By Noah Ansley
Demorest City Council members made decisions on four items at their meeting Tuesday night.
The first was an Animal Control Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) authorizing the city to pay the county to handle animals within Demorest city limits. The county will provide statistics to City Manager Mark Musselwhite and other council members on animal pickups within city limits. Under the agreement, the Demorest Municipal Court will hear these cases instead of the county’s magistrate court.
Council also approved moving forward with an application for a state grant to build two new sidewalks to help connect the city of Demorest.
The third item council approved was the grinder for the Demorest sewer plant. The grinder will cost $195,000 and will be using city funds or Special Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
Last, council increased the employee retirement multiplier from 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent. This would add an extra $1,200 per employee to the city budget.
In unfinished business, the city is preparing to eliminate Alto probation IGAs and replace them with CRSA out of its Cornelia office. This will not come at a cost to the city. The city is awaiting approval on the paperwork before making this transition.
Two items on the agenda were tabled for a later discussion.
An estimated $3 million project to improve the water meter system within city limits was tabled for discussion in 2027. A discussion of an iron ore zone was tabled because EMI’s Fletcher Holiday, the city’s engineer, was unable to attend.