Soon City Hall in Demorest will move across the street to the former Community Bank building. Mayor Rick Austin joked, “we need to call for a bridgade of citizens to walk a box across the street to speed the movement.” City Hall will be located at 546 Georgia Ave. and the hoped for Sweetbreads will locate in the former 579 Georgia Ave location. The move gives City Hall a drive-through window to facilitate making payments, more space and a larger safe. The City will swap property with the Downtown Development Authority, with lease payments from the proposed tenant to go to the retirement of the $21,000 note left on the bank building. Budget for the proposed move is $60,000 however, the approved estimate is $35,000 which includes phone system, security camera and systems as well as other necessary work. The move is expected to take place in April and the proposed Sweetbreads restaurant to be open in the late summer/early fall.
Other work on improvements in the City include repaving Blue Ridge and Cedar Ave. The process was approved and the bidding process as well as the work is expected to be completed by July 31, 2015. The resurfacing of Ivie Street has come in under budget and with the remaining funds the City hopes to install a pedestrian/bike path by widening the road 4 feet. The right of way is already secured and as Councilmen Donnie Bennett remarked, “Justin Ellis from the Soque River Watershed and I took a tour along the route and he was blown away by the shoals. Justin said that there was no place else in the region whose shoals lay like this and we need to showcase them. It would work with the walking trail to the overlook on Hazel Creek” The move to add the change order was approved pending verification of the USDA grant allowing for this project.
The Council also approved the continued support of the Habersham County Archway partnership with the University of Georgia. The cost is $3,000 per year and as Councilmen Bennett stated, “we get well worth our money, they have excelled at everything we have thrown at them.”
Habersham County Commissioner Victor Anderson was present and invited the Council to a reception on April 23. The County Commission is reaching out to all municipalities in order to work together in a spirit of cooperation. Anderson noted that getting the county and cities to work together was a part of his campaign platform. The reception is just a chance for all parties to meet each other with no set agenda.
In other business, the Council approved the purchase of a used car for the police department. Two cars are being traded in for $3,000, the new car’s price will be $7,500 so the net amount of $4,500 was approved. Chief Ellingson noted that the car will include the license plate reader and will make an improvement in the use of the police fleet.
