An almost full house packed into City Hall in Pickens County Monday night, June 1.Even the local Boy Scouts appeared with, troop-leader, Mr. Westbrook working on their Communications Badge to report back to their troop members at the scout hut just off Pioneer rd.

While the most disappointing news was the lack of information on the City Park Baseball Fields repair project, which required more time to prepare, there were several approvals worth noting.

The City Council approved the presentation of the 2014 Annual Audit provided by Rushton & Company LLC. with 1 material weakness and 2 signigificant deficiencies. The material weakness involved an adjustment to another, prior, financial statement which was stated to be required to be reported as a material weakness on this report.

The 2 significant deficiencies were found with occupational taxes. The first involved a city wide test for receipt documentation. That test showed 5 receipts that were unable to obtain supporting documentation to be traced through the system to the bank deposit. However, the report of the company did not foresee any potential implications of fraud or major issues as this was just an issue to provide documentation.The second deficiency suggested a segregation of duties in that same process. Rushton & Company suggested to separate the duties of the person who maintains custody of the money and the person who reports the money within occupational taxes.

The key to this audit, however, was the report of 0 noncompliance issues.

Later in the meeting, the Downtown Alliance group was granted permission to work with the mayor to negotiate a strategy with the group for transportation enhancement. This will involve studies and surveys to provide a plan to return to the council with opportunities for improvement. They particularly spoke on the main street and central business district, but wanted to be able to spread to other areas to “draw people in” to Jasper.

The other notable approval came when the Council approved a SPLOST Project Contract. The council approved Johnson Paving out of Blue Ridge, Georgia to resurface and repair Sanders and Burton Streets. The contract will put 707 tons of asphalt spread 1.5 inches thick. Johnson Paving was approved as the lowest bidder at $63,322. The contract will now allow 45 days to complete the project.