VALDOSTA — Valdosta City Council will consider renaming West 3rd Avenue, between the 600 block of West Magnolia Street and the 600 block of Canal Street, to Eathel Way Avenue.

Grady Whitfield with Valdosta Westside Archives submitted a petition to rename the street in honor of Eathel Lee Hall Whitfield for her “outstanding contributions to her community and as an African-American female business woman,” according to the agenda for the City Council meeting scheduled for Thursday.

From 1959 until her death in 1994, Whitfield operated a salon, a café and a study hall on Valdosta’s westside, the city states. 

“Whitfield believed in the advancement of education and provided space for children to come and study,” city documents state. “She also took great pride in honoring the students who were on the A & B honor roll by displaying their names on a Wall of Fame.”

The city said the owners of four of the six properties that abut the street have signed the petition and are in favor of the name change. Anyone looking to speak in favor or against the request will have the opportunity to speak before the mayor and council at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in City Hall.

Also during the meeting, council will consider approving the contract with Sages Networks for the purchase of electric plan review software in an effort to move the city toward being paperless, city documents state.

There is a one-time cost of $37,133 for the initial setup, configuration, integration, training and Bluebeam review and a monthly cost of $4,080 for the annual subscription, according to the city.

“With the increasing reliance on paperless processes in all areas of business, the city’s paper-based plan review process has become outdated,” the city said. “The inspections department has been seeking a digital plans review solution for some time and they would like to implement a digital plan review process to streamline processes, make record retention more affordable and improve customer service.”

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256