Cook County EDC | Lenox looks to the future to benefit its citizens

Lenox looks to the future to benefit its citizens

By: Charles Shiver

The City of Lenox has numerous projects planned for the near future to benefit citizens in the north Cook County town:

A $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) will be used for paving and drainage on Railroad Street.
The City will be seeking funds for new playground equipment on the playground at Roscoe Francis Park.
The City will be applying for funds for drainage work on Martin Luther King Jr. Street, as well as paving and drainage work from Central Avenue through the woods to MLK.

In recent months, the City has renovated the Civic Center and dedicated the facility in honor of former Mayor Dot Revels-Cloud. The Civic Center renovations took about two months, with new flooring, new ceilings, chandelier-type lights, new bathrooms, and a new kitchen. The work was completed at the end of March 2016. Years ago, the facility was a hardware store; it then became a community center for local events. Eventually, the City officially named the building as Lenox’s Civic Center and the Mayor and Council agreed on the upgrades.

The City also has built a Public Works Office.

The natural gas line built from Adel to Lenox will benefit customers, and Lenox now has water and sewer lines installed all the way south to Barneyville.

The Lenox City Council is scheduled to vote on participation in the 2016 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) at the Monday, Aug. 1, meeting. If voters pass the referendum on Tuesday, Nov. 8, Lenox officials plan to use the SPLOST funds generated for these projects:

A pole barn under which big equipment will be parked.
Water and sewer improvements, and roads and bridges. The City will use SPLOST funds to match Local Maintenance Improvement Grant (LMIG) funds from the Georgia Department of Transportation for road improvements.
A metal building to store water supplies.
Renovation of City Hall with insulation installed. City Clerk Teresa Barber said she has applied for another health and wellness grant. The prior grant was used to purchase a treadmill for employees’ exercise. The new grant would be used for blood pressure cuffs, a defibrillator, and health education literature for employees, allowing some to work on weight loss.

To further encourage fitness, Mrs. Barber plans for the City to participate in National Walk at Lunch Day, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. “We will encourage citizens to walk with us (city employees),” she said.

Mrs. Barber added that she is applying for a safety and liability grant with the Local Government Risk Management Agency and Georgia Municipal Association. The grant would fund safety equipment for the Lenox Police Department and Road Department.

Since 2008, when former Mayor Dot Revels-Cloud took office, the City of Lenox has not imposed a property tax rate on citizens in the town. The new fiscal year budget process hasn’t been completed yet, and city officials should know by August or September whether the zero mill tax rate will continue, Mrs. Barber said.