Grovetown to have only one council meeting per month

Grovetown officials agreed Monday to eliminate a second monthly city council meeting.

//

The council currently meets at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. Mayor George James said the council often doesn't have enough business to warrant the second meeting.

Work sessions, which are open to the public, will start at 5:30 p.m. on the second Monday beginning April 12. The council meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

"We want to try and see how it works out," James said.

Council members also heard recommendations about the city's recent Tier 1 designation from a committee formed to study its effect on the city.

The Department of Community Affairs, which offers programs and assistance to encourage development, previously labeled Grovetown a Tier 4 community, like the rest of Columbia County. The change provides more tax incentives in the form of higher job credits to potential manufacturers and other large employers contemplating relocating or expanding to the area.

The committee includes Dale Stoddard, former Mayor Dennis Trudeau, former City Councilman Dick Manion and City Administrator Shirley Beasley.

With Grovetown's Tier 1 designation, businesses moving into the city creating at least five full-time jobs will receive a $3,500 tax credit per employee. In areas designated Tier 4, employers qualify for only a $750 tax credit for at least 25 jobs.

"What does it do for Grovetown? It broadens the tax base," Stoddard told the council. "It means more SPLOST (special purpose local option sales tax) money ... for the city."

City officials hope the higher incentives will entice more businesses to the area.

The committee also recommended that city officials create an Urban Redevelopment Plan and declare certain areas as blighted, which would allow city officials to apply for infrastructure and beautification grants.

Other recommendations include activating the city's existing beautification and landscape ordinance, creating a brochure and possibly a second Web site touting the city's amenities.

City councilmen said they would take the committee's recommendations under advisement.