The mayor, city manager and council members reviewed and discussed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Baxley and the Appling County Development Authority as it relates to the Oglethorpe Power Company’s (OPC) water and sewer services at the regular council meeting on Aug. 11. Council member Tim Varnadore made a motion to approve the MOU for the water and sewer services relating to the new plant. Council member Betty Livingston made a second motion and the item passed unanimously. OPC expects to use approximately 450 million gallons of water per year, primarily for cooling purposes. They plan to discharge 55 million gallons of water per year from the plant. OPC is intending to drill two wells for water use at the plant. Manager Jeff Baxley reported that the city will specifically be providing “gray water” and possibly “potable water,” if they choose to not drill the wells. The city agrees to treat the plant’s wastewater and provide domestic sewage at the wastewater treatment plant. The manager stated that Oglethorpe Power is pushing to get this contract signed and the contract will be specific concerning primarily with “gray water”. The manager announced that he and Engineer Carl Hofstadter would be meeting with OPC officials Aug. 11 at 2:00 p.m.

Special presentation

Fire Chief Jim Ammons came before the city council to thank them for providing the funds for a new fire truck. Chief Ammons stated that the Baxley Fire Department received the new truck July 31. He also added that it was placed into service Tuesday night, Aug. 4. The new fire truck was parked out front of City Hall for everyone to see.

Old business

The mayor and council adopted a resolution pertaining to the 54th annual (Jack and Mariah) Summerall Family Gathering. The reunion is held every year on the fourth week in August in Baxley and will be held Aug. 27 to Aug. 30.

New business

The council unanimously approved an ad valorem taxation agreement between the City of Baxley and Oglethorpe Power Company. The agreement will be made by and among the Board of Commissioners of Appling County on behalf of Appling County (Commissioners), Board of Tax Assessors of Appling County, the Development Authority of Appling County, the Baxley City Council on behalf of the City of Baxley and Oglethorpe Power Corporation. Oglethorpe is presently evaluating the feasibility of constructing a biomass electric generating facility in Appling County. The economic burden of ad valorem taxes on the facility is a significant factor in determining the economic feasibility of its construction. To induce and facilitate the construction of the facility, the Authority has made available to the OPC taxable revenue bond financing of up to $400,000,000.00. Under such financing, the Development Authority will own the land; building, equipment and other property purchased for the facility with the bond proceeds and will lease the property to the company under a 20-year lease. At the end of the lease period or upon the earlier termination of the lease, the lessee will have the obligation to purchase the land, building and equipment from the Authority for a nominal sum. The Authority will purchase the company’s lease payments to pay the interest and principal associated with the bond issue and indebtedness.

Council member Mickey Bass made a motion to approve a request made by Georgia Power Company for easement of one foot behind the right of way on U.S. Hwy 1 South with the exception of no guide wires in the field. Council member Dr. Esco Hall, Jr. made a second motion and the item was approved. City Manager Jeff Baxley explained that the city owns the field and it is being rented out. The land is currently being farmed. The field is located near the Pat Brannen property.

The council presented the proposed FY2010 budgets and set a budget workshop date for Aug. 18 at 9:00 a.m. The manager reported that the budget is going well and meeting the proposed projected revenues. He also stated there will be very little capital requests for this year. The manager also stated that the depreciation number is very, very high for the new wastewater treatment plant for this year, half a million dollars of depreciation. The manager concluded by saying they get the depreciation number from the auditor.

A public hearing date was set for Sept. 1 at 6:00 p.m. for a request for annexation for property located at 31 Douglas Drive owned by J. Merrell Miles to be zoned Commercial/B2 for wholesale/retail sales. The approval was contingent upon correct deed documentation. Following the annexation there will be a public hearing for the proposed FY2010 Budgets.

City manager report

-The manager announced there was a lot of paper work involved for applying for the grant application for the amount of $24,000.00 for the Baxley Police Station for purchasing updated camera equipment. This grant is part of the stimulus money and they have completed all paper work.

-Baxley was pleased to announce that Carl Hofstadter was named Engineer of the Year in Macon. Jeff stated that Hofstadter is the engineer for the City of Baxley.

-He reported that they have been getting many positive comments on how good the streets look and how downtown Baxley looks with all the flowers. The mayor said we should never underestimate the importance of how our city looks when people are driving through. They commended Stevie Spell who runs the street sweeper and the good job he is doing.

-Baxley reported on the heavy rains that were received on Friday, Aug. 7. He stated the water was going in the door at C&L Jewelry. He further stated that all in all the water was gone pretty quick. He also reported that the Mauldin Street area has problems when it rains. The manager said he is hoping that the project for Mauldin Street will get funded so the phase 2 project can be completed.