Animal control and the city’s sidewalks were topics of concern on the June 11th agenda of the city commission meeting.

Commissioner Forrest McCombs expressed his distaste toward the high population of stray dogs and cats in downtown Cedartown, while Jimmy Holland questioned both the effort of the city to repair “hazardous” sidewalk areas.

Issues such as the Charter Cable deal, the new welcome sign and flooding problems were also discussed.

McCombs questioned City Manager David Johnson toward the end of the meeting about the effectiveness of the city animal control program. McCombs said that he and Holland had both seen the city employee riding in city police cars instead of in his own code enforcement vehicle.

McCombs said he wanted to know if the dogcatcher was doing his job. Johnson argued that commissioners should go and “look at the pens” and said that he felt the dogcatcher was doing a great job catching the animals. Johnson also mentioned that the employee was preparing to begin training to work as a patrol officer and had been riding with the city officers after hours.

McCombs complimented the man for trying to “better himself,” but asked that the city employees working with animals “quit riding around in their truck and catch them.” Holland supported this saying that the city needed someone “100 percent dedicated to dog-catching” and expressed his desire for the county to develop their own dog pound facilities.

The county issue was brought forward after Chairman Bert Wood asked about the planning progress of a new city pound facility.

The city has been talking for a couple of years of building a new pound but no action yet has been taken on it.

As for the county’s interest, space to board possible rabid animals has been requested.

Johnson said that the county had promised to contribute to the construction of the room, but would not provide the employee(s) to maintain it. Holland said he felt the county should provide their own facility and enforcement officer. Johnson said that the city did not presently have the facilities to board any additional dogs.

The current animal shelter is located on Tenth Street, behind the city shop.

Despite the lengthy discussion, no action was taken on the matter.

Holland asked Johnson to report on the work being done by the city to repair the downtown sidewalks. Holland said that he remembered having promised taxpayers the application of SPLOST funds to the repair of the sidewalks.

Johnson reported to the commission that the city had neither the manpower nor funding to repair the sidewalk. Johnson suggested the commission pick out the worst places and begin repairs there, later mounting a full attack on the city’s downtown. Wood agreed with Johnson and said that the city would do what they can.

In other issues, the commission decided on 27 channels to present to the Charter Cable Company, despite the early negotiations made for only 23 basic channels.

McCombs insisted on the addition of a religion channel, while Holland asked that Sports South remain on the basic selection due to its coverage of the Braves.

Bobby Alexander said that he felt the basic cable option should be left at 33 channels for the higher cost of $18 a month, saying that the smaller $12.50 option would cost those who wanted the channels lost more money anyway. The commission told Johnson to do what he could with the delegation.

The commission approved the purchase for a new fire truck to replace the No.12. Ray Merritt asked that Johnson take care in choosing the new vehicle. Merritt said that he thought it better to spend the extra money on a good truck than to worry with repairs in the future.

Plans for the new Cedartown welcome sign were approved along with an agreement with the Peach Park Project. The Park Project is sponsored by Gov. Roy Barnes and would provide $15,000 in emergency money for city park improvement by the Cedartown Parks Commission.

The sign will be constructed from rock and will have two ornaments on the top. Alexander and McCombs suggested that the round ornaments be replaced by some kind of “cedar tree” in the spirit of the community’s name. Johnson said he would do his best to please the commission, come back with the sizing information and would then have the sign approved.

Johnson also announced plans for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to do a new flood study at Cedar Creek and asked that the city work toward replacing the present flood pump.

Johnson said that the pump was in bad shape and the city had nothing to serve as a back up in emergency. Johnson said he was not sure of the Corp’s plans in the study, but that he looked forward to see what they could do.

City Attorney Mike McRae delayed the issues of solid waste, impact fees and the new fiber optic ordinance until the next commission meeting.