by John Wagner, RadioJones, LLC
Unveiled at the regular Swainsboro Meeting of the Mayor and City Council Monday was a new sound system, which was a delight to the members of the public; many who had complained they could not always hear the spokespeople at the meetings. This did work. Each council member has a wireless microphone with an on/off button in front of them. A standard wired mic was attached at the end of their conference table for guests and presenters.
The first item of new business was to approve the re-use of last year’s Pine Tree Festival parade route and street closures then turn it over to Police Chief Ashley Riner to communicate with the state D-O-T.
Council also approved putting Amy Scott on the Downtown Development Authority Board.
The next subject was Community Development Block Grants. John McClellan with Turnipseed Engineers recommended a project to refresh sewer lines in the neglected northern part of the city. He cautioned council that any application would need to be submitted in early April. The only commitment at this time would be $28,000 for the low bid from Augusta Industrial Services of 2 dollars a foot to run video camera inspections through the drain lines to see where work would need to be done. McClellan said the scope of the work was a grant of 1 million dollars with city matching funds. And the video could determine how much of the total project could be completed.
Council approved Police Chief Riner’s request for replacement of the last of the original Carrier 5-ton air conditioners on the roof of the Police Station. The low bidder was also selected here, and new district 2 council member, Brad McKenzie, gave the city a salute. Thanking the city for staying local, “if we say to shop local, we need to stay local all the way round.”
Finally, Swainsboro approved Intergovernmental Agreements transferring sponsorship for the Federal Aviation Administration and Georgia Department of Transportation grants from the City to the East Georgia Regional Airport Authority, and entered into an agreement with the Georgia D-O-T for airport engineering design and any needed planning assistance. This was all to continue the transfer of ownership and control of the Airport to the Authority to grow and improvement of the facility.
