Commissioner Durham recognized for award at commission meeting

Kicking off Tuesday’s regular work session and meeting of the Mayor and Douglas City Commission, the Commission took up consideration of whether to approve appointment of Ms. Jennifer Chilton to a two-year term on the Air Base Preservation and Economic Development Committee. Ms. Chilton is currently the Visitor Center Manager for the Douglas-Coffee Co. Chamber of Commerce. Community Development Director Georgia Henderson presented the proposal and recommended that Ms. Chilton be appointed. This proposal was placed on the consent agenda.

Next the Commission considered whether to approve moving forward with a request for proposal (RFP) for sale of the Martin Centre. In this instance the RFP would solicit bids from potential buyers of the Martin Centre. The Mayor and Commission had previously approved an appraisal of the Martin Centre in expectation of approving an RFP. The appraisal was performed by Cross Appraisal, Inc. in November of 2018. The market value of the Martin Centre was found to be $210,000.

Henderson presented this proposal. She told the Commission that even now, prior to the RFP, there are four interested buyers. Dir. Henderson also presented a letter from Chairman of the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) Scott Moore. Chairman Moore’s letter stated that the “DDA would like to explore the possibility of taking possession of the Martin and utilizing it as a fundraising arm to allow us to continue to improve our downtown”. Ward 3 Commissioner Pearson stated a desire to hear from the prospective buyers, while City Attorney Jerome Adams was curious as to whether the DDA would take full responsibility for the property. Mr. Adams further stated that in his opinion the appraisal value of $210,000 was an accurate one. Ward 5 Commissioner Cindy McNeill expressed a desire to hear from the DDA as well as any prospective buyers. This proposal was also placed on the consent agenda.

Next the Commission considered whether to hire Markey and Associates, Inc. (Markey) of Kennesaw to provide an architectural plan to renovate the city pool. This plan to renovate is sought in order to provide a uniform design so that more construction companies may bid upon the project and not be burdened with supplying their own design. Markey’s proposal stated that their design would cost $50,000. This was observed to be reasonable as architectural design work generally costs around four to five percent of the cost of the final project. The renovation of the city pool facilities is budgeted at $1.25 million, four percent of which is exactly $50,000. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Gowen expressed a desire to know more about Markey before approving this fee for their design. Soon thereafter the work session adjourned.

At 7:00 PM the regular meeting of the Commission was called to order. Ward 2 Commissioner Kentaiwon Carter Durham was presented with a UGA Carl Vinson Institute of Government Certificate of Excellence by Mayor Tony Paulk. The consent agenda was then approved. This was followed by the comments of the Commissioners and Mayor Paulk. The regular meeting was adjourned at 7:27 PM.