Published: July 17, 2008 10:58 pm            

Chatsworth to spotlight status of 'Crepe Myrtle City'

Equipment sale Saturday

CHATSWORTH — The City Council is working on a draft of an official seal that will highlight the city’s designation as the “Crepe Myrtle City of the South.”

After canceling its meeting last week, Mayor Tyson Haynes presided over a full council Thursday morning that included recently ill members Gary Brock and Margaret Adams.

“It will be a minimal cost to the city,” said Haynes of the proposed city seal, which he had printed out in logo form for council members to see.

Adams was excited about the seal and recalled that one time a company or individual came through town giving away crepe myrtle trees.

“Now they’re all around the city,” she said, “and I even have a couple at home.”

She added that the designation is “listed in the history of the city somewhere.”

Historian Tim Howard says the unofficial title came about in the 1950s when a group of businessmen called Chatsworth Enterprises was trying to entice industry to come to the area and mentioned the crepe myrtles around the courthouse in their brochures.

Haynes said city government is holding a “surplus property sale” this Saturday at the Murray County Recreation Department on Hyden Tyler Road beginning at 9 a.m. A preview of the equipment will take place today at the rec center. Some of the items will include Chatsworth Water Works equipment, some of the city’s used cars, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle confiscated by the police department.

In other business, council members approved a cell phone contract with Verizon that will save the city $100 a month, extended a building inspection and land disturbing activity agreement with Murray County government through August, and discussed the creation of a Web site at the cost of approximately $800 over five years.

Haynes read a resolution from the North Georgia Regional Development Center (NGRDC) supporting its desire to stay free of a merger with the Coosa Valley RDC headquartered in Rome, and received approval that the city supports the local RDC. Council

members also approved a new agreement with the NGRDC for the coming year, at $67 an hour for planner services and $36 an hour for planner technician services. The agency primarily provides land use, zoning and annexation review and advice to the city.

The council approved a list of roads that the state Department of Transportation has marked for signs, approved a transportation enhancement grant for $16,000 to put heating and air conditioning in the Old Depot on First Avenue, and accepted the resignation of Greg Springfield from the water commission.

Water Works director Tom Martin asked the city to move quickly to replace Springfield.



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Brock ‘feeling good’ after heart attack



Councilman Gary Brock was back at his seat on the Chatsworth City Council Thursday morning, less than two weeks after suffering a heart attack.

“I’m feeling good,” said Brock, who spent three days at Erlanger Medical Center in Chattanooga. “It was a light heart attack, and they put one stent in. They (the doctors) said there was no damage to my heart.”

Brock said he had not returned to work at the company he owns, Precision Loopers, and may use the event “as a chance to retire.”

“I have no plans to go back right now,” Brock said, “and may let my two sons run it.”

“We’re happy to have him back,” said Mayor Tyson Haynes. “We can take him off the prayer list, but keep Ms. (Margaret) Adams on it.”

Councilwoman Adams has fought an ongoing battle with cancer, and was at the council meeting.

        

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