During a brief West Point City Council meeting on Monday evening, the council unanimously approved four pieces of business that had been discussed over the course of the last month in work sessions. Those pieces of business included the approval of a new lending library, which will be placed on Avenue E, the approval of amendments to the city’s personnel policy, the approval of an amendment to the city’s Electric Cities of Georgia Inter-Participant Contract and the approval of the purchase of a piece of property by the city.

The city also reported a dour financial month in January, bringing in revenues of $1,472,176 while total expenses came to $2,378,744, leaving the city running at a deficit in January of $906,567. Such a discrepancy is not unusual, per City Manager Ed Moon, as the city makes lump sum payments throughout the year to satisfy various debt obligations. The heightened expense in January was driven by an annual bond payment to JP Morgan for the city’s water/sewer plant.

“We have some annual payments on some of the debt service on the water/sewer side,” Moon said as clarification. “That occurs some months in the year and is not abnormal.”

The lending library project, which was proposed by Amanda James during the city’s work session on Jan. 30, will be a community service project with the intention of increasing camaraderie in the area surrounding Avenue E. The city approved the request to allow James to place a standalone structure in the right-of-way near her home, which will house books and non-perishable food items for citizens to take and leave as they see fit.

“We decided to contact a local wood worker about building a library, but not just a library, anymore, but something called a ‘little free pantry,’” said James in a letter written to the city council.

The city also approved an amendment to its ECG contract, specifically as it relates to the contract’s cost-allocation methodology for ECG’s Pole Attachment Services. The amendment will ensure the cost associated with handling PAS permits for any member city be applied to specific participating cities. Thus, if a project is being done in a participating city other than West Point, West Point will not end up footing any of the bill for that project.

The city also agreed to purchase the piece of property located at 1508 U.S. Highway 29 for $85,000.