News: Rome poised to add indoor tennis courts; commissioners to tour construction sites.
Commissioners also plan a “road trip” to see projects under construction in the community.
The City Commission is poised to approve on Monday plans to issue $4 million in bonds to finance construction of indoor courts at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College.
The bonds would be issued by the Rome Recreational Facilities Authority, which also issued the $11 million in bonds used to build the tennis center.
The 2015 bonds were backed by special purpose, local option sales tax revenue. The 2018 bonds would be backed by the city.
Rome recently paid off its purchase of the West Third Street properties and bonds issued for Stonebridge Golf Course will be paid off in 2024, according to Finance Director Sheree Shore. The annual debt service alloca- tions for the two properties are expected to be redirected toward the covered courts project.
Commissioners start their regular meeting at 6 p.m. in City Hall, 601 Broad St. Their pre-meeting caucus will start early, at 4 p.m., to include a bus tour of city projects.
“We’re going to take a short little road trip around our community,” Mayor Jamie Doss said. “We’ll probably look at Burnett Ferry Road, ride by Spider Webb Drive and maybe take a trip to Chulio Hills.”
The $2.1 million widening project on Burnett Ferry Road, which includes sidewalks down to Alto Park Elementary School, “looks amazing,” Commissioner Craig McDaniel said during discussions about the tour last week.
The city also is relocating Spider Webb Drive for the new Main Elementary and making improvements to Honeysuckle Ridge Road as part of a safety upgrade at the Chulio Hills subdivision.
Other possible destinations on the tour include the GE trails at Garrard Park off Redmond Circle and an interpretive center on Jackson Hill. The center is funded through an earmark in the 2013 SPLOST to remodel a building that was part of Fort Norton, a Civil War entrenchment.
“We’re getting real close on Fort Norton,” City Manager Sammy Rich said.
Doss said the board also is scheduled to get a presentation during caucus on the new parking plan for downtown Rome.