By Arielle Robinson

Mableton City Council voted unanimously Wednesday evening on items related to its 2045 Comprehensive Plan, business license application and renewal late fee waivers. Councilwoman Dami Oladapo was absent.

Links to the topics:

1. 2045 Comprehensive Plan
2. Business license late fee waiver
3. Mableton’s boards, authorities and commissions

Mableton 2045 Comprehensive Plan

The mayor and council voted to allow City Manager Bill Tanks, Mayor Michael Owens, Mayor Pro Tem and Councilwoman Keshia Jeffcoat, Councilman Ron Davis and two staff members to form a selection panel to narrow down vendors for Mableton’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan.

Six vendors sent requests for quotes (RFQs) to the city: Blue Cypress Consulting, Grice Team, JLL Qualifications, The Collaborative Team, Pond, and Jacobs.

Owens said the goal is to trim the list from six vendors to one so the city can recommend and potentially nominate a company to do business with by the next city council meeting on May 22.

Councilwoman Patricia Auch made the motion while Jeffcoat seconded it.

Georgia law requires all municipalities and counties to have a comprehensive plan, which lays out long-term development and land use.

Follow this link to read a summary of the state’s requirements for comprehensive plans.

Business license late fee waiver extended

The mayor and council also extended the late fee and penalties waiver for business license applications and renewals an extra 90 days, through August 31.

City Attorney Emilia Walker-Ashby noted that the mayor and council previously voted to extend the waiver through the end of April, and that has since expired.

“If you do not give authorization for us to extend that by and through the mayor you would have to start assessing penalties and late fees this month,” Walker-Ashby said.

This is Mableton’s first year collecting the license fees, as the county previously handled them. Mableton businesses that have not yet applied for or renewed their licenses will not be charged late fees or penalties for doing so after the deadline, which is normally January 30. This extension is to further allow for the transition from the county to the city.

The mood was much lighter this Wednesday than at the last city council meeting, where members clashed over the composition of the city’s Board of Ethics. This meeting was also much shorter.

Mayor calls for volunteer authority and board members

Owens ended the regular meeting by advocating for residents to join a board, commission or authority, something he has done in the past.

“I do want to give one more push to our commissions, authorities and boards,” Owens said. “We’ve talked about it quite a bit, but now we’re on the precipice of actually getting these up and off the ground. So I’ll ask again, a lot of you are here that I see from time to time. I hope you have reached out to your council people about being able to serve on one of the commissions, boards or authorities. If you are not familiar with those, they are listed on the website on mableton.gov. So go to the website, familiarize yourself with those, find something that speaks to your heart and mind or to your experience and take this opportunity to help us grow and mature as a city.”

He also made a public service announcement on the elections occurring. The general election is May 21.

“While there are no elections for the mayor or city council, there are elections going on right now. There are candidates that are running, I’m sure you’ve all seen the signs. So ensure that you do your civic duty and go out, research the candidates and vote,” Owens said.