new debt and the new tax.
[Full Story »] 

A power struggle inside Winder’s city government may come to a head this week, when the mayor and city council at two meetings square off over hot-button issues involving millions of dollars in public funds and some last-minute political maneuvering.

On the agendas of Monday’s 5:30 p.m. work session and Tuesday’s 6 p.m. voting session are two big-ticket items:

• a new $256,500 engineering contract to keep alive a controversial $4.9 million federal loan application and public works project that the council three weeks ago appeared ready to halt.

• and a new storm water ordinance with a rate schedule that would cost city property owners $380,904 in 2011 and twice that annually by 2015.


MAYOR DELIVERS ONE-TWO PUNCH

Mayor Chip Thompson on Friday ratcheted up the pre-meeting tension by delivering the council a political one-two punch. [Full Story »] 

In a sudden about-face, the Winder City Council voted Tuesday night to end a contract for services in connection with a $4.9 million federal loan to finance a new public works complex.

Five of the council’s six members voted not to ratify or amend the 2004 engineering contract through which Keck & Wood Inc., without the council’s knowledge, was paid more than $30,000 to assist the city administration in the preparation of the federal loan application and the new project off Miles Patrick Road.

Mayor Chip Thompson noted that most of the company’s work already had been completed.

However, the council’s rejection of the contract likely spells the end to the administration’s plans to borrow $5 million to build a massive new city complex. [Full Story »] 

Faced with a Sept. 30 deadline for tapping federal stimulus funds, the Winder City Council at a called meeting Tuesday approved moving forward with a $4.9 million loan application for a new public works facility.

The council’s vote was 4-1-1, with David Maynard voting no and Bob Dixon abstaining.

The vote followed a presentation by a representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which in late May announced the selection of the project for financing.

The loan’s approval has become controversial, however, because the council did not know until last week that the city had applied for it or that there were plans to use the money for a new public works complex on city property off Miles Patrick Road.
[Full Story »] 

The two newest members of Winder’s city council attempted to wrest some of Mayor Chip Thompson's control over the city government Tuesday.

But their effort failed after the mayor turned the tables on them by making the fight personal and also received backing from a third councilman, the city attorney, and a former city administrator who still does some work with the city.

The move by David Maynard and Bob Dixon came during a meeting that was called to talk about a $5 million federal loan application the council didn’t know about until last week.

After opposing that measure, Maynard made a motion to cut the mayor’s spending authority to a maximum of $25,000. He said he was forced to take action because private attempts to convince the mayor to be more open with the council had failed.
[Full Story »] 

There will be a called meeting of the Winder City Council at 5:30 p.m. today. On the agenda are the recently announced $4.9 million loan for a project several council members knew nothing about, as well as an amendment to the FY2011 budget that was approved just last week. [Full Story »] 

The Winder City Council on Tuesday night approved the city’s budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

But two nights of discussions leading up to the vote have raised questions about just who in the city government is controlling the purse strings.

The revelations began sometime before Monday’s council work session, when Councilman Sonny Morris found in his city hall mailbox a portion of a previously published legal notice announcing a public hearing and meeting about a $5 million loan the city had requested to build a new public works building.
[Full Story »] 

Winder residents, business owners and utility customers have an opportunity Thursday to tell the city’s elected officials what they think about the city’s proposed budget for FY2011.

The 5 p.m. public hearing at the Winder Community Center will be in front of the mayor and council. The budget is scheduled for adoption at the council’s June 8 meeting.

The proposed spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1 includes multiple rate and fee hikes, as well as a newly established fee for environmental services that will appear on property tax bills in December. The amount of that fee has not been set, because a study is under way to determine the amount of “impervious” surface on each parcel. The fee will be based on each parcel’s impervious surface. [Full Story »]