In a two-to-one vote, the Hinesville City Council approved signing a contract with Richmond Hill Reflections to self-publish a magazine to promote the city. The council had discussed the possibility of having a lifestyle magazine produced at its planning workshop in July.
Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas pushed for the vote to be taken Thursday to meet a publishing deadline for the magazine’s December holiday issue.
Hinesville City Council Member District 1 Charles Frasier motioned to approve the magazine and Kenneth Shaw, council member for district 5, seconded the motion.
City Council Member District 4 Keith Jenkins voted against approving a magazine. Shaw was silent. City Council Member District 3 David Anderson was absent. The council’s district 2 seat is currently vacant. A special election will be held Tuesday to fill that seat.
Jenkins asked the mayor to review the vote after it was taken. The mayor, however, said that since Shaw had not voiced aloud an abstention or a yes vote, his silence was considered an affirmative vote.
“It (the magazine) sounds wonderful,” Jenkins said. “(But) I’m trying to figure out how this will pay for itself.”
Thomas said Jenkins’ concerns that the cost for the magazine had not yet been budgeted were “duly noted,” adding “The vote stands.”
Richmond Hill Reflections’ estimate for producing a 96-page magazine will run the city about $59,192 in initial costs. Advertising in the magazine should eventually offset the full cost to produce it by the fourth issue, Thomas said. Under the company’s proposal, however, if Richmond Hill Reflections falls short of its projected sales revenue for the magazine, the city of Hinesville will not fully recoup its initial investment.
About 10,000 copies of the magazine will be freely distributed to residents and businesses.
The city received a second magazine production bid in August from Morris Newspaper Corporation of Hinesville, which owns the Coastal Courier.
In other city business:
• Colleseum Sports Palace and Grill owners Tyrone Adams and Jodee Carlen reported back to the council to update them on progress made in addressing alleged customer unruliness and outside noise at their business on Friday nights. Hinesville City Attorney Linnie Darden presented a list of measures Adams and Carlen agreed to implement following an administrative hearing the city held on Sept. 2. At Darden’s suggestion, the couple’s attorney, Nathaniel Merritt, will provide city officials an improvement plan to include dates of completion for each item listed. The council also agreed for the Colleseum to submit a one-time CPA certified report of its food-to-alcohol sales ratio. “This is one instance,” Thomas said. If complaints resurface, the city could always require additional reporting, he said.
• Hinesville Assistant City Manager Ken Howard informed the council the city’s official zoning map will be presented for adoption in November.
• The council approved an agreement for CH2MHILL to conduct an audit of the local cable TV franchise to ensure the city’s franchise fee is properly collected and remitted. The audit would be completed in 180 days and cover 2007 through to the current year. Compensation for the audit services would be rated at 35 percent of the amount identified as legally owed to the city.
Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas pushed for the vote to be taken Thursday to meet a publishing deadline for the magazine’s December holiday issue.
Hinesville City Council Member District 1 Charles Frasier motioned to approve the magazine and Kenneth Shaw, council member for district 5, seconded the motion.
City Council Member District 4 Keith Jenkins voted against approving a magazine. Shaw was silent. City Council Member District 3 David Anderson was absent. The council’s district 2 seat is currently vacant. A special election will be held Tuesday to fill that seat.
Jenkins asked the mayor to review the vote after it was taken. The mayor, however, said that since Shaw had not voiced aloud an abstention or a yes vote, his silence was considered an affirmative vote.
“It (the magazine) sounds wonderful,” Jenkins said. “(But) I’m trying to figure out how this will pay for itself.”
Thomas said Jenkins’ concerns that the cost for the magazine had not yet been budgeted were “duly noted,” adding “The vote stands.”
Richmond Hill Reflections’ estimate for producing a 96-page magazine will run the city about $59,192 in initial costs. Advertising in the magazine should eventually offset the full cost to produce it by the fourth issue, Thomas said. Under the company’s proposal, however, if Richmond Hill Reflections falls short of its projected sales revenue for the magazine, the city of Hinesville will not fully recoup its initial investment.
About 10,000 copies of the magazine will be freely distributed to residents and businesses.
The city received a second magazine production bid in August from Morris Newspaper Corporation of Hinesville, which owns the Coastal Courier.
In other city business:
• Colleseum Sports Palace and Grill owners Tyrone Adams and Jodee Carlen reported back to the council to update them on progress made in addressing alleged customer unruliness and outside noise at their business on Friday nights. Hinesville City Attorney Linnie Darden presented a list of measures Adams and Carlen agreed to implement following an administrative hearing the city held on Sept. 2. At Darden’s suggestion, the couple’s attorney, Nathaniel Merritt, will provide city officials an improvement plan to include dates of completion for each item listed. The council also agreed for the Colleseum to submit a one-time CPA certified report of its food-to-alcohol sales ratio. “This is one instance,” Thomas said. If complaints resurface, the city could always require additional reporting, he said.
• Hinesville Assistant City Manager Ken Howard informed the council the city’s official zoning map will be presented for adoption in November.
• The council approved an agreement for CH2MHILL to conduct an audit of the local cable TV franchise to ensure the city’s franchise fee is properly collected and remitted. The audit would be completed in 180 days and cover 2007 through to the current year. Compensation for the audit services would be rated at 35 percent of the amount identified as legally owed to the city.