City plans last hearing on proposed 2017 budget

The Jonesboro City Council conducted a public hearing about the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2017 during the council work session last week.

The total revenue expected in is $4,407,586. The total estimated expenditure for 2017 is $1,092,249. The council will vote on whether to adopt the budget during the council meeting Dec. 19.

The council also discussed two application requests for licenses to sell alcohol, which will be voted on within the next council meeting. The council noted that the Jonesboro police conduct background checks and recommended approval for them. One applicant, the Jamrock Jerk Center South restaurant at 265 Jonesboro Road, is requested by Demar Bromfield. The second request is due to a

City participating in housing initiative

Union City is among the communities recently selected to participate in the Georgia Initiative for Community Housing program.

GICH’s goal is to help communities create and start local plans to meet their housing needs. Over a three-year period, the participants’ community housing teams will share ideas and receive technical assistance on housing and community development.

Graduates from the program have gone on to redevelop a failed subdivision, provide housing counseling and down payment assistance, set up neighborhood watch programs and other efforts.

GICH’s class of 2016 also includes

Three seats open on zoning appeals board

Fayette County has three openings on its Zoning Board of Appeals. The five members of the board serve three-year terms to hear and decide appeals regarding decisions by the zoning administrator. The board can also issue permits and authorize variances.

Members meet as needed each month at 7 p.m. in Fayetteville, are paid $75 per meeting (but no more than $150 per month). They must be Fayette residents and not hold any other public office, although one member may be on the Planning Commission.

Applications are available from Tameca White at twhite@fayettecountyga.gov or 770-305-5103

Weathering the Storm. 1-2 p.m. today. Free. Fayette Senior Services, The Gathering Place, 203 McIntosh Trail, Peachtree City. Gene Norman, meteorologist with Weather Call and former chief meteorologist with CBS 46, will clear up common confusion around weather warnings. Register: 770-461-0813 or email register@fayss.org (include name, phone number and event title). Fayss.org.

Hope in Haiti. 10-11 a.m. Tuesday. Free. Fayette Senior Services, The Life Enrichment Center, 4 Center Drive, Fayetteville. Rachel Isons shares about the rescue of her father from earthquake-stricken Haiti to be treated for his stroke in 2010. 770-461-0813, Fayss.org.

Schools seek property next to MARTA lot

During a Tuesday executive session, Decatur’s school board voted to purchase .95 of an acre, currently a DeKalb County DFCS parking lot just south of the Avondale MARTA lot that’s slated to become a mixed-use development.

But on the same night, DeKalb County’s commission announced it wants another appraisal of the property, which could delay City Schools Decatur’s purchase for at least a month. Or DeKalb could kill the deal altogether if it decides not to approve the appraisal.

CSD wants to combine this acre with an adjacent acre owned by developer Columbia Ventures and build an Early Childhood Learning Center on the southwest portion of the site.

Superintendent David Dude said Friday that purchasing the property doesn’t guarantee a new ECLC gets built here, “but it makes it a lot easier to build the building we want.”

It appears, given this week’s recommendation by a facilities task force, the current ECLC will eventually have to find another home. The task force recommends renovating College Heights, where the ECLC now resides, into an elementary school holding 293 students.

If DeKalb does wind up agreeing to the appraisal, the school board would not have to take another vote. Cost of the property is about $1 million, Dude said.