Staff report



THOMASVILLE — Max Beverly, Thomasville’s newly appointed mayor pro tem, expressed hopes Wednesday that the city would continue reducing its fire tax, the only property tax it collects.

“As long as the city maintains its current financial well-being, this should be attainable,” Beverly said, pointing out the city has no control over the school or county tax rates. The city aims to eventually eliminate the fire tax, if possible, he said.

Beverly, 39, was unanimously elected by the Thomasville City Council on Monday. He has been on the council since January 2006, and is beginning a second four-year term.

“I feel grateful to the rest of the council for being selected,” he told the Times-Enterprise. “I’ve gotten to know the returning members well over the past four years, and now I understand how the council works.”

Although he will miss the advice and wisdom provided by former Councilmember Earl Williams, Beverly said he is “very excited” about working with new member Greg Hobbs.

He also looks forward to working on several projects in 2010, including development of a new industrial park, exploring the creation of a compressed natural gas (CNG) distribution center and converting some of the city’s fleet to CNG fuel, and continuing to reduce the fire tax.

“The development of a new industrial park is critical for the continued growth of Thomasville and Thomas County,” he said. “Thomasville/Thomas County is the major employment engine for this area and to keep that status, we’ve got to be proactive.”

Beverly said the preliminary numbers he’s seen for CNG show the conversion “would have a relatively short payback period.”

“CNG is a cleaner and less expensive alternative for a lot of the uses in the city’s fleet, and we could provide this fueling source to the community as well,” he said.

Beverly said he was excited about the election of his mother, Mary Jo Beverly, as chairman of the Thomas County Board of Commissioners.

He does not think her election will affect his personal relations with the board.

“I think we both understand that although some city/county friction is inevitable, the reality is that there are only win-win or lose-lose situations when it comes to the relations between the two governments,” he said. “So we better make sure it’s win-win.”.”