Community News
News from Tuesday's city council meeting.
By Dave Whitaker
Aug 12, 2020, 11:00

Cochran City Council held their monthly meeting Tuesday night in the city auditorium. As have been recent meetings, it was closed to the public but streamed online. Two members weren’t present for the meeting. Keith Anderson and Rufus Veal. But there was a quorum.

In opening remarks, Mayor Billy Yeomans said he hoped things would improve so that people could attend again. He also asked those watching to contact their member of council if they were interested in filling the current vacancy on the Cochran Bleckley Rec. Department board.

A change was made to the agenda at the request of member Carla Coley. Removed was a resolution calling for watering of plants downtown. Added was allowing Downtown Development Authority Chair Rusty Lloyd to ask the council to approve a matching funds grant from Georgia Council for the Arts for the mural at Roberson’s Barber Shop.

Firefighter Quang Nguyen was recognized as City Employee of the Month. He received a check, Subway gift card, and certificate from Chief Brock Wilcher.

Many of the items on the agenda were approved with little discussion. The first being adoption of a resolution to file a Georgia Land & Water Conservation Fund grant application to Georgia Department of Natural Resources to finance improvements at Willie Basby Park. City Manager Richard Newbern said improvements included building a walking trail as putting in playground equipment.

The complete agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found at https://www.cityofcochran.com/Assets/Files/Agendas/2020/AGENDA--RegularMeetingAugust112020Agenda003Final.pdf

One item that did generate discussion was a development agreement with Lowcountry Housing Communities LLC and Mr. Earl Arnold on the development of Havenwood Gardens and Havenwood Daisy Senior apartment developments and the financing/construction of a sewer line to serve the developments. There was discussion regarding property location and the need to annex it to make it part of the city so it could receive city services.

There was concern over the specific language, plus the possibility of being stuck with a sewage bill without having city services. There was also the matter of the property being located on Daisy Adams Road, outside city limits.

Wilcher spoke, said he had a conversation with someone in charge of building the development, they were very anxious to be part of the city. The motion passed 4-1, Gary Ates voted against, stating he believed the annexation matter should be clarified.

In speaking to the council, Lloyd said the grant maximum would be $5,000, matched by the city. He noted they didn’t anticipate getting that much. In response to a question from Yeomans, Lloyd said the DDA is their own authority, but had to ask city council for the funding.

The motion was approved, but Yeomans then cautioned that the city couldn’t afford to continue to fund the DDA. Coley (A DDA member) said it took time to develop a revenue stream, they were trying to become self-sufficient. In response to a question, she said the DDA had been in existence for a year. Lloyd said many of their fundraisers had been shut down due to COVID-19.

In open remarks, council member Carla Coley said she asked the plant watering to be removed because the city had been unable to keep the plants watered after agreeing to do so. She said DDA would handle it going forward.

Coley then brought up the growth of trees, branches, and weeds on several downtown properties. She said she understood that regular maintenance had been impacted (prison laborers hadn’t been available due to COVID.) Coley suggested hiring a landscaping company to do the work. Newbern said he thought it could be done with funds designated for maintenance.

Yeomans used his open remarks to ask city clerk Tracy Jones if anyone had used the comment form on cityofcochran.com to submit comments. She said they hadn’t. The form is in the comment section of the website. Jones said they would be glad to print out a comment form for anyone who didn’t have Internet access.

Before going into Executive Session, Yeomans asked people to take care of themselves and look out for each other, noting the recent rise in coronavirus cases locally. He encouraged people to pray for those affected and their families.


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