The Newborn City Council has voted to move to staggered terms for elected officials beginning in November 2009.

Currently the mayor and five-person city council are all elected at the same time every four years.

"It’s always been the mayor and council would go out at the same time and new people would come in and they wouldn’t know what is going on," said Newborn City Clerk Lisa Rowe of the council’s reasoning in making the switch to staggered terms.

A resolution approved by the city council at their September meeting will move two city council seats to a two year term in the next election in November 2009. That two year term will end in December 2011.

Two yet-to-be-determined sitting council members will go up for election that year. A public hearing and discussion with legislative council will determine which two councilmember seats will be put up for reelection first.

Currently none of the council seats are numbered as there are no districts and councilmembers are elected at large. The resolution will now assign seat numbers to each council seat. The remaining three council seats will be up for reelection in November 2013.

The resolution is to be put in the charge of the county’s legislative delegation to Atlanta who will oversee its passage through the General Assembly Rowe said.

In other recent news from Newborn:

• At their September meeting the council approved the selection of Lee Carmon who works for the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center to complete the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

Carmon, who has more than 18 years of experience writing Comprehensive Plans, will be paid $18,975 for her work. The plan is expected to be completed by the end of April.

• At the city’s October meeting the council received news that their monthly loan repayments to the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority for a loan to install a new water line were to be lowered slightly because the city did not spend the full cost of the $707,654 loan.

The cost of installing the new water line came only to $690,640. The installation project was completed at the end of 2007.

The city’s monthly payments will now be $3,830, down from $3,924.

• Because of the Nov. 4 general election, the city of Newborn will not hold its regularly scheduled meeting on the first of the Monday of the month in November but will instead hold it on the second Monday on Nov. 10.

 The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.