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Council reviews finance balances and emergency-plan renewal; city examines lack of telecom permitting for long‑haul fiber
Summary
Council received a finance report showing cash reserves and grant balances, discussed renewing the county emergency-operations plan and raised concerns that the city lacks permitting/fee authority for long‑haul fiber lines being installed through the area.
At the March 3 meeting the council reviewed the monthly finance report, discussed renewal of the Chickade County emergency-operations plan, and addressed long‑haul fiber work by a telecommunications company that has prompted questions about right-of-way permits and fees.
Kelsey read select financial figures from the packet: a cash reserve fund balance of $168,000 and a grant fund balance of $67,009.38. A separate line in the transcript reads an unusually large numeric string—"Pickens lost $2,022,024,425"—that was not explained during the meeting; staff did not provide clarification on that figure in the record.
On intergovernmental items, staff presented an emergency-operations plan renewal for Chickade County and asked the council to approve it for submission. The mayor asked for affirmation; the transcript records the council discussing the procedural requirements and the packet review but does not include an explicit roll-call outcome in the provided excerpt. A council member said they had not read every page of the roughly 200-page document and that legal and staff review had been limited to a flip-through.
Separately, staff raised the city's lack of a permitting or fee process for long‑haul telecommunication lines passing through the city. The council was told that a telecommunications company (described in discussion as running line from Camden to Jasper) is placing long‑haul lines that bypass local service provision; those lines were added to an existing right-of-way agreement with the state. Staff said Nelson currently has no permitting or fee structure to collect payment for footage of line traversing the municipality when the company does not provide local service. The city manager indicated the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) provided suggested language and a packet to consider for local permitting; staff said they would review and follow up with necessary ordinance or policy language.
Ending: Staff will circulate finalized financial figures, follow up on the unexplained numeric entry in the finance report, process the emergency-operations plan renewal paperwork, and examine GMA materials about creating permitting and fee authority for long‑haul fiber lines.
