Grovetown City Council addressed the issue of adding new sidewalks in its meeting on Tuesday evening.
Councilmember Ceretta Smith stated that some constituents, mostly concerned parents, asked about continuing sidewalks from Old Berzelia Road.
Children living in any of the several subdivisions off Old Berzelia walk to Grovetown Middle School on Harlem Grovetown Road, Smith noted.
There is a sidewalk beginning at Harlem Grovetown Road to the beginning of Senators Ridge Drive. There are no sidewalks, however, from there to Newmantown Road, Smith observed.
“I walk that area sometimes, myself, and when cars are coming off of Newmantown Road, turning on Old Berzelia in the direction of Senators Ridge, you can’t see them coming around the corner, and a lot of times they can’t see you,” said Smith. “It’s dangerous as a walker, let alone for children coming to and from school.”
Smith presented the matter to Mayor Gary Jones, who said the first step would be for the council to confer with the city’s finance director, Bradley Smith, for the financial viability of such a project.
Installing highway signage stating Grovetown is the home of Terri Gibbs was another, previously visited, item on the agenda. Gibbs is a renowned country music and gospel recording artist, born in Miami but raised in Grovetown.
City administrator Elaine Matthews noted that there was such signage raised in the city before, and also that Gibbs is currently living in Harlem.
Smith spoke again later in the meeting, regarding the city’s art project. She explained how in March, she discussed the possibility of painting electrical boxes in the city, much like in downtown Augusta with Brenda Durant, then executive director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council, and Arts Council member Dennis Kelly.
This committee was formed after the Arts Council presented the idea to Grovetown’s city council. Jones appointed Smith as chair and Councilmember Sylvia Martin was also in the committee.
In June, the committee launched a campaign, mostly via social media, reaching out to local artists to participate in the project, and projected its cost would be $3,200. Smith said the only artists who applied were those residing outside of Grovetown; and one artist, who Smith did not name, declined.
The art boxes were complete, Smith said, until new management at Georgia Power insisted it could not allow the boxes to be painted.
Georgia Power sent workers to paint over the boxes at no charge to the city.
“Just like the spirit of Grovetown, we don’t lay down easy and we don’t give up,” said Smith, explaining that the Leisure and Recreation Department found an “alternate way to still infuse the art” project in town, opting to paint the concession stand at Liberty Park.
During the public participation portion of the meeting, citizen Carla Harrison spoke on both issues, noting the upcoming expansion of Liberty Park, and development near Old Berzelia that could increase traffic.
She also suggested, regarding the art project, that the city connect with the Artists Guild of Columbia County.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
