Type to search

Rep. Drenner to host town hall in Avondale Estates

Annexation and new cities Avondale Estates

Rep. Drenner to host town hall in Avondale Estates

Share
State Rep. Karla Drenner. Source: Facebook

State Rep. Karla Drenner. Source: Facebook

This story has been updated. 

State Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, will host a town hall meeting tomorrow, March 3.

The meeting will be held at Avondale Estates City Hall, located at 21 North Avondale Road, in Avondale Estates. The meeting begins at 6 pm.

“Rep. Drenner will give citizens an update of the 2015 Legislative Session,” the meeting announcement says.

One topic that’s likely to come up is the issue of annexation. Drenner hasn’t yet made a firm commitment to introducing an annexation bill on the city’s behalf, primarily because the last time she did so, mistakenly thinking city leaders had voted for it, it created an uproar. The City Commission approved an updated plan on Jan. 5. Commissioners removed a portion of the map that contained the Wal-Mart at South Columbia and Memorial Drive at Drenner’s request because the area is being sought after by a proposed city of Greenhaven.

Drenner has also recommended the city obtain a feasibility study regarding the plan it approved on Jan. 5.

“I suggested that Clarkston did a feasibility study and it was very well done and it answered a lot of questions about what each individual area had brought to the table, how much were the services,” Drenner said. “I sent a copy to Avondale and said, ‘Here’s a great model.'”

The city declined to pursue one, she told Decaturish.

“They said they didn’t have enough time, I think,” she said. “They did one internally.”

Avondale Estates Mayor Terry Giager said he has faith in the numbers compiled by city staff.

“After reviewing other feasibility studies and escalating their methodology, we determined that actual revenue numbers and factual based expenditures for our city would be more practical than ‘likely’ and ‘comparable’ numbers from a third party,” Giager said. “I have full faith in our city manager, Clai Brown, and his staff to provide the (Board of Mayor and Commissioners) with conservative, reputable numbers for our decision.”

Tags: