Dawson City Council update: Downtown plans, sewer work and medical office lease

DAWSON — Efforts to reactivate Dawson’s Downtown Development Authority should include an open application process to identify residents interested in helping shape downtown’s future, a Georgia Municipal Association representative told the Dawson City Council on Oct. 8.

Emily Davenport, a GMA member services consultant, encouraged officials to look beyond people they already know when filling board seats.

“You may have people in the community that you just don’t know that have a passion for it,” she said.

Davenport suggested looking for applicants with backgrounds in architecture, engineering or historic preservation while ensuring local businesses are involved.

“You want to make sure you’ve got your local businesses involved because they’re invested,” she said.

She offered to help connect Dawson with training and resources and pointed officials to online training for downtown development authority members scheduled for Oct. 20-21.

Mayor Robert Aaron asked whether the authority needed a full board before members could attend training. Davenport said existing members could participate while additional appointments are being made.

“We want to make sure that everybody is trained properly and understands the kind of roles and responsibilities for each of those positions,” she said.

During that discussion, an audience member asked about a rumor that “the Golden Triangle wanted to buy” the downtown theater, which the authority owns.

“That’s different,” Aaron said. “I’ll talk to you about it in private.”

Powell pulled a proposed contract with Bennett Financial Tax Advisory from the agenda. The agreement in the council packet would have paid the firm a $4,150 monthly retainer to help clear the city’s backlog of annual audits.

Davenport, addressing the council, laid out the stakes. Dawson is “multiple years behind,” she said, and must finish its 2023 audit before moving to 2024 and 2025.

“In order to get state or federal funding, you are going to have to be current on the most current five years,” she said. If the 2023 audit is not accepted, she said, “that means you have to have a good audit for ’24, ’25, ’26, ’27, and ’28 before you’d be eligible for state and federal funding.”

“What do the council have to do to speed up the audit?” Councilwoman Iri Pittman asked. “We’ve been asking for a long time. … How do we satisfy our public? Because public put us in (office).”

Aaron tied the audits to the city’s water lines.

“Until we get those kinds of grants, we cannot do anything with the water lines that we have that’s bursting all over the city of Dawson,” Aaron said.

The council also received an update on construction at Dawson’s wastewater treatment plant and work on the sewer collection system.

A Sept. 14 report from engineering firm Carter & Sloope to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division says equipment for all four secondary clarifiers has been replaced and startup completed.

Installation of new influent pumps was underway, and the contractor had completed underground piping for a new screen and grit structure. Electrical assembly and other improvements remained in progress.

Sewer rehabilitation also continued. The report says contingency funding was being used to clean and inspect additional sewer lines with video equipment, helping identify locations where unwanted water enters the system.

The plant’s operations and maintenance manual remained pending. The report references a Dec. 31, 2025, deadline and an expected schedule change but does not provide a replacement date.

In other business, the council extended CareConnect Health’s lease of the city’s medical office for five years, through Sept. 30, 2031. Monthly rent is $2,944.17.

Council members also approved closing City Hall at 3 p.m. Oct. 16 so employees can leave before streets become congested for the Terrell County High homecoming parade.

Powell said administrative employees had raised concerns about “being blocked in from traffic for the homecoming parade.”

The council approved an alcohol license for WMF Industries to store wine for shipment in a warehouse on the south end of Main Street, near the former John Deere location. Aaron described the proposed operation as storage rather than a retail or tasting business.

The council later entered a closed session to discuss litigation, real estate and personnel.