Mayor Bill Glascock of Lookout Mountain, Ga. told council members on Thursday he wants to see a sidewalk from City Hall to the state line. Councilman David Fussell said the citizens voted in strong support of the pledge for sidewalks and it is incumbent on the council to act.

Mayor Glascock said he is working to get estimates for 4-foot, 6-foot, and 8-foot wide sidewalk construction costs. A 4-foot sidewalk, he said, could probably be done for about $40,000 if city crews did all the tree removal and base preparation. The wider sidewalks get tricky to estimate because walls, drop-offs, and utilities come into the equation. Adding curbs and gutters raises the costs much higher, he said.

“I raise my hand in favor of 4-foot sidewalks,” the mayor said. He said he envisions a meandering sidewalk separated from the street by an expanse of grass. Curbs and gutters would only be needed at intersections and a few other locations.

“I’ll do a four-, six-, or eight-foot sidewalk. Just tell me as a council what you want,” the mayor said.

Councilman Sandy Gothard said he thinks a 6-foot sidewalk might be best. Councilman Fussell said he wants to go out and walk on some different sidewalks to compare.

When a resident asked if the sidewalk had to be the same width for the total distance, the council quickly adopted the idea.

Mayor Glascock said the width could be 4-feet where it had to be and expand to 6-feet where there was room. The council asked the mayor to obtain several estimates for sidewalks varying in width for the length of the project.

The council members said they are interested in finding grant money for the project and if any resident has experience writing grant requests, the council would like to hear from them.

Mayor Glascock led a discussion of the Comprehensive Plan process. He said he felt a lot of uncertainty in the air at the last Municipal Planning Commission meeting.

The mayor asked Councilman Sandy Gothard, who chairs the steering committee, if perhaps the committee should meet and each member asked to state what they feel about the plan. Mr. Gothard said the plan has a lot of details and there are a lot of questions. A public meeting is needed, he said, which will bring new questions.

“I want to get it out of the steering committee and before this council,” Mr. Gothard said. “I want it before the council in a manageable form. We are far from the home stretch,” he said. “Thirty years from now, I want to be comfortable with what we did.”

A council member said the Comprehensive Plan’s basic tenet is that everyone agrees on the Town Center plan. “Do we?” he asked.

The mayor said completing the Town Center in the next five years in this economy is doubtful. Completing the Comprehensive Plan can move slower if necessary because the pressure is off now (referring to the failed Chapelbrow project).

Councilman Blair Ramey suggested the Comprehensive Plan proceed but each of the four parts be completed in steps rather than working on the whole plan. Mr. Gothard said he wants clear guidelines on each section if a developer comes forward. “I don’t want to tell him, ‘No, we haven’t gotten to your section yet.’”

City attorney William Pickering said it may very well take more interaction between the planning committee and the council and then, to change the zoning ordinances, more interaction between the zoning commission and the council.

“Nothing is hanging over us compelling us to make a hasty decision,” Mayor Glascock said.

The mayor turned the discussion to the Town Center landscaping. City crews have been dumping dirt onto the site, he said. “We need twice as much dirt as you see out there right now.”

The cost to provide sod and labor to lay it is about $8,000 to $12,000, the mayor said. Landscape contractors need work and they are offering really good deals if we decide to use them. The cost to seed the lot using city workers would be about $2,500, he said.

The mayor said he was in a meeting last week concerning the Flintstone sewer system. “We will have that system fixed at some point,” the mayor said. The meeting was about the letters sent out for people to sign limiting the city’s liability for past failures of the system. There were some strong opinions, the mayor said, but he felt everyone would eventually sign.

Breaking ground on the new system could happen in about four months, Mayor Glascock said.

Mr. Fussell gave a report on the city’s finances. “The city finances are strong,” he said. “We are in good shape.” The city has surpluses that are set aside and are earning the city some money, he said.

Looking at the budget, to date, there are some areas that are over budget, but with this economy and the weather situations, it is to be expected, he said. He pledged to further study funds like SPLOST and hotel/motel taxes to define what the funds can be used for.

Mayor Glascock said he will put Mr. Fussell on the agenda next month for another update.

In the Mayor’s Report, Mayor Glascock praised all city employees for the excellent work performed during the inclement weather situations. Several council members complimented the public works for clearing the roads and handling downed trees so quickly.

Councilman David Bennett, who oversees the fire and police departments, said it has been great to get to know his employees. “They care about this community and they take their jobs seriously,” he said.

Mayor Glascock said the city has a lot of hard-working employees who do a lot of things. He also complimented former mayor Tom Gifford’s insight in purchasing a salt-spreader for the public works department before leaving office. It was instrumental in keeping the roads cleared, he said.

Mayor Glascock officially appointed Cindy Roberts as the new city clerk, replacing Dana Driver.

Dana Wilbourn
dbwilbourn@yahoo.com