County to look at vacating Sibley Spur

By Staff
Melissa Cason, Franklin County Times
The Franklin County Commission held a public hearing prior the beginning of the regular commission meeting held Monday, July 9.
The hearing addressed the possibility of vacating Sibley Spur Road, however, land owners Jaimee Harris and Steve McGuire asked that the vacation be moved to include more of the road to avoid potiental problems with drivers turning around on their property.
Harris expressed some concern about potential damage to their property if someone was to turn around in the designated area. However, to change the amount of property set to be abandoned, the commission must re-advertise it.
"I would advise the commission to follow the letter of the law and re-advertise [the abandonment]," County Attorney Roger Bedford told the commission.
Harris agreed to pay for the re-advertisement of the abandonment of the road. The issue will be voted on after re-advertisement has been run.
Once the regular meeting began, Rayburn Massey discussed the proposal that Franklin County join in the regional partnership to provide an incentive package to attract an auto manufacturer to Northwest Alabama.
The manufacturer is considering locating in Guin or a site in Virginia, Bedford told the commission.
"The manufacturer has approximately 77 suppliers that will be looking to locate near them," Massey said.
The commission vote to take action, and become a partner to help attract this new manufacturer. The county will provide $100,000 toward the incentive packages over the next 10 years, making it $10,000 per year.
"The incentives for this manufacturer will follow state guidelines," Massey said. "If the manufacturer does not live up to their end of the deal, we are not obligated to give them their incentive."
In other business, the commission voted to:
The next regular commission meeting will be held on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 9 a.m. at the courthouse annex building.