Aragon council approves surplus of garbage truck, cans
They approved surplus of numerous items, including the garbage truck, cans and a single axle trailer that were used for the former Public Worksbased collections that is now being overseen by Waste Industries after they won the bid from the city in October.
New collections began at the start of November, along with a new price for services. Residents are now paying $20 a month for service, and seniors still get a $3 discount but also got a price hike to $17 a month.
Aragon will be advertising the dump truck, single axle trailer and cans and take bids on their disposition through the end of November and into the beginning of December, with the intention of opening sealed offers and the council voting on them during the next monthly session.
They also decided to surplus the city’s old police radio antenna, which is causing more damage than good at this point. Out of use for several years since the closure of Aragon’s Fire Department, the radio antenna is now causing roof damage from the guide wires which help keep it in place. Mayor Garry Baldwin and Public Works Superintendent Daniel Johnson both said the antenna must be removed before the city can move forward with any repairs made to the structure.
All the money from surplus items minus the radio antenna will go back into the city’s Special Assets fund, which in an October financial report showed an account balance of just $94.
City officials said new funds were added back to the account to the tune of $4,000, but the city is already spending some of that money on repairs to the city hall fire alarm system.
The total cost of those repairs are $935 in a lone bid from Secure Source of Rockmart, who did the install of the new system.
Johnson explained that when the city upgraded their security and fire system in past months, they found that five of the smoke detectors installed previously and now connected up were found to be defective and have to be replaced.
It needs to be done before the city enacts a new false alarm ordinance, which was tabled for one more month to allow for City Attorney Zach Burkhalter to make additional adjustments to it’s language.
Burkhalter explained to council members during their work session they would have to wait while he changed the ordinance to fix issues with penalties set aside
Johnson said the city’s fix of fire alarms will be completed before the ordinance will go into effect, which the city would find itself violating with numerous false alarms of their own over the past months with the defective smoke alarms.
Baldwin told council members to be prepared to spend extra funds if the contractor installing the new alarms finds additional defective units during the installation process, at more than $100 each.
City council members also approved a new part time position to take over cleaning services of city hall. They’re looking for someone willing to act as janitor on a fourday a week schedule for three hours a day to keep the Brenda Gazaway Municial Complex up.
In the motion, they also approved an hourly wage of $9 an hour for the future employee. Applications for the position are open, and those interested can contact City Clerk Christie Langston at 770-684-6563 for more on how to apply.
Langston told council members during their November work session that their current $11 an hour being paid for just four hours of work to a staffing company to take care of city hall wasn’t nearly enough to keep the complex clean. Those also having to clean at city hall for community service requirements also aren’t doing enough to keep the building clean.
Even Municipal Court Judge Terry Wheeler added his support to hiring someone part time to do the work.
“It’s a full time job keeping a house clean,” Wheeler said. “This building is three times the size of a regular house.”
Also, the council decided what to do with their K-9 vest and equipment used to transport Nero previously purchased in a swap for a vehicle from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
The city were in negotiations to sell the vest to the City of White after their purchase of Nero in the past months, but wanted the vest for less than Aragon council members were willing to part with it for. Instead, the city received an offer from the Sheriff’s Office locally to trade their K-9 vehicle for another patrol vehicle in service by deputies currently.
Baldwin proposed and council members agreed that they would contribute the K-9 vest to the Sheriff’s Office for one of their two new dogs in service as a way to give back to the Countywide Drug Task Force, since the department wasn’t able to lend an officer to the cause.
Johnson added that in the past, the city borrowed a police cruiser from the Sheriff’s Office during tough times, and didn’t return it for several years after adding many miles to the odometer, and to a point where it was put up for surplus after Aragon’s officers used it.
“They really helped us out during a tough time,” Johnson said.
Aragon’s Downtown Development Authority also got a new definition of their area for promotion after city council members approved of a new territory map.
Baldwin said the Aragon’s DDA was previously mostly focused on a small portion of the Highway 101 corridor, which has only one business within the old borders. The new map includes areas of the mill village, Vulcan’s quarry, the old mill and a longer stretch of Highway 101.
It and all the other items up for vote other than the first reading of the city’s false alarm ordinance passed in 3-0 votes. Council member Candace Seiz wasn’t present for either the work or regular session for November.