West Point City Council opposes HB 302

Published 4:33 pm Wednesday, June 12, 2019

WEST POINT — West Point has joined other Troup County cities in opposing House Bill 302, which died in the legislature in March, but would’ve prohibited city control over building standards.

The City of LaGrange and Troup County Commission had voted in February and March to oppose the bill, which would have prevented local government agencies from enforcing and regulating building design elements on one or two family homes.

Though the bill didn’t pass in 2019, a similar bill could be discussed in a future legislative session.

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“It could negatively impact economically-developing efforts,” said West Point Councilwoman Sandra Thornton.

Councilman Gerald Ledbetter read the financial report for the month of May, as well as the forecast for the month of June.

In May, the city spent $198,638 more than the amount of revenue it received. For the month of June, West Point expects $1,554,200 in revenue, which balances out to having $617,346 in cash available at the end of the month.

Robyn Underwood then presented the 2018 city audit.

The highlights of the year included the combined net positions totaling $47,841,521.

The total revenue was $19,860,000 while the total expenses were $17 million.

The water and sewer electric gas and sanitation funds also increased in revenue.

“The city of West Point is in a very good financial position as it continues to grow by adding new industry jobs and services for its residents,” Underwood said.

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Steve Tramell announced a special-called meeting for June 17 at 5:30 p.m. to address the West Point Development Authority Forward Fund Request.

After the special-called meeting, the council won’t meet for a few weeks, as the meetings for June 25, July 4 and July 8 were all canceled.

On June 25, many council members will be returning from summer training sessions in Savannah and July 4 was taken off in observance of Independence Day.

“This is pretty typical. We end up doing this every year,” Tramell said. “We will get back on our schedule later on in July.”