JEFFERSON — While waiting to hear from the Georgia Department of Transportation, the City of Jefferson has closed a portion of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

During its regular work session Monday, the Jefferson City Council received an update on the roadway from city staff.

"This is just a temporary closing," City Manager John Ward said. "We’re waiting to get the authority from (GDOT) to pave the gravel portion of the road, so until we receive that, the road will remain closed."

Currently, a portion of the roadway in question is unpaved. City crews recently replaced gravel in that area, which was subsequently washed away several weeks ago during a period of heavy rains, Public Works Director Jeff Killip said. The washed away gravel represented not only thousands of city dollars, but also required closing the road for safety reasons, staff members said.

Jefferson Police Chief Joe Wirthman, also updated the council about a series of burglaries.

"We’ve had a rash of car burglaries lately, it appears to be a group of
teenagers and we’ve made some arrests," Wirthman said. "But these are crimes of opportunity. They aren’t (physically) breaking into vehicles; they are taking items from unlocked vehicles."

Wirthman also warned residents against leaving their unattended vehicles running.

"We all want to get into a warm vehicle in the morning, but they are driving by and seeing these vehicles idling with no one inside and they are jumping inside and taking off," Wirthman said. "We’ve recovered one vehicle (from a similar situation) down in Lawrenceville."

The city council also discussed calling a special meeting Wednesday to discuss a rezoning request from First United Methodist Church of Jefferson. The meeting may be necessary because state law requires action on rezoning requests within a given time frame.

The original request from the church was made in December, but approval or denial has been postponed several times since then. City Attorney Ron Hopkins is expected to review the state law and previous city action to determine if the meeting is needed.