Temple sets 2023 qualifying fees

The council meeting opened with setting new committee chairs and appointing the 2023 mayor pro tem. All of the council members unanimously voted to approve Councilmember Richard Bracknell as Mayor Pro Tem, whose responsibility is to lead the council meeting in the absence of Mayor Johnson.

The city of Temple hosts monthly council committees meetings to discuss items of business for each city department, equivalent to what other municipalities call their work session. During the regular city council meeting this week, the chairperson for each of the six committees along with other members were announced.

Councilmember Richard Bracknell will be the chairperson of the personnel committee with Councilmember Howard Walden as a member of that committee. Councilmember Hiley Miller will be the chairperson for the budget and finance committee with Walden being a member of that committee as well. Bracknell will also be the chairperson for the parks, recreation and senior center committee with Miller as a member. Walden will be the chairperson for the public safety committee with Councilmember Casey Russom as a member. Councilmember Tom Wallace will be the chairperson for the public works and waste water committee with Bracknell as a member. Russom will be the chairperson for the community development committee with Wallace as a member.

Temple will hold its biennial municipal election on Tuesday, Nov. 7. The state of Georgia requires local governments to set and publish qualifying fees for its municipal election no later than Feb. 1 of the year there will be a regular election, which is why the qualifying fees were announced for the Temple election in this meeting.

The state requires those fees for nonpartisan municipal offices to be 3% of the previous year’s gross salary for the respective office for which candidates qualify. The 2023 biennial municipal election will elect qualified candidates from each of the three city council wards to serve a four-year term in the respective positions of city council members from wards three, four and five.

The 2022 gross salary for the position of mayor in Temple was $5,400 and for the council members it was $4,500, meaning the qualifying fee will be set at $135 for the council member position. The council voted to unanimously approve the qualifying fee set.

There was a report concerning the annual automatic 1.5% increase in water usage rates, which occurs from an inflation and operation cost increase standpoint. This automatic annual inflationary increase occurs each year unless action is taken by the council to stop it, which it was not during this meeting.

The city will not officially increase water rates, if at all, until the new meters have been installed and a water analysis is complete.