Politics & Government

Live: Canton City Council Meeting

One of the topics that may come up is water rates, which could rise 20 percent.

For the first time since a Charlotte, NC, company recommended that Canton , the is meeting tonight. City manager Scott Wood will bring up the matter at the end of his report. See the PDF on this page for the full agenda. Canton-Sixes Patch editor Rodney Thrash is at the meeting. Follow his live updates on Twitter (@CantonSxesPatch), and we'll compile those messages here a few minutes later for further contemplation and comment.

And that's all, folks. Read below for the latest on a variety of interesting topics (really), including a widening unassigned fund balance in the city audit, alternatives to higher water rates and increased fees to use the city's waste collection sites.

7:37 p.m. The low bidder is a subcontractor to the high bidder, Hobgood says. At the next meeting, the council will decide what to do.

Find out what's happening in Canton-Sixeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

7:35 p.m. Apparently, the high and low bidders have some type of connection. Hobgood asks for new bids. "It's never too late" to right a wrong, he says.

7:34 p.m. New topic: an engineering report on recent road-paving bids.

Find out what's happening in Canton-Sixeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

7:32 p.m. Wood directs the painting of stripes and bicycle markers at the park to alleviate issues.

7:27 p.m. New topic: bicycles in . Hobgood is leading the discussion.

7:25 p.m. New topic: Wood says the council will have to decide whether the public opts in or out of weather notices if enrolled in the city's alert system. Both your cellphone and home phone will go off.

7:20 p.m. Raising rates 20 percent, council member Rush says, would put Canton at the median of other municipalities.

7:19 p.m. Hobgood: We will ask some of our council members to form a committee to meet with Cherokee for some discussion.

7:19 p.m. Hobgood: We cannot have our residents paying an unreasonably high amount for water and sewer above and beyond other jurisdictions.

7:18 p.m. Hobgood: It would be wise on our part to investigate that as a possibility.

7:17 p.m. One thing we need to consider is to look and talk to the Cherokee Water and Sewer Authority, the mayor says.

7:16 p.m. Hobgood says there are quite a number of alternatives that the city needs to look at.

7:14 p.m. Rush says the city needs to analyze its rate structure comprehensively.

7:13 p.m. Hobgood asks about the effect of raising water rates for people outside the city limits.

7:10 p.m. New topic: water rates.

7:09 p.m. The city will resume discussions of the proposal at the next council meeting.

7:06 p.m. Tanner says the proposal, which would include folks who have given at least 20 years of service, may affect some city employees.

7:05 p.m. Beresford wants employees to stay on the city program rather than COBRA. "If you retire at 60, you're going to find a problem."

7:01 p.m. Rush says one employee has told him that the proposal, which would have a cutoff of 60 years old, is "unfair."

7 p.m. Ten employees age 55 or younger have 20 years or more of service. Some have 30 years, Wood says.

6:58 p.m. New topic: retiree health insurance questions.

6:56 p.m. Wood says those fee changes will be made as soon as the council gives direction. The issue merely came up as a discussion item.

6:56 p.m. "It's a good service, to be able to clean up your basement, dump it in your truck and go over to one of those Dumpsters," Hobgood says.

6:54 p.m. Hobgood agrees it should be limited to city residents. New fees would be $20 for SUVs, $40 for box trucks or dumptrucks.

6:53 p.m. Rush discusses a proposal to limit the sites to Canton residents and to increase fees.

6:51 p.m. Next up: city collection sites. Council member Bob Rush says he would shut the collection sites down because the city has lost money.

6:51 p.m. Most of it is interior work, Wood says.

6:50 p.m. They want permission to do work after hours.

6:50 p.m. Wood says Wal-Mart is going to be doing some remodeling.

6:47 p.m. Opportunity zones allow job tax credits. Enterprise zones do not.

6:46 p.m. Part of downtown (River Mill LCI) is already included in the enterprise zone, which is different from an opportunity zone.

6:42 p.m. Beresford wants downtown included in that plan.

6:40 p.m. If there's 15 percent poverty, this plan will define that area as an opportunity zone.

6:40 p.m. The urban redevelopment plan involves the county and the city of Ball Ground.

6:37 p.m. Next item: resolutions to adopt capital improvements and an urban redevelopment plan.

6:35 p.m. The city went from four to 16 claims this year, which include auto accidents and liability issues.

6:34 p.m. Wood is talking about deductibles and premiums now. The city is programmed to go with a higher premium, he says.

6:32 p.m. Wood is going through budget amendments line by line now.

6:30 p.m. Two of the six council members, Amelia Rose and Bill Bryan, are absent from tonight's meeting.

6:28 p.m. Wood explains that it came from an unassigned fund balance within the water and sewer fund.

6:27 p.m. Beresford asks whether the money for the water rate study came from the unassigned fund balance or the water and sewer fund.

6:26 p.m. True to form, Beresford has a lot of questions about the finances of the city tonight.

6:25 p.m. Next up: second-quarter budget amendments.

6:25 p.m. "That's good news," Beresford says. (Essentially, the city has an extra $230,000 in leftover money that isn't tied to any specific account or purpose.)

6:24 p.m. He says he thought it was $1.5 million, not $1.73 million.

6:24 p.m. Beresford now asks about the $1.73 million unassigned fund balance.

6:23 p.m. Council member Pat Tanner says she concurs with some of Beresford's concerns.

6:20 p.m. Beresford has another questions about deposits on Page 101 of the audit. Price says the account referenced is now closed.

6:20 p.m. "There are some items that we can correct going forward," the CFO says.

6:18 p.m. "What are we doing to alleviate this in 2011?" Beresford asks the CFO.

6:17 p.m. Canton's chief financial officer, Scott Price, has joined the auditor at the podium to address Beresford's question.

6:16 p.m. The auditor's response to Beresford: Standards have changed.

6:13 p.m. City Council member John Beresford has a question about pages 95 to 97 of the audit, dealing with corrections made to the audit. "It concerns me that we're not in compliance."

6:12 p.m. "We did give a clean opinion, which is what you received in the past."

6:12 p.m. Mauldin & Jenkins, the auditor of the city's books, is up at the podium now.

6:11 p.m. The next reading will be two weeks from now, Mayor Gene Hobgood says.

6:11 p.m. This is a first reading of the ordinance, City Manager Scott Wood says.

6:09 p.m. The first item under old business: utility deposit rate ordinance. This will allow the City Council to adopt a rate schedule.

(6:08 p.m. From @willgoodwin: "I'm glad you're updating cause I'm late. :)")

6:07 p.m. Fourteen trees have been planted at the Paw Park, she says.

6:06 p.m. April 16 is still a go for the of the county's , she says.

6:06 p.m. President Alesa Sisson is up next.

6:05 p.m. The resident wants the project removed from the city's "thoroughfare plan."

6:02 p.m. A resident is talking about the Hickory Flat extension.

6:01 p.m. Public input begins.

6 p.m. And we're off. The April 7 Canton City Council meeting is under way. (Warning: If you see Rodney and he looks a little faint, it's because he donated a pint of blood today. So please be nice to him.)


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