The Swainsboro Mayor and City Council met Monday October 2, 2023, at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Following the invocation and Pledge of Allegiance, minutes of the September 5, 2023, meet-ing were presented and approved. Beginning with old business, bids for Auctioneer services for the City were opened. Only one bid was presented from South Auction and the issue was tabled pending further discussion. Council heard from Ms. Giselle White-Perry concerning the Robins Road issue. Council advised that more information would be forthcoming later in the meeting. Ms. Julie Carswell addressed Council and thanked the Police and Fire Depart-ments for their attention to certain unfavorable conditions in her neighborhood. She ex-pressed her appreciation for the improvements that have recently been made. Concluding old business was the unanimous acceptance and approval of city alcohol license for Ay Wey Res-taurant at 426 South Main St.
Under new business, the first agenda item dealt with the issuance of a license for taxicab ser-vices. City Administrator Middlebrooks advised that the application process had not yet been completed and would be reviewed at a later date. Next, the council discussed the com-prehensive increase of city fees including building permits, rental of city auditorium, com-munity house and other facilities, and the price of cemetery plots. Following the voicing of opposing positions concerning the hefty price increases with Mayor Bennett, Councilperson Parker abstained in a vote of three in favor (Sconyers, Davis, Stafford) and two opposed (Collins, Quarterman). The motion carried. The Council passed motions dealing with the change of status from part time to full time of certain personnel in the Police Depart-ment. Also receiving approval was the leasing of seven police interceptor vehicles. Next, council agreed to the hiring of Brandon Brooks as a full-time firefighter. A degraded culvert on North Racetrack Street was approved for repair. Council was advised this may result in street closures of some extended time. The issue of a change order request for the Karrh Thea-ter renovation project appeared on the Council agenda, but any action on the subject was not made clear. The 2024 City Budget and the property tax Milage Rate were scheduled for consideration at the meeting. However, a motion by Councilperson Davis delayed that action citing a lack of time that had not given councilmembers for study and review of the docu-ments. State law requires a certain period for public review and publication of the budg-et. Council set October 10, 2023, as the date for a special meeting to begin the process. Also set for discussion at the special meeting will be bid opening for the new water tank on Old Nunez Road and bid opening for the new construction of a Community Center at the Gum-log Street Gymnasium.
The final item on the regular meeting agenda was a committee report on the Robin Road is-sue. Councilperson Sconyers presented the findings of a committee including himself, Coun-cilmembers Parker and Quarterman and the Project Manager of ClearWater Solutions. Since the properties on Robin Road were constructed in the sixties and early seventies prior to the flood plain designation of 2010, the City of Swainsboro cannot legally provide any remedy for affected areas.
Following regular business, the council voted to go into Executive session. Returning to regu-lar session, Council voted to invalidate a previous contract with Jerome Bynes and the City of Swainsboro for the lease of the Recycling Center and rebid a contract for that location. Ad-journment followed.
