by Janice Daniel
The Mayor and Council of the City of Villa Rica met on Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at the Holt-Bishop Justice Center, Municipal Courtroom, 101 Main Street, Villa Rica, for their monthly Work Session. Councilmembers Danny Carter (Ward 5) and Shirley Marchman (Ward 1) were absent.
The Council put one item on a Consent Agenda, that being FY25 Budget Amendments #151 through #165, as presented by Amanda Long, Interim Finance Director. Long said that Pine Mountain wanted to remove two small items from their Site Improvements Budget (the water wheel and the HVAC unit) with two different items, a train depot bridge and viewing platform, making up Budget Amendments #151 – #155.
Budget Amendments #156 – #159 were to move the replacement of the flooring at Gold Dust Fitness Room from Capital Projects to Building Maintenance and Repair.
Budget Amendments #160 – #163 were to move the replacement of wooden picnic tables in Parks & Recreation and replace them with accessible tables, transferring this cost from Capital Projects to Grounds Maintenance and Repair.
Budget Amendments #165 and #165 were to use $4,600 of the State Seizure Fund Balance for Tactical Shields for the Police Department.
Two Community Development items were presented by Interim Director, Brecca Carter, but both will require public hearings so will be taken up in the Regular Meeting on July 8th, 2025.
Mayor McPherson advised Council that, due to current state law changes governing hold-over periods for the directors on Development Authorities, the four-year terms of members of the Villa Rica Development Authority will serve four-year terms that begin at the date of appointment. The terms for current members of this Authority have expired, and the six-month hold-over period will expire on July 31, 2025. Therefore, Council will have to appoint at least four (4) members by July 31st, which would constitute a quorum, but preferably seven (7) members need to be appointed by that date. After July 31st, members of the Development Authority itself will appoint the rest of the required number of members. This item will be taken up in the Regular Meeting on July 8th, 2025.
With no further business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned.