TIFTON — City council members have decided to hold off on coming to a decision on an abandoned cart ordinance in the hopes of getting the insight of someone with a little more experience with the matter first.

Before moving to take a vote on the ordinance, which would create a retrieval and fine system to manage abandoned carts around the city, Mayor Julie Smith suggested at Tuesday’s meeting that the council instead postpone a motion for the time being.

She explained that she had spoken with Stripling’s General Store owner Tom Coogle about the abandoned carts the previous week and had been informed that the Georgia Food Industry Association was also looking into the matter. She proposed that the council delay a decision until members of this organization could come to the table and discuss a plan of action with them.

Smith said that the council would likely be unable to meet with this association until after August, with a decision coming even later since they would need to discuss the issue of the carts with them. She expressed reluctance to postpone a decision for so long, but believed that their input would be vital to making a well-informed decision on the problem.

Council members M. Jay Hall and Josh Reynolds backed her proposition, the former eager to receive insight from people with more experience in the field and the latter being opposed to the initial plan for the ordinance due to it holding business owners accountable for other people abandoning the business’s shopping carts.

Smith offered to postpone a decision until September, but was recommended to instead opt for an indefinite postponement by city attorney Rob Wilmot so as to give the council as much or as little time as they needed to get everything in order before the vote.