From Bob Schwartz, City Manager
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→ Georgia Economic Outlook – Mayor Roseberry and I attended an economic briefing at the University of Georgia on Wednesday. Dr. Benjamin Ayers, dean of the College of Business presented the forecast for 2016. Here is some of what he said:
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- Overall, the forecast for 2016 is optimistic.
- State gross domestic product should increase by 3.3% in 2016.
- Personal income should increase by 5.7% in 2016. In 2015, it increased by 4.6%.
- The number of jobs should grow by 2.3% in 2016.
- Housing starts will be up 23% in 2016. Home prices should be up 5%.
- Low gasoline prices will continue to help the Georgia economy. We are a gas importing state.
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→ I-20 Bridge and Emory Street Sidewalk Project – On Tuesday, we (me and Jody from the City and Kendra and Todd from the College) met with Nick Castronova, who is the consulting engineer on this project. He gave us an update. The bridge and sidewalk are funded about 80% with federal funds, so we have several Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) rules and procedures to follow. The environmental assessment has been completed and is being reviewed by FHWA. As the local government, we are responsible for easement acquisition. It has been designed to avoid easements as much as possible. Some will still be necessary. Federal rules prohibit us from even talking to any of the property owners until after the environmental assessment and the prospective easements are approved by GDOT and the FHWA. In the meantime, we are going to get proposals from appraisers with experience with federal projects like this. The construction schedule still lists the starting date as June, 2017 and a completion date of August, 2018.
→ Radar Recording Device – Chief Harvey and Lt. Pilgrim installed the radar recording device this week. It’s working and Chief Harvey was able to download the first day and a half of data using his laptop in his patrol car. We’ll have a more complete report after it is been in operation for a longer period of time.
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