Thursday’s council meeting City Manager Billy Edwards said Fort Stewart will observe Halloween on the same day, during the same hours. He said the annual Scarecrow Stroll and Beggars Night downtown is set for Oct. 24.
In other business, the council approved a request by T.R. Long Engineering on behalf of attorney James Osteen for the final plat for Valor Point Subdivision. The request came with recommendations for approval by the Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission with standard and special conditions.
Homeless Prevention Program Coordinator Daisy Jones asked for authorization to accept a $42,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
“We submitted the grant application in March of this year,” Jones said. “And we were told in late August that our application was approved. The grant includes $20,000 for our hotel/motel voucher program, $20,000 for our rapid rehousing program and $2,000 for Project Homeless Connect. The city’s match is $7,000 cash and $13,000 in program staff and professional services.”
The resolution request was unanimously approved.
Several requests for alcoholic beverage licenses were approved, including changing the name of local manager for Ruby Tuesday’s Class II license and one-day permit requests by the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce for their annual membership appreciation Lowcountry boil Oct. 17 and the Blues and BBQ Sept. 20.
JJ’s Grill and Bar owners Jose Pineda, Joes Ortiz and Adelaida Velez were prepared to speak to the council about their request for a new Class II license for their club inside the EconoLodge on 726 E. Oglethorpe Highway.
Councilman Keith Jenkins asked city tax and license coordinator Yokesha McIver if the owners were aware the Class II license requires 60 percent of the sales must be for food. He said the city didn’t need another “Island Vybez,” referring to the previous business in that location that did not meet food sales requirements and subsequently lost its alcohol and business licenses. McIver said the new owners understand the alcohol ordinance requirements for the license they were requesting.
During public comments, the council heard from Dr. Douglas Burgess representing the non-profit Community Development Center, which is intended to help veterans.
In his remarks, Mayor Jim Thomas invited the public to a Wednesday ground-breaking ceremony for the new Liberty campus of Armstrong Atlantic University. Gov. Nathan Deal will take part in that ceremony, he said.
“We’re going to Washington, D.C., Sept. 16-17 to talk to folks at the Pentagon and our congressional leaders,” Thomas said. “We want to tell them the story of Fort Stewart and the economic impact a troop loss would have on us. The worst case scenario is we could lose up to 16,000 troops, but no one thinks that would happen.”
Thomas said he will be accompanied by other political and business leaders of the community.