Lyons City Council Proposes New Laws
The Lyons City Council rode out the storms that passed through the area on Tuesday, April 5, and proposed several new ordinances during its monthly meeting. The Council, which was in session as high winds downed trees and caused power outages in the vicinity, presented these ordinances through first readings; the legislation will officially be voted on at next month’s meeting on Tuesday, May 3.
The first new ordinance presents a redistricting plan for the City of Lyons for five wards, which will be adopted in May. This new plan shifts Wards 4 and 5 slightly to correct population distribution amongst the divisions, as two current wards have populations of over 1,000 citizens. continued from page
The proposed new ward divisions may be viewed online at the City of Lyons website.
Consignment Licenses
The second piece of lawmaking will require thrift businesses to purchase a $200 business license fee annually to operate. To be considered a “thrift business” or “consignment business,” which would be included in this requirement, a business must both have employees and/or vendors that sell pre-owned items and accepts items for auction, sale, or on a consignment basis. This need for specification within the previous ordinance about yard sales and consignments resulted as Council members became aware of the occupational tax paid by both the property owner of the consignment shop and the individual occupational tax that was paid by vendors. The Council researched how the issue was handled in other cities and discovered many individuals pose a consignment shop license fee to eliminate the need for individuals to purchase separate licenses or pay occupational tax. Upon this study, the City found out the median cost for these licenses was $200, so that is what they plan to charge.
Alcohol License Revision
The first reading of an ordinance amendment to add articles regarding home delivery and premises caterers was presented. This law was necessitated by the change in Georgia law regarding alcohol licenses and the desire to keep caterers from outside of Lyons from serving alcohol at the Depot event center. The off-premises licenses for local caterers will not exceed $5,000 in fees for any single licensed location, and will need to be reinstated annually.
Capital Budge Adopted The 2022 Capital Budget was adopted, which included a project that will increase parking throughout the municipality. The Public Works Department is seeking to move outside of the downtown area, which will create more room for additional parking. The City also plans to put a park in this newfound space.
Disposal of Property
Council members approved an intergovernmental agreement between the City and the Lyons Development Authority to sell Toombs County Board of Education Tracts 2, 3, and 4 at 199 Collins Road. The LDA has two years to sell the property and return $100,000 of the proceeds to the City; if the property is not sold within this time frame, the ownership will be fully returned to the City. Council members hope this property will seed money for the Authority, which will then be used to further the economic growth of the downtown area.
Other News
The City is excited to host the 2nd Annual Juneteenth Celebration, about which further details will be shared in the future.
The advertisement for a code officer within the city has been in place, and an interview has been scheduled for a potential candidate. The City of Lyons Development Authority will meet on April 19 at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers, 161 NE Broad Street, Lyons. The next work session for the Council will be April 26 at 6 p.m., while the next meeting will be held on May 3 at 6 p.m.
