During Monday night’s Hogansville city council meeting, the council held off on passing action items on sanitation rates and fees that were previously discussed at the work session on June 20. 

Specific recommendations were: 

• Increase the monthly base fee of $18 for each residential customer and $16.50 for each additional can
• Increase the monthly base fee to $20 for each home-based business customer and $18 for each additional can
• Make residential sanitation pick up mandatory for all improved lots in the city 
• Assess of a monthly fee of $5 per vacant lot to offset cost of litter pickup and illegal dumping in right of way 
• Assess a $5 administrative fee to all new sanitation accounts to cover the cost of account setup, offset nonpayment of services 
• All commercial residential apartment buildings and complexes, including public housing facilities, should be required to have enclosed commercial dumpsters with no pickup service provided 
• Require a $5 administrative fee on all new residential sanitation customers to cover administration, evictions requiring bulk pickup, nonpayment of service, code compliance, etc. 
• Overhaul the entire solid waste ordinance to bring it into compliance with current operations and landfill policies 

Mayor Pro-Tem Theresa Strickland said that she is concerned that voting on those recommendations would not fix every problem the city is dealing with pertaining to sanitation. 

“When we talked about bringing sanitation back up, we looked at things we could access a fee to,” Strickland said. “But I think one of our bigger issues are situations where you have evictions or foreclosures and have all of their stuff out there (on the curb).”

Strickland said instead of voting, the council should discuss further and reconvene at a later council meeting or work session. 

“I would like us to address everything at one time verses us saying we are going to go up on this, this and this. There’s a huge expense for us to carry out.”

An additional recommendation was made by the council that the city should approach the marshal’s office when dealing with evictions so that the city can avoid trash nuisances on curbs. 

The council also discussed emergency repairs that will be needed for a concrete pipe running under Lawrence Street. Crawford Grading and Pipeline, Inc. was awarded the $50,000 bid to fix the pipe. 

City Manager David Milliron presented an update on the funding of the former PNC building that will serve as city hall after renovations. 

“We have received back our renovation plans, which we are figuring will cost $136,000 to $150,000 for the interior costs,” Milliron said. “We need and have to have chairs, which we currently do not have. Subsequentially the building was purchased with the Hogansville Trust money and an anonymous donor gave a $80,000 donation for the roof.” 

The council voted to move forward on the all-inclusive $150,000 loan request from the USDA. 

Additional items discussed at the meeting: 

• The Georgia Historical Society approved a civil rights marker for the location where an attempted assassination on Isiah Lofton took place, who served as the Hogansville postmaster in the 1980s. The unveiling of the marker will be held September 14, 2019 at 10 a.m.
• The USDA meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on July 11 during the town hall meeting. 
• The Hogansville Police Department and Troup County Animal Shelter will be providing free identification chips and shots for cats and dogs on July 13th, 2019 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Calvin Hipp Park in Hogansville.