In a relatively short meeting Wednesday, Feb. 27, the Mableton City Council made a variety of decisions, dispatching most of them quickly and unanimously.

Mableton adopted a resolution recognizing Arbor Day and then chose the willow oak as the city’s official tree. Mableton’s Sustainability, Waste & Beautification (SWB) Director Emily Groth presented the resolutions, which were both passed unanimously.

In introducing the Arbor Day resolution, Mayor Pro Tem Keisha Jeffcoat, who was filling in for Mayor Michael Owens, briefly commented on Arbor Day’s origin in Nebraska in 1872 and stated that Mableton intends to become a Certified Tree City. One requirement for that certification is that Arbor Day be celebrated in the city each year.

The council approved Karen Ellis as Mableton’s Finance Director. Ellis had been the Finance Director for the City of Milton since 2022.

City Manager Bill Tanks said that Ellis “comes to us with a broad-based experience in every aspect of a finance department. She has purchasing experience she has accounts payable, accounts receivable, she has participated in bond ratings … the whole package, for many, many years.”

Called to the dais, Ellis thanked the city manager, the mayor and the council. She commented that she lives in Smyrna, which will make “a beautiful commute” compared with her previous job in the City of Milton.

Tanks introduced a resolution to allow Mayor Michael Owens to finalized and sign an agreement with Croy Engineering to provide plan review and engineering services related to land use and zoning.

Tanks said that Croy’s services would complement services from the county during the time Mableton lacks in-house engineering staff, and that the services from Croy would be ala carte, on an as-needed basis.

Croy presented a price list along with the proposed terms of its agreement, which you can view by following this link.

The city also passed resolutions on the licensing of online systems for permitting, and document storage.

You can view the meeting below. The meeting began with an executive session, so the video begins at 28:44.