“Since March 9, we have not been operating our water plant,” City Manager Bill Stankiewicz told City Council on Monday. “We plan on waiting 30 days to make sure there are no issues before we start to mothball the plant.”
Facing costly upgrades at the Oak Street plant, Hogansville, which already was receiving part of its supply from LaGrange, chose to partner with Coweta County for water as well. That decision, made in October and requiring construction of a pipeline, allows Hogansville to shut down its water plant.
Meanwhile, the city continues to have problems with its aging sewage plant and related infrastructure. It recently was discovered that a spill in a line in woods behind Ga. 54 near Interstate 85 was caused by vandals who jammed tree limbs in a manhead. City officials initially thought grease was the culprit.
“When we dug down in there, that’s what we found,” Stankiewicz said. “There was grease, too, but it was obvious what the problem was.”
Council members said Monday night that security measures need to be taken so that manhead covers can’t be removed. The city likely will face a fine from the state Environmental Protection Division.
“When someone does something like this it costs the whole city, and that’s not right,” Mayor Jimmy Jackson said.
The city will receive money from the federal Economic Recovery Act, but so far, most of it will go to law enforcement. City leaders learned last week it will receive a $16,400 “justice assistance grant,” which may be used for “just about any purpose in law enforcement,” he said. A project for the money has not been decided.
Council also decided to apply for another stimulus-related law enforcement grant. The “Cops Hiring Recovery Program” will fully fund a police officer’s job for three years. Hogansville would be required to fund the job after that.
“It’s highly unlikely we would go three years without losing a police officer,” Stankiewicz said, meaning the city could hire an officer with the federal money and wind up not adding a position and costing the city more money.
“It’d sure be nice to get that for three years,” Councilman Thomas Pike said.
Council on Monday ap-proved a request from Canton Partners Inc. to allow taller billboard poles along a stretch of I-85. The planning board made the recommendation last week to allow billboards 20 feet above the tree line, which matches a similar variance granted last year to another developer. The council vote was 3-1; Charlie Frank Martin voted no and Jean Crocker was absent.
“I have a problem with billboards in general,” Martin said. “When we did this before, I said at the time that sooner or later we’d have billboards up and down the highway.”
Council also voted Monday night to allow Keep Troup Beautiful to paint and landscape the “Welcome to Hogansville” at Ga. 54 near the interstate. The organization will spend about $200 to stain the sign a slate green and plant crape myrtles and grass at the sign. Work should begin on the first warm day, and volunteers would be needed for landscaping.
“The organization wanted to do something nice for Hogansville,” said Elaine Carr, one of the city’s representatives on the KTB board.
Jennifer Shrader may be reached at jshrader@ lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311, Ext. 236.
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