City adopts millage rate
By Deborah Bennett Millen News Editor

Millen City Council adopted a millage rate of 8.073 mils for fiscal year 2007-2008 during the Thursday, Nov. 8, meeting of the group.The previous year's millage rate of 8.770 was rolled back due to a recent state-required property re-evaluation. The city had previously adopted a 2007-2008 budget of $2,035,841 with no anticipated tax increase.

City administrator Al Knight reported that the new design for the city's Transportation Enhancement (TE) grant project was completed. The project could be released for the bidding process in February 2008 and awarded in March. Construction could begin as early as April 2008, he said.

The city was awarded a $500,000 TE grant from the Department of Transportation (DOT) in 2004 for the purpose of renovating and promoting economic development on Cotton Avenue in downtown Millen. An additional $350,000 TE grant was awarded at a later date for Phase II of the project.

Knight also noted that a DOT contract awarded for grading and paving of Cotton Avenue must be executed for the TE grant project design to work. Due to increased costs, council agreed to discuss the matter with the DOT.

In other matters, council voted to re-bid a USDA sewer treatment/enhancement project with changes to the original design that would keep costs within the original grant amount. The city will provide $805,000 in matching funds for the project over a 40-year period.

Knight reported that the city's Brownfield project was proceeding with seven of 12 property owners having signed access agreements to allow contamination testing of their properties. Included in those was the old "Soc" station on Winthrope Avenue.

He also noted that another 25 property owners had been notified to clean up their properties with some responding. Twenty-two of those properties were in the Washington Street area of the city.

Other actions taken by council included the following:

• Approved the purchase by West Millen Baptist Church of a previously "abandoned" section of Gilmer Street for $816 with the church owning bordering property on both sides of the street; and

• Approved Historic Preservation Ordinance.