At the August meeting of the City Commission of Twin City, Mayor Donaldson announced the award of over $1 million dollars in grant & loan funding from 3 different programs. The City Commission met on August 1st in the City Commission Chambers, with Mayor Donaldson and Commissioners Jesse Brown, Kenton Landon, and Charles Moody in attendance. Mayor Pro Tem Jule Bady was absent.
The first program was from the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank (GTIB). The City will receive a $350,000 grant and a $250,000 loan to fund the city’s largest road surfacing project. The total project cost is $1 million, with the city funding the remainder in city funds. The Commission discussed the advertisement of bids during the meeting. The advertisement was posted in July, with the bids due to City Hall by August 25, 2023 at noon.
The current project scope is to resurface (13) city roads. Those roads are Mathis Avenue, Princess Street, King Street, Palm Street, Maple Street, South Railroad Avenue, South College Street, Old Statesboro Road, Rainbow Ridge, Allen Street, Paradise Road, Stokes Avenue, and Eastside Road. The 13 roads account for 5 miles of resurfacing, which is 25% of all the roads in Twin City.
In 2020, the City Commission approved to submit (7) roads for resurfacing to be funded with T-SPLOST 2 funding. Those roads are: First Avenue, West Broad Street, Parrish Pond Road, Old Swainsboro Road, Wilson Road, Coursey Road, and Sandridge Road.
The second program was from the Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant. The City will receive $427,619 in grant funding for the purchase of a new fire truck. The total project cost is $449,000, with the city matching the grant funding with $21,381 of City SPLOST funding. The City could wait 12 months or more for the new fire truck, due to the supply chain issues.
Mayor Donaldson said, “With a new fire truck, we hope to lower the City ISO (Insurance Services Office) fire rating. Once we lower the fire rating, this would lower the property insurance premiums for everyone in Twin City and the surrounding 5-mile area. I’d like to thank Fire Chief Foster Grimes and our firefighters for all their hard work.”
The third program was from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA). The city will receive $54,750 in grant funding to comply with a new federal requirement to inventory all city water lines for lead pipes. This project is pending, with more information to be discussed at a future meeting.
The action items from the meeting were approval of minutes from the June 6th and June 22nd meetings and approval of Resolution 08-2023 to approve the GTIB funding. All 3 items were approved unanimously.
