At it’s April 6 meeting, videoconferenced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Powder Springs City Council approved the purchase of laptops for certain employees to work remotely.

This was the first city council meeting since the city entered limited closure operations for the pandemic. The city council members accessed the teleconferenced meeting from their homes.

The City Council’s Action Summary described the allocation of funds as follows:

Monday’s meeting saw council members greenlight a purchase of up to $10,000 using budgeted contingency dollars for laptops to enable certain employees to work remotely. The City’s Information Technology provider, VC3, has indicated that city-issued laptops provide greater security against unauthorized access, with the purchased laptops to be deployed to employees who have the capability of working remotely.

The city council also cancelled a temporary permit for a Juneteenth celebration planned for June 20 by Three Rounds LLC at the request of that organization.

Instead, the city agreed to partner with Three Rounds for an inaugural Juneteenth celebration next year, on June 19, 2021 at the downtown park.

Juneteenth is a celebration of the day formerly enslaved people in Texas were informed about the Emancipation Proclamation.

The Juneteenth website states, “Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. From its Galveston, Texas origin in 1865, the observance of June 19^th as the African American Emancipation Day has spread across the United States and beyond.”

The action summary describe the city’s commitment as follows:

Powder Springs will cover the cost of personnel providing security, sanitation and marketing services at a cost not to exceed $5,000 as part of a measure approved 4-1 by the council, with Councilwoman Nancy Farmer the sole dissenting vote.

During the meeting the city council also voted to renew the the city’s three-year Cobb County Community Development Block Grant Program Cooperation Agreement for federal fiscal years 2021-2023.

Cobb County’s Economic Development webpage gives this explanation of the program:

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the CDBG program provides communities with resources to address a wide range of unique community development needs. The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to Entitlement Communities as a means to support viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment, and opportunities to expand economic opportunities, principally for low and moderate-income persons.

The Powder Springs City Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 20, 7 p.m. and is also expected to be videoconferenced.