Thirty-Item Consent Agenda Passes

A thirty-item agenda, which included contracts and redistribution of SPLOST funds among other things, was passed almost unanimously by the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the  during Thursday evening's city council meeting.

The meeting began with a petition for two temporary alcohol licenses by  to cover both the Smoke on the Lake barbeque event and the Professional Wakeboard Tour event, both occurring this summer. Scott Cole, owner of Johnny's New York Pizza in Acworth, was pleased with the relationship between City Hall and the business community.

“They're really easy to work with,” he said. “Getting information and forms is so easy. They're really pro-business and pro-people.” Mayor Tommy Allegood felt the same way about Cole and his business, which has been in the community for 10 years and is in its second year of handling the barbeque event and the fourth year of covering the wakeboard event, saying that Johnny's had “been a good partner.”

The meeting continued with a proclamation read by Allegood declaring April “Alcohol Awareness Month.” Cobb County students are particularly unaware of the dangerous effects of alcohol; the county's students do the most binge drinking of any county in the state. Additionally, 48% of high school students surveyed felt that drinking heavily on a daily basis was not a problem. On hand to receive the Mayor's proclamation was Laura Searcy of the Cobb Alcohol Taskforce.

In the audience were four  students who were working on a political science paper. The students, Nick Spain, Ashley Moseley, Rachel Mercer and Megan Widdis, were observing local government meetings and hoped to be able to complete an eight-to-12-page assignment. City Manager Brian Bulthuis hoped to get a copy of each student's paper at the next city council meeting.

The board then moved onto the massive consent agenda; Allegood could not remember any other agenda with as many items in his 12 years of service to the city. The agenda passed unanimously save for item X, which approves the acquisition of rights of way and easements for 4813 School St. for $7,355. Aldermen Tim Houston abstained from voting on this item of the agenda.

Other notable items from the agenda are:

• Approval of a contract between the city and TruGreen ChemLawn to fertilize and control the weeds at seven baseball fields and two football fields. All the football fields and six of the seven baseball fields are at the . This contract will not exceed $9,400.

• Approval of a contract between the city and MACTEC Engineering to conduct a FEMA Floodway Analysis, a  no-rise certification (which ensures that any projects done in a floodway will not raise the flood level) and to coordinate the process with FEMA. This project will not cost more than $8,900.

The agenda in its entirety can be found here.