Council to Discuss Stage Rental, Street Improvement

The Canton City Council will hear an update on a general street improvement plan and discuss usage rights for the city's mobile stage during their meeting Thursday evening.

According to City Manager Scott Wood, who will be presenting an update on the city's street improvement plan tonight, there are still several transportation consulting firms in the running to develop an overall plan for the city's 100-plus miles of roadway.

"We are continuing to assess presentations, and we'd like to advance a recommendation at the next council meeting," Wood said.

Whichever firm wins the contract, it will be responsible for developing a plan that will allow the city to improve and maintain the roads under its care with the best use of multiple funding sources such as SPLOST revenue, DOT grants, and general fund money.

The new plan will also give the city a framework to use when applying for new street improvement grants and provide guidelines for grant administration.

In another discussion, Councilman Glen Cummins will introduce a proposal to set a rental policy for the mobile stage owned and operated by the City of Canton.

During the previous city council meeting, it was decided to enact a $750 rental fee for any group wishing to use the stage, but no firm guidelines were established beyond pricing.

Cummins told Patch that he had a bullet point list that he will introduce tonight would include groups that would and would not be allowed to rent the stage, and said that his policy would not be voted on until the next council meeting at the earliest.

The councilman firmly rejected the idea of grandfathering any organizations which currently use the stage into a new stage rental policy, saying that he does not want to bind future councils to any potentially unworkable agreements in the future.

"It will be a firmer policy than the one we've had in the past," Cummins said.

Cummins hopes to have a policy in place soon, especially in light of the soon-to-be amphitheater in Etowah River Park. 

Please see the attached agenda for the other items that will be discussed by the council tonight. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. at Canton City Hall; Canton-Sixes Patch will host a live stream of the meeting for persons unable to attend.