>> LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Fittingly for Black History Month, when Baldwin County Commission Chair Emily Davis and Milledgeville Mayor Mary Parham Copeland gave a joint report Feb. 13, it marked the first time locally that two Black politicians, and two women, gave such an address.
“I don’t think 10 years ago we would have dreamed this. And with all the unfortunate things that’s going on throughout our country, not just our state, it’s beautiful to be able to look at this particular union tonight as they discussed issues, as they discussed the parameters to where they want to take this country, city and county,” said Baldwin County Democratic Committee Chairman Quentin T. Howell, who coordinated the meeting held at Georgia College and State University (GCSU).
Following a pair of presentations from GCSU students representing studentbased Republican and Democratic groups, Baldwin County Manager Carlos Tobar gave a brief talk about what the county has been working on lately, such as spending more than $5 million in federal and state grants over the past five years at the Baldwin County Regional Airport.
He said several county-owned buildings also were rehabilitated or renovated using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds, including a previous public-health building that is now the county’s emergency services building, an animal shelter, and an adult treatment court collaborative building that was condemned, but has since been renovated, along with the Baldwin County courthouse. Tobar mentioned more than 11 miles of new, six-inch diameter water mains have recently been installed throughout the county, too.
He then said another $5 million dollars has been spent to repair and resurface county roads through SPLOST, then wrapped up by describing plans for a new county aquatic center that he expects construction to begin on soon, so long as required grants are secured. He said it will be based on a similar facility in Dublin and “a whole lot more elaborate than just a swimming pool.”
He mentioned, though, that the people he and Davis spoke with in Dublin said they wished it had been constructed with more exterior concrete surface because they’ve seen significant demand for after-hour events being staged there. “With us having Georgia College, Georgia Military College, Central Georgia Technical College here, they’ll come and pay if they want to have some events in the evenings and that’ll help with the sustainability,” Tobar predicted shortly before turning over the floor to Davis.
Davis opened by talking about new sewage lines and “smart meters” being installed throughout the county to reduce water-use costs for many households and businesses. She then described county initiatives to make certain streetscapes safer, such as the Vincent Highway area, by improving lighting, building new multi-purpose pathways and possibly changing “one or two streets” to one-way only.
She next described the basketball courts pavilion in Harrisburg, where the county intends to begin using a $1.2 million grant from Sen. Jon Ossoff’s office as soon as next month to rebuild a splash pad and add new sidewalks and lighting there, also.
Davis showed photos of a house the county will soon repair for a Baldwin resident using grant money from the federally funded Community Home Investment Program (CHIP). “We’ll be doing eight houses with CHIP, and then five with CDGB (federally funded Community Development Block Grants),” she explained.
After discussing a couple of lots that are being cleaned up and hopefully sold for redevelopment in the near future, plus ongoing efforts to promote the availability of broadband internet access to more Baldwin County residents, Davis wrapped up her presentation by praising Tobar’s skill at securing grants for ongoing county initiatives.
Parham Copeland then stepped forward and opened her talk by describing a new spirit of cooperation between city and county.
“That means we need to get things done for the constituents, for our residents to make sure that whatever it is, that they come to the meetings and say, ‘This is what we would like to see done in the city of Milledgeville, Baldwin County.’ Because as you all know, I call it Milledgeville, Baldwin County, our beloved community, because it takes the whole village working together to make things coincide,” Parham Copeland declared.
Among the concerns she’s heard, Parham Copeland said local mothers have complained about the state of playground equipment in Central City Park. She said $500,000 soon should be designated to redo the playground there and Huley Park will receive some equipment improvements, too.
Parham Copeland also praised the arrival of Davis as county chair for making city/ county negotiations over the distribution of Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) revenues go smoothly. She said the two government entities negotiated and agreed in July, verbally, that the division split “came up as 39% for the city and 61% for the county.”
She later emphasized the need for city-led facilities and programs to retain Milledgeville youth. Parham Copeland wants to actively promote GCSU and Georgia Military College as post-secondary school options.
“Many of you know that once they get that education here, what normally happens is they remain here,” she said. “So, you keep your economy boosted and growing because your students stay here. This is the place where they love to live, work and educate (their own kids).”
Parham Copeland then praised local policing efforts by both city and county forces for engaging in what’s known as “mutual aid,” in that either will respond to the other’s incidents.
“Everywhere I go, I tell people that I will put this (Milledgeville) police department over any police department because they know how to approach people, they know how to handle situations,” Parham Copeland said, adding that the city recently paid to install laptops in each of 35 city police vehicles.
Also, while Parham Copeland expressed complete support for Baldwin County initiatives to improve its streets, buildings and community projects, she said it remains important for the city to follow suit.
“We’re totally excited about what’s going on over on the opposite side of town … and we want to make sure that what’s going over there, we want to equal it out. Because one thing’s for sure, when you have people feeling that it’s better on one side than it is on this side, then you have a problem,” she said. “We don’t want to be in competition, we want to make sure that we’re working together and that we’re striving to make sure that everything pulls together in our community.”