A rest room building at Harrison Park should be complete by year’s end, noted an Ellijay City Councilmember as the council met Monday, Nov. 21.
Under construction since last year, there have been several challenges in finishing the park restrooms, including difficulty finding a contractor the city could afford and getting the needed materials, noted councilman Al Fuller, who’s been overseeing the project at the downtown Ellijay park.
Fuller said another of those challenges is that Georgia Power’s ongoing Grid Investment Project (in which overhead power lines are being rerouted underground) pushed back power being run to the rest room building.
“We were told that, the first of September, maybe you’re going to get power. They (thought) the grid would be finished this summer, then we were told it would be Thanksgiving. Now it’s next summer,” said Fuller. “We didn’t get power till two weeks ago. They went ahead and gave us a transformer on a pole, and when the grid is finished, they’ll take the transformer down and put everything underground.”
A few more tasks remain including installing some fixtures like soap dispensers, as well as partitions, before the rest rooms are totally done, noted Fuller. Electrical work had been done by the time the council met.
A final inspection will also have to be done to make sure everything works before parkgoers can use the facilities, noted Fuller.
“(The mayor) and I have talked about putting a walkway from the trail to (the rest rooms) so people won’t have to walk through the grass,” he added.
Councilmember Tom Crawford asked if it’s reasonable to plan on holding a dedication for the rest rooms in January 2023.
Fuller said it would be OK to plan a dedication for then.
In other news ...
﹣ Councilmembers approved a long list of year-end alcohol pouring license renewals and two new pouring licenses for businesses with new ownership.
On-premise consumption licenses were renewed for River Street Tavern, Cantaberry Restaurant, an in-progress microbrewery at Cartecay Bike Shop, American Legion Post 82, Ellijay Wood Fired Pizza, The Roof and Kasei Sushi. New on-premise consumption licenses were approved for The Butcher and Bottle and Boardwalk Pizza and Pub.
﹣ Board members reappointed Lex Rainey to serve another five-year term as Ellijay’s representative on the Gilmer County Board of Health and another three-year term as Ellijay’s representative on the Joint Development Authority.