Weekly Update 01/24/2014

From Bob Schwartz, City Manager 


Organic FarmClick here to view a status report on the organic farm from the Emory web page.
Chamber of Commerce Retail Study – The Chamber of Commerce recently completed a retail study for Newton County. Here's a link to the first summary report. More to come later.
Book Signing – Hosanna Fletcher invited us all to a book signing next Wednesday evening. She says: "Between small town characters, revenge and murder, economic development, and history, this is sure to have a little something for everyone! Click here to see the Rawlings flyer that explains the details.
Engineering ProposalsAs you know we received 24 proposals. Councilmember Terry Smith came by Thursday and spent about an hour with Jody reviewing the proposals. Terry recommended that Jody and I interview two of the firms: Alcovy Surveying & Engineering and Jordan Engineering. We will meet with both of them Tuesday. We hope to have a recommendation ready in time for the February 3 council meeting. Terry felt that both firms were the right size and had the right experience to work well with us. I have sent an email to the other 22 firms notifying them of the status of the selection process.
City Code Online - In Municipal Code Corporation has posted our code of ordinances online. You can get to it from our website or just use this URL: http://www.municode.com/Library/GA/Oxford. It comes with a robust search engine. Give it a try. Click here to see a copy of the Municipal Code Corporation’s users guide for this service. We’ll also include a link to it on our website.
GMA Member Services Task ForceThe second meeting of the GMA (Georgia Municipal Association) member services task force is Monday morning (January 27) in Atlanta after Mayor’s Day so I’ll be out of the office until early afternoon.  This committee is trying to help GMA identify additional services it can provide to cities.

Emory Asbury Water Line Construction – Work is well underway.  Anderson Construction has started to install the new line on Asbury.  Many of the trees have been cleared on Emory and work is starting on some of the water line bores under Emory Street and under the trees on Emory.