ANNEXATION UPDATE
8/21/2023
Annexation Update
Neighbors,
The City of Athens was extremely pleased with the citizen turnout at our first public meeting to discuss the annexation of areas surrounding the city. Many well thought out questions were posed, and citizens seemed open-minded to the discussion. Since that meeting, the city has been gathering further information and attempting to provide answers to some of the questions asked.
An additional development since our last meeting was the discovery of pending state legislation which would require municipalities that possess bodies of water within their jurisdictions, to make those bodies of water available to the public. The legislation brings into question the responsibilities the city would incur if the lake within Country Lake Estates was within the annexed boundaries. Under advisement of our city legal counsel, city leaders have chosen to pause further annexation discussion meetings until the pending legislation either passes or fails.
The city will continue to explore avenues which would enable us to provide services to the citizens in areas surrounding the city. As always, we welcome the input and suggestions of all the public and look forward to the opportunity to better serve our community.
Mayor Chris Reichert