Columbia County government gathered Tuesday to address some community business before the Thanksgiving holiday, including the fate of two committees.
Community Services Director John Luton presented two resolutions before the Community and Emergency Services Committee during its meeting to dissolve both Community Events Advisory and the Monument and Public Arts committees.
Luton noted the decreasing activity for both as the primary impetus for the community services staff recommending their dissolution. The Community Events Advisory Committee was formed to lead in the development and coordination of the county’s cultural events and programs, though its role was primarily the approval of bench plaque dedications.
“It was really almost an Evans Towne Center Park committee,” said Luton. “As we started to expand events, it just dwindled out, and we had trouble getting participation.”
The Monument and Public Arts Committee is charged with evaluating proposals for public artwork. Luton noted that it meets on an as-needed basis and had not met since he has been division director. The ordinance his staff proposed before the committee would transfer the functions of both committees to the Recreation Board, which meets regularly and consistently.
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“We’ve recently restructured our department so that events and recreation and park operations are the same department,” said Luton. “This proposed change reflects those same functions.”
Luton then presented a third resolution, an ordinance that would revise and update the Recreation Board’s function to include the naming of roads, park benches, structures, facilities and public works of art. The CES committee agreed and a motion to consent to all three resolutions carried.
The committee also agreed to consent to a resolution to increase special off-duty pay for fire services. Fire Rescue Chief Jeremy Wallen said that, as of Nov. 1, the Sherriff’s Office charged a rate of $40 per hour, with a minimum of four hours, to hire deputies off-duty for events or any non-county functions. Wallen and the fire department’s request was a matching rate, an increase from Fire Rescue’s $25 per hour rate. The committee ultimately voted to consent.
The Public Works and Engineering Committee convened immediately afterward. Proposals on its agenda included a request for from a Diana Morris for a road water line extension from Cobbham Road to her property on Moontown Road in Evans; the establishment of a street light district in Grovetown subdivision Crawford Creek South, per a petition by residents; a request by Georgia Power to install two safety lights at the intersection of Tubman Road and Louisville Road; and approving a contract with Beam’s Contracting for over $ 4 million for road work throughout the county. The majority of the funding for the contract, part of the county’s 2021 local maintenance and improvement grant project, will come from leftover special-purpose local-option sales tax funds.
The Public Works and Engineering Committee voted to consent all of the proposals.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
