“Help Wanted” at the Fire Department and City Court

The Swainsboro City Council met Monday, June 9, at 6 p.m. for its monthly meeting at Swainsboro City Hall. The regular first Monday of the month meeting time was moved to accommodate the schedules of various officials. The meeting was called to order by the mayor and Chris Morten delivered an invocation. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, the minutes from the regular meeting of May 5, 2025, and a special called meeting of May 29, 2025, were presented and approved. The first action taken was to amend the meeting agenda to include three items: adding an executive session for discussion of the sale of city property, the discussion of airport business, and the advertisement for hiring a city prosecutor for municipal court. Motion was made to accept the changes and agreed to. Under old business, council considered a 5-year contract proposal from Clearwater Solutions for municipal services. Clearwater is the current vendor for various services for the city. Council voted to table the matter until the July meeting. At this point, Mr. John David Bailey addressed council in the public comments portion of the meeting on three items of interest. He spoke regarding the issue of PTSD which is highlighted this month as a serious health issue affecting many public service occupations in addition to military and law enforcement, and the need to refer those affected to treatment programs. Bailey then commented on the difficulty of hearing the various speakers’ comments and business discussed at council meetings. He asked council to provide a better system of sound reproduction for council meetings for the benefit of the public. Additionally, Mr. Bailey requested on behalf of the local veterans to be updated by city officials on the progress of restoration and repair of the Veterans and First Responders Park. Next under new business, council announced the winner of the $1,000 scholarship provided by ClearWater Solutions to Yadira Hernandez. Miss Hernandez will attend Valdosta State University this fall. Next, council voted to add two positions to public safety departments of the city, one full-time position at the Fire Department where there are five positions vacant, and one part-time slot at the Police Department. Council then acted to approve the location of a mobile home inside the city limits for temporary office space for FEMA. Next, council approved the resurfacing and repairs to various streets provided by the LARP grant. Attorney Jerry Cadle then spoke to council in an update of activity at the local airport. Cadle brought council members through an explanation of the progress on-going both in terms of organizational streamlining of the airport authority and brick and mortar projects now on the planning board. New construction in the offing includes new hangers for aircraft based at the facility now known as East Georgia Regional Airport. No action was taken Monday, but council will resume discussion of the airport’s future in upcoming meetings. At this point, council moved into executive session to discuss the sale of city property. Any action taken in this closed session will be reported on by The Forest-Blade as it becomes available.