Lyons City Council Reappoints Benton As Housing Authority Commissioner
The Lyons City Council has reappointed Cathy Benton as Housing Authority Commissioner. The action was taken in the Council’s July 13 meeting.
The appointment extends Benton’s tenure through July 5, 2027. The Council also renewed the contract with the Georgia Department of Corrections regarding the Women’s Probation Detention Center. The current contract expired July 1, 2021. The new contract, which continues through June 30, 2022, has the same provisions and details of the previous agreement that provides one work detail of ten offenders to Claxton. The Council also adopted a similar contract renewal with the Montgomery State Prison regarding a work detail for the city. The new contract began July 1, 2021, and will continue with no changes to the previous arrangements.
Lyons City Council approved the business venture of Roger C. Thomas, who submitted a variance request to run a custom paint and body business near the 150 Cascade Dr portion of the R-1 zone of Lyons. This property is .11 acres and will be called Mello’s Custom Paint & Body.
People’s Bank also requested fa rezoning from a residential zone to a commercial zone to construct a metal building for storage on land adjacent to the bank. This change was approved by the Council.
A resolution was also passed to construct State Route 4 from south Green Oak Road to Resmond Road. This project is being completed by the Georgia Department of Transportation with funding from the state’s portion of the Federal Highway Administration. This project will cost $51,220, but the city will not be required to pay any portion of the cost. Engineering will be done by the Thomas & Hutton of Savannah. The Council also passed a resolution to construct appropriate sewer systems to effectively service two farms. Both A& M Farms and Vidalia Onion Farms have experienced sewer difficulties because their current systems were not intended to service the amount of people now employed with the operations. Both operations have transformed from seasonal businesses to year-around operations. A& M has doubled employment to 65 employees and Vidalia Onion Farms is maximized with the employment tof10 workers and cannot hire more because of the sewage situation. Mayor Willis Nee-Smith applied for the One Georgia Equity grant on behalf of Lyons and was awarded $500,000, which will be used to fund the sewage upgrade. The total cost of the project is $727,447.10, so the remaining $227,447.10 will be paid using local funds.
