At a City Council Meeting on Monday, May 21st, Ellijay City Council made a motion to dissolve the Better Home Town (BHT) board and has placed the program under the Downtown Development Authority (DDA).The decision was made to dissolve the BHT board because BHT management felt like it would be unnecessary to have two city boards focusing on economic development. This does not mean the BHT program will no longer exist. The BHT program will now be operated by the DDA program.

DDA Chairman Larry Robinson said at the meeting,

“The actual four committees that support the BHT program align with the DDA. I think it would be a waste of time to run two different boards for two different programs that are actually aligned so closely. We can keep our BHT status while operating our DDA through these four committees.”

Robison said that the decision was also advised by Heart of Town, Inc Consulter Paul Kreager. Kreager is a consultant who gives downtown development authority training who came and spoke at city hall in December of last year when the city was first thinking about starting a DDA.

Also, in the meeting, city council discussed a vacant slot on the city’s Historic Preservation Committee (HPC). City Council member David Westmoreland first motioned to elect DDA Chairman Larry Robinson to fill the slot on the HPC, but before the motion was carried Council member Ruth Caudell questioned if Robinson could serve on both the DDA and the HPC.

Robinson told Caudell that he did not think that it would be a problem, adding,

“I would like to atleast find out if there are some ways we can work together.”

BHT Manager Mona Lowe told FYN after the meeting that she and DDA chair would both be checking to see if Robinson serving on the HPC and the DDA would be a conflict of interest. Lowe also said that she expected the Council to be researching the HPC too so they could make a decision.

FYN will keep you posted as the story develops.