MOULTRIE, Ga. — Paying your city utility bills may get a bit easier early next year.

The Moultrie City Council approved a concept Tuesday to add a second drive-thru to City Hall. In an interview later, City Manager Pete Dillard announced that the building’s lobby will also re-open for business after the first of the year.

The first floor of the Moultrie Municipal Building includes an area where city utility bills are paid and another office where changes are made to CNSNext cable service.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, those areas have been closed off to the public. The drive-thru window has been in place for years, but the city added a walk-up window for each office — utilities and cable.

“People get backed up very quickly and it spills onto the street,” Dillard said.

No specific plan for the drive-thru was accepted Tuesday. The city has already had architectural renderings done that feature an “air chute much like a bank’s drive-thru,” Dillard explained to the council in the work session. 

“Very little things will need to be changed for it to be implemented,” Dillard said in an interview Wednesday. “There should be little to no effect of traffic on the street or the drive-thru that is already in place.”

The plan is to pay for the drive thru with money acquired through the American Recovery Plan; among the plan’s allowed uses is construction to limit physical contact. 

The new drive-thru has an estimated cost of $80,000 and should be ready for city use in March of 2022, according to Dillard.

Dillard also stated in the interview that City Hall’s main lobby should reopen for bill pay at the beginning of next year. 

In other action Tuesday:

• A special use permit was issued to construct a building supply business outside Spence Field on Hwy. 133 S.

• The city is selling its 3.8% share of the telecommunications company Georgia Public Web, Inc. to the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia. Dillard told the council during the work session their shares were valued at approximately $1.1 million. 

• The council also considered the creation of a new entity to promote tourism in Moultrie. Not many details were discussed regarding the entity but it will be called the Convention and Business Bureau. It will be responsible for handling funds directly related to tourism in Moultrie. 

• Cole Posey was officially appointed to the Moultrie-Colquitt County Parks and Recreation Authority chair seat for the 2022-2025 term. He had been filling the position in a temporary capacity since September. 

The consent agenda was accepted unanimously by all council members present those items included:

• Contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation to design Runway 4/32 and Shoulders Rehabilitation; rehabilitate airfield drainage Phase IV at the the Spencefield Airport.
• Bid for dump truck to Performance Peterbilt of Albany, Ga., in the amount of $126,974 from the TSPLOST Fund.
• Bid for walking floor trailer to East Manufacturing Corporation of Randolph, Ohio, in the amount of $104,700 from the Solid Waste Garbage Fund.
• Bid for rear loader garbage truck to Sansom Equipment of Mobile, Ala., in the amount of $196,277.29 from the Solid Waste Garbage Fund.
• Bid for wheeled excavator to Yancey Brothers of Austell, Ga., in the amount of $268,740 from the TSPLOST Fund.
• Bid for Spence Field drainage box improvements to Griffin Grading & Concrete, LLC of Cordele, Ga., in the amount of $209,453.78 from the GDOT and SPLOST Fund.
• Approval of Appropriation Resolution FY2021-22 Budget Amendment AR—2021-22 #2.
• Approval of Appropriation Resolution FY2021-22 Budget Amendment AR—2021-22 #3.
• Third Memorandum of Understanding and Mutual Aid Agreement between Moultrie-Colquitt County Airport Authority and City of Moultrie.
• Policies and procedures statement for acquisition of real property or easement associated with federally funded projects.
• Resolution adopting the Colquitt County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan.