Friday, November 21, 2003
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Friday, November 21, 2003 |
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Council argues over tenant for new building By JOHN THOMPSON The usually tranquil Senoia City Council meeting turned contentious Monday night as the council questioned the use of a new building being leased by the city. The city recently entered into a lease agreement for the former Coweta Journal building on Main Street. Councilman Bill Wood said the building was slated to be used for expansion of the police department, but recently learned the library would be moving into the location. “We have more of a priority for a police department than a library,” said City Councilman Bill Wood. Wood said the police department had funding available to expand into the old newspaper office and more planning needed to be done to determine if the library should be on Main Street. He mentioned a site on Clark Street that currently houses the city’s public works building as a possible location for the library. The city is building a new public works building, and Wood said a new library could possibly be built on that site. “The library doesn’t have the same compelling reason to be on Main Street,” he said. City Administrator Murray McAffee argued that it was logical for the library to expand into the current police station, but the problem was in the “cut-up” nature of the rooms in the police station. “They wouldn’t be able to put books in there,” McAfee said. Wood was upset with the whole process involved and said the city had voted to first work on improving the police station situation. McAfee said everybody had been contacted about the change in plans, but was met with a sharp retort. “Nobody contacted me,” said Councilman Pat Tunnell. Acting mayor Robert Hannah attempted to move the discussion into executive session, but was thwarted by city attorney Drew Whalen who said the discussion was not covered by executive session privileges. Finally, Wood made a motion to use the building for expansion of the police station, but the motion tied 2-2. Wood and Councilman Robert Belisle supported it, while Tunnell and Hannah voted against it. With the tie vote, the outcome was that no further work could be performed on the building until a more comprehensive report was provided at the City Council’s Dec. 1 meeting.
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