BY JOHN BRICE
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
LANETT — District 2 Council Member Tamalita Dunn Autry was joined by LaFayette Deputy Clerk Diane Perry for the reading of a proclamation for the Day of Prayer to be held Aug. 1, during the Monday night Lanett City Council meeting. Perry expressed her gratitude for longstanding assistance from the city of Lanett.
“I just want to thank the Mayor and Council of Lanett for all the support they have given us these 24 years in praying for Chambers County,” Perry said. “Like I always say, if we don’t pray for our county, if we don’t pray for our leaders, our officials, no one else will. So we have to keep them lifted up because they have a lot of decisions to make that everyone is not going to agree with but they are going to make the best decision for the betterment of the community. We are going to be giving away school supplies on that day. If you are not doing anything, everyone is welcome to come up.”
Discussions
Code Enforcement Officer Johnny Wood addressed the council for a discussion on a resolution for the determination of three properties owned by Norma Roberts and her son Chad, to be declared a public nuisance.Wood spoke on the recent history of his dealings with the properties.
“These three properties [are] 602, 604 and 606 South 8th St.,” Wood said. “I identified them as nuisance properties back in October. We had some homeless people living there; they had been broken into a couple of times. It is there in the report. The house in the middle, the roof is caving in. The others are in disrepair and need some work. All of the properties have been overgrown. We sent a letter to the owners, Norma and her son Chad, to see about fixing the property. We gave them 45 days. That was in October.”
Lanett Mayor Jamie Heard corroborated the report from Wood.
“We have been working with Roberts for nine months. We have given them several extensions. Nothing ever takes place, pretty much. They have a couple of days before the time is up, they want to come back and ask ‘Could you give me more time?’.”
Heard reflected on the potential consequences for failing to act.
“We need to be careful because we don’t want to set a precedent in this meeting here today,” Heard said. “If we keep giving them extensions, then the next home that should be torn down they come up here and they say ‘I need a little more time.’ We give them a little more and they come back and we just keep dragging it off. The way we are going, if we allow them a year then what are we going to do for another house. That means we won’t tear the [next] house down for a year.”
Following the discussion, the council voted to approve the determination of the properties as a public nuisance which will lead to their abatement and eventual demolition.
In other business
- Council Member Tony Malone made note of one of the city’s oldest citizens passing away at 108 years old last week.
- Council Member Ronnie Tucker implored local residents to spend more time expressing positive thoughts about Lanett and less time dwelling on negative aspects of the city.
- Council Member Tifton Dobbs clarified that rumors that street paving projects which have recently begun were politically motivated were false due to the fact that they had originally been approved in September of last year and the contractor had started the work because the company’s previous projects have been completed.
