Aragon OKs bids for land purchase, tree trimming

Aragon’s November city council meeting sported a light agenda consisting of mostly new business, mainly looking to take care of a number of small items as the calendar year winds down and the holiday season approaches.

Hiring a tree trimmer, paying for lights in the new storage barn, and setting rules for the basketball court were important business items, but the council began the session by opening sealed land bids.

The council opened sealed bids for the land surplus, located at 26 Walnut St., and the winner proved to be Melisa Hughes with a bid of $2,500. The only opposing bid was Charles Daniel’s bid of $600.

The council approved the higher bid for Hughes, who lives across the street from the lots approved for surplus during the October meeting.

Hughes said that they haven’t decided yet on what they plan to do with the property.

The council approved Boatner’s Tree Service as the business that will cruise the town streets and remove any decaying, dead, or dangerous limbs that could cause future problems. The $8,500 service will be paid from the special asset account.

“There’s no other tree services that will come around here anymore,” Public Works Superintendent Daniel Johnson said. “All Star is the only other one, and they shut down. This is one of those proactive things. This is for every single street in the city. This isn’t just search for them, this is going up and down every single street.”

Aragon recently put together a new storage barn, and the building’s lights are the finishing touches. The council approved the total spending of $1,046.37 to outfit the barn with light.

The figure is broken up into six different expenditures including $277.97 for the wires, $579.82 for the lights themselves, $51.00 for outlet boxes, $46.32 for weather boxes, $7.44 in blank covers, and $83.82 in GFI outlets all paid for via special assets and to be repaid by SPLOST infrastructure.

“These were the cheapest prices. Me and Josh (Ozment) will be doing all the work on this as well — it’s not contracted out,” Johnson said.

With Aragon’s basketball court up and running, the council made it an issue to place new rules for use of the court. The council strived for leniency while taking reference from typi- cal basketball court rules from other cities.

The following court rules were approved:

Inspect the court before surface before you begin play.

No skate boards or bikes allowed on court.

Alcoholic beverages and drugs are prohibited.

Spectators and pets not allowed on the court during games.

No hanging from basketball backboard, rim, or net.

Tagging or graffiti found on the playing surface or back board may result in closure.

Court available for use during daylight hours only.

Use at your own risk. The last two rules were amended into the rule set by the council.

“One thing we need to add is daylight hours only,” Mayor Garry Baldwin said. “That’s it. When it starts getting dark head on home.”

“Another thing is we need to add play at your own risk,” Johnson said. “I feel like we need to add that.”

Before adjourning, Judd Fee was welcomed to the City Council as a new member who is expected to take office immediately.

Linda Illburn and Arnold Wheeler were promptly appointed to the Downtown Development Authority.