Ellijay City Council Approves De-annexation, Recognizes Eagle Scout

Prior to the decision, Monteith was paying both city and county taxes.At its monthly meeting Monday night, the Ellijay City Council approved the de-annexation of a parcel of residential property from city jurisdiction to county jurisdiction. This means that resident Justin Monteith, will no longer be required to pay Ellijay City taxes in addition to Gilmer County taxes. As of next year, the resident will only pay county taxes. On June 16th, The Board of Commissioners approved the request, and on Monday the city council voted unanimously to de-annex the property. Prior to the decision, Monteith was paying both city and county taxes.

Also, the water authority gave an update on its current sewage project, noting that it recently developed a worksheet to keep track of the progress of the project. The council also learned that the project still has over $160,000 left of the bond to spend, but no indication was given as to how the money would be spent.

Later in the meeting, Chief of Police Larry Callahan told the council that he plans to implement a new social networking policy for his office. Callahan said that social networking policies were the main focus of this summer’s conference. He said at the conference he heard stories of officers posting department business on Facebook, information which was otherwise confidential. Although Callahan said that he has yet to have an issue with sharing sensitive, department information in his office, he said he wanted to implement the policy prior to experiencing any such issues. “We’ve been fortunate so far,” he said, “we never had an issue with it.” The policy was developed by the International Chief of Police and used by most state chief associations and restricts Facebook and Twitter accounts to personal business only, prohibiting any transmittal of department information on the social networking sites.

Mayor Al Hoyle and the council also passed a resolution to recognize Michael Ryan Davis for his achievement of Eagle Scout. Davis, a member of Scout Troop 402, achieved 18 merit badges above the required 21. He also served his troop in various leadership roles. But, most notably, Davis proposed and helped install a sign to mark the entrance of the Georgia Forest Watch and worked the landscaping around the sign. Before awarding Davis with a series of items, including a flag and an apple, Mayor Hoyle said, “The Eagle Scout is a distinction that will follow him through out his life and will be a beacon to others in quality and commitment.” A round of applause then sounded, as Davis shook the mayor’s hand and the council thanked Davis for his service to the city.