Ellijay City Council Schedules Workshop to Review DDA Board

After choosing to table a decision of sending a resolution to the state at Monday night’s city council meeting that would begin a Downtown Development Authority(DDA), the Ellijay City Council has scheduled a workshop to review the list of names being considered to be on the DDA board for Monday, February 27th at 5:00 p.m.

According to the resolution, the state must approve a list of names of the people that will serve on the DDA board and provide geographical boundaries of a DDA area. The city council motioned to table the resolution at Monday night’s city council meeting because they felt like they needed more time to review the names of applicants being considered to be on the DDA board. The people being considered to serve as board members are; Al Fuller, Larry Robinson, Melinda Hadden, Patricia Kyle, Jeff Riblet, Kent Sanford, and Jim Stover.

As a state requirement, one of the seven applicants must be a city official i.e. a council member, and the other six must either be property owners or business owners or someone with an economic interest in the city.

David Westmoreland, one of the council members on the subcomimitee, said when beginning the recommendation process they didn’t realize that some of the 19 applicants had problems with the eligibility requirements. Westmoreland asked Better Home Town Manager Mona Lowe who helped with the subcommittee to also address the eligibility requirements at the city council meeting,

“One of things we had to determine was whether it was possible for someone living outside the city with a business interest in the city could be on the DDA board…You have to be either a resident of the city or a resident of the county with a business in the city or a resident of the county with a significant economic interest in the city,”

Lowe said.

Paige Green, former Better Home Town Chairperson and President of the Chamber of Commerce said about the council decisions to table the resolution,

“I applaud them for looking at this as a very serious endeavor and making sure they have all the proverbial ducks in a row. My hope was to have a celebration on Monday but if that’s delayed so they can do their work with diligence then that’s ok.”