City Council wraps up ‘24

The December meeting of the Swainsboro City Council and Mayor convened at City Hall on Monday evening, December 2, 2024. Following an invocation and pledge of allegiance, the city officials once again heard from Mrs. Jacqueline Brantley, a property owner on Green Street, requesting an update on any action regarding a derelict property adjacent to her house. Mayor Bennett advised her to request any update on the continuing problem from City Administrator Middlebrooks. Following this discussion, council considered and approved the minutes of the previous meeting. Under old business, council revisited the issue of term limits for council members which was brought up in an earlier council meeting. City Attorney Levis took the floor to discuss a rough draft prepared by his office to address the issue. In a detailed explanation, Levis listed the steps and various options that must be taken if council members chose to change the long-standing terms of city governance dealing with the number of terms that any councilmember or mayor can serve and the resolution of vacancies. Council voted to approve moving forward with the process. A complete presentation of the framework for the changes to be considered by council will be given at a later date. At this point a change to the meeting’s agenda allowed for council’s consideration and approval of a street closure on Lewis Street near the City Cemetery in connection with the Wreaths Across America program on December 14. The agenda change also allowed for approval of specific acknowledgement of the service of Police Chief Randy Ellison on the occasion of his upcoming retirement. Moving to new business, council voted 5-0 to replace a pump at lift station 11 at a cost of $17,810 and replace bar screen parts at the treatment plant at a cost of $25,077. Council also approved an additional month’s lease on a Caterpillar front-end loader being used in the hurricane clean-up efforts. Next, council approved an expenditure to cover the cost of physical exams for firefighters. Following this, council considered and approved for advertisement, the application of two game room license applications. The information provided on applicant’s name and business license address are as follows: Krishi, DBA D & I Food Mart, 334 West Main Street, Swainsboro and Eric Worthen, DBA Hair Tight Games, 229 South Main Street, Swainsboro. The final issue under new business was the consideration of an application for a Workforce Housing Grant. Council heard information concerning a grant for program assistance in the development of new residential housing described as middle-income home construction funded in a public/private joint venture. Council approved a motion to move ahead with the pre-application steps in participating in the program. At this point, council voted to move into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing employment-related and contract-related issues.

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