Potential Transit Authority takeover, alcohol license hearing on Macon-Bibb agenda

Macon-Bibb County officials are scheduled to discuss a potential takeover of the transit system Tuesday.

The County Commission is expected to renew discussions about making the Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority a county department at Tuesday’s committee meetings.

Currently, a separate Transit Authority board oversees the agency, although Macon-Bibb does provide funding for the system.

A search for a new transit authority CEO and general manager is underway after Rick Jones resigned in June.

The state Legislature would have to approve the Transit Authority’s becoming a Macon-Bibb department, county officials have said.

Alcohol license hearing

Also Tuesday, a store owner will fight a decision by commissioners not to renew an alcohol license.

Commissioners voted unanimously in June to deny the renewal for M&M Grocery because of a high volume of incidents at the 2766 Montpelier Ave. store. The final vote on whether to uphold the decision could be made following a 1 p.m. hearing on the matter.

In other business Tuesday:

The commission’s Operations and Finance Committee will also vote on matches related to two grants for proposed airport runway extensions.

The county has received a “tentative allocation” of $135,000 in federal funds for land acquisition that would be used for a downtown airport runway extension. Macon-Bibb would be required to spend $7,500 on the match.

The final grant amount would be decided on after construction bids are received for the project, according to a letter from the DOT.

Another $3,125 of local funds could go toward an environmental assessment for a runway extension at Middle Georgia Regional Airport. The county could receive $118,750 in federal funds for the assessment.

The Economic and Community Development Committee will also take up two blight measures.

The committee is expected to vote on using $118,200 of Commissioner Al Tillman’s blight bond money to acquire and tear down five structures on Napier, Brookdale and Grand avenues.

Another proposal would allocate $175,370 for a Walnut Street blight remediation project. Nine houses would be torn down with money that would come from Commissioner Virgil Watkins’ blight funds.

This story was originally published July 10, 2017 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Potential Transit Authority takeover, alcohol license hearing on Macon-Bibb agenda."