Eatonton City Council held its first of two regularly scheduled monthly meetings on June 4.
The meeting opened with a comprehensive report from Kevin Tomson-Hooper, president of The Artisans Village, and Maggie Milner, CEO of the Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce, on the sculpture trail project they’ve been spearheading for the last few months.
Thomson-Hooper told the council more than $40,000 had been raised locally from private donors to get the project going with eight metal sculptures of various subjects and styles already secured for installation throughout downtown Eatonton.
He explained that he, his wife Sara, and Milner recently visited a well-established sculpture trail at Mason City, Iowa, where it started with ten sculptures 10 years ago, and now boasts 80 sculptures on display for thousands of visitors annually.
He added that all sculptures in Eatonton will be for sale, with most of the proceeds going straight to the artists.
Milner confirmed that eight sculptures are currently slated for installation on sidewalks alongside Jefferson Avenue and Marion Street. Georgia Writers Museum, Maggie Lane, Barrel 118, the Chamber of Commerce, The Artisans Village, and Myrna Taylor’s Design are among the confirmed sites so far.
Each artwork will be securely welded to a three-foot-square concrete stand and displayed on downtown sidewalks in front of each participating sculpture trail host site.
Milner confirmed that installations should begin this month. However, she asked the city council for help in securing a last-minute right-of-way from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
“We will supply all the plans and the proposed placements and anything they’re requiring. We’re definitely putting that together and this is something that we’re hoping to get done much sooner rather than later,” Milner said. “And with that permit, we will be submitting our own cover letter, but we would love a letter of support from the city that we can provide if the mayor would be willing to sign that supporting this program.”
With combined Wards 2 & 3 Councilmember Michael Smith out of town, the six council members present voted unanimously to support petitioning DOT on behalf of the sculpture trail.
Next, the council heard a last-minute request presented by City Manager Gary Sanders on behalf of Georgia Power’s area manager, Greg Tyson, for the city to participate in the utility’s Creating Rural Entrepreneurs and Transforming Economies (CREATE) program.
“Their overview is to help leaders in rural communities implement entrepreneurship and small business growth plans,” Sanders explained. “They talked about rural communities being 50,000 or less, but it does require a team of six individuals; they call them six champions, and they have criteria of local government leaders, regional partners, community economic development leaders, and we need to have a commitment of six individuals. We also have four short questions that we have to answer about our entrepreneurship and small business resources in the community.”
Sanders then explained the application to participate is due by June 28, with decisions on which municipalities are selected to participate in CREATE to be announced by July 19, with a two-day workshop for some or all champions (he wasn’t sure which) to attend a mid-august seminar in Atlanta.
“Again, it’s really focusing on supporting those individuals who want to open a business to be entrepreneurial in Eatonton,” Sanders said. “I’m not an expert on what this program will do, but … it’s really to tailor a local plan to foster business growth.”
A vote followed, and a unanimous decision to proceed by all councilors present was reached.
The council next considered implementing a new Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) financial program for city employees called Momentum, developed by GMA in partnership with Truist Bank.
“I did look over it, and I always used to think, and still do, that in every school, they should have a financial literacy course,” Councilmember at Large and Mayor Pro Tem Chip Walker said. “I’ve seen people who can do chemistry, physics, calculus, and everything else but can’t keep up with their money, so it sounded very interesting. I’m very interested in participating in the program.”
Again, a unanimous council vote confirmed Eatonton would introduce Momentum as an option to all city employees.
Finally, though not listed on the meeting agenda, Eatonton Mayor John Reid said a county ordinance requires the mayor to introduce a budget to the council by June’s first meeting. He said the budget he’s been working on with Sanders calls for $8.22 million in spending this fiscal year.
After distributing copies to all council members, Walker emphasized that it is a first draft and very open to review and revision.
“Look over it closely, and as always, it’ll be tweaked and all that kind of stuff, but you got to have something to begin with, and here it is,” he said.
Sanders added that a public budget will be available in a few weeks via the city’s website (eatontonga.us) and in legal ads published in The Eatonton Messenger.
A public hearing on the budget will be held at 6:45 p.m. before the Aug. 6 city council meeting.