Mayor Keith Gaskin broke a tie to table a proposal from the Golden Triangle Planning and Development District for an annexation and redistricting study during Tuesday’s Columbus City Council meeting.
Last month, the GTPDD pitched a potential annexation plan at a council work session. It looked at an area in East Columbus off of Lehmberg Road and a second area southeast of Columbus off of South Lehmberg and would have brought in just more than 2,000 residents.
Ward 2 Councilman Joseph Mickens and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones had approached the GTPDD with the idea.
GTPDD GIS Director Toby Sanford asked the council Tuesday to formally green-light the plan, which includes $40,000 for an annexation study and $12,500 for a redistricting plan after annexation is complete.
Mickens wanted to know what costs would come with potential annexation.
“If we’re going to go into that area, how much expense for the police department, for water and sewer?” Mickens asked.
“We don’t know that yet,” Sanford said. “That would be part of the study.”
Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard wanted to know more, as well.
“I just feel like I should know a little bit more before I approve a $40,000 study,” Beard said. “The study is going to approve the revenue that we’re either going to obtain or that we’re going to lose by picking up these properties. I need to know at least some of that.”
Beard wanted to know if GTPDD could provide any more data about potential costs and benefits before the city agreed to anything.
Sanford said it would all come out of the study.
“You haven’t hired me to do any of that yet,” Sanford said.
Beard continued to push.
“What I’m saying is if we pay you $40,000 to do this study and give us the answers and we don’t feel the need to annexation, then we’ve already spent the money,” Beard said.
“That’s how annexations work,” Sanford replied.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene moved to table the proposal, with a second from Beard. The motion deadlocked, with Greene, Beard and Ward 6 Councilwoman Jacqueline DiCicco voting yes and Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Taylor Stewart, Mickens and Jones voting no.
Gaskin broke the tie in favor of tabling.
The original proposal included areas that abutted several wards and, in some cases, included roads that were split between the city and county. The first area is adjacent to East Columbus, and is bordered by Ward 2 and Ward 3. It is bounded by Highway 82 in the north, Armstrong Road to the east, Lehmberg Road to the west and the area of Deerfield Drive to the south. It includes 631 residents, 512 of which are Black, 105 white and 14 other.
The second area is bounded on the east by South Lehmberg Road, on the south by the area adjacent to Scott Drive, on the west by Hargrove Road and to the north by the approximate area of Vernon Branch Creek. It is adjacent to Ward 1 and Ward 2. It includes 1,393 residents, of whom 1,330 are Black, 36 are white and 27 are other.
The city has already spent about $6,800 on preliminary redistricting work with Oxford-based Bridge and Watson.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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