By Staff Writer After nearly three years, work continues to demolish three houses on West Etowah Drive. A memorandum of understanding among the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Georgia Emergency Management Agency, the State Historic Preservation Office and the city of Cartersville was approved during Thursday night's city council meeting and furthers the city's efforts to tear down the houses. The city had applied for a pre-disaster management grant that would finance the demolition, as the homes have flooded repeatedly in the past and their demolition would help with stormwater management. However, it was held up by SHPO as the buildings were more than 50 years old. SHPO determined that two of the three buildings were historic and demolition would "have an adverse effect on historic property" as they are within the West End Historic District. In the memorandum, though, SHPO approved the demolitions so long as the two houses are documented. "The city of Cartersville, within this memorandum of understanding, is saying that we support this effort to mitigate those adverse effects [the flooding]," said Assistant to the City Manager Tom Quist as he described the memorandum. "FEMA will hire a contractor to come in and document the neighborhood and archive that information. We will be keeping a copy of that information on site and that will be our sole responsibility. There's no cost or anything associated with this." City Manager Sam Grove added the city will not pay anything out of pocket for the project once the grant is approved. October is the estimated date of demolition. The council also approved the Local Option Sales Tax percentage for the city, which is set at 19.3 percent. The LOST percentage is recalculated every 10 years and is partially based on population. However, Grove said, state law does allow it to be based on additional factors. The fiscal year 2012 contracts for performing services, which include the Cartersville Library, the Cultural Arts Alliance, the Good Neighbor shelter, the Bartow County Juvenile Court, Bartow Health Resources and the Learning Center at Summer Hill, were approved as well. The budget allotments for these organizations have not changed from the fiscal year 2011 budget. At the end of the meeting Mayor Matt Santini thanked the Optimist Club, public workers and public safety workers for their efforts over the Fourth of July holiday. He also thanked the servicemen and women that "keep us safe every day." Other city council business included the following: * the approval of an annexation and rezoning request by the city of Cartersville for property located at 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13 Corinth Road from Bartow County to Cartersville; * the approval of a rezoning application by Terry Tumlin for properties located at 2 Dixie Ave. and 329 E. Cherokee St.; * the appointment of Ken Frasier to the Board of Zoning Appeals; * the approval of a yearly lease agreement for city property at 324 and 326 Cherokee St.; * the approval of a license renewal from USA Software for the police department; * the approval of purchasing a new fuel management system for the city fleet in the sum of $46,000; * the approval of purchasing a VHF repeater for the water and gas departments in the sum of $8,670; * the approval of purchasing an air compressor for a water treatment plant in the sum of $12,663; and * the approval to pay an invoice to Southeastern Heat & Air for repairs done at the Senior Aquatic Center in the sum of $7,664. The Cartersville City Council's next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 19, at 7 p.m. at city hall.