The Milledgeville City Council met Nov. 26 to approve resolutions for the Georgia Interlock Risk Management (GIRMA) post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) program, the city’s Draining Pipe Project, and a repair at the Milledgeville Police Department.
City Manager Hank Griffeth opened the meeting by explaining a new state-mandated program. During the last legislative session, House Bill 451 was passed to mandate short-term critical illness insurance and long-term disability benefits for PTSD cases in first responders in all governments in Georgia.
The Georgia Municipal Association and GIRMA put a package together for the PTSD program, which were presented in two resolutions to the council.
The first resolution was a request to add membership as an additional fund of GIRMA. The second resolution authorized the mayor to sign off on the forms to participate in the GIRMA Georgia First Responder PTSD Program.
“We are recommending the proposal to provide $3,000 lifetime benefits per first responder for diagnosis benefits and then the disability limit of the maximum of $5,000 monthly benefit. That meets the standards and requirements of what is being mandated,” said Griffeth.
Both resolutions were unanimously passed.
The council then hosted the final public hearing of the ordinance to levy and assess taxes for the 2024 tax year and to provide for the collection of the same. The proposed millage rate is being decreased from 12.12 mills to 11.37 mills. No one spoke on the proposed millage rate. The ordinance was unanimously passed.
Moving to new business, council unanimously approved two resolutions to authorize an agreement with Simonton Engineering for the Draining Pipe Project at the City of Milledgeville Police Department and as an amendment to the project for Tanglewood, Cedarwood and Pine Valley Roads.
“Pine Valley is included because we need to ensure everything up to Pine Valley Road can handle the water that will be coming through the vaults at Tanglewood. So, Pine Valley is included in that because there may need to be a little bit of an opening of the trench there to get it the same length as the double vault under Pine Valley when they did the initial work,” explained Griffeth, after a question regarding why Pine Valley was included despite it already having work completed.
Following this approval, council unanimously approved a resolution to authorize a contract with Lowcountry Foundation Repair for lifting and leveling uneven concrete and foundation stabilization at the Milledgeville Police Department.
The meeting concluded with approvals of the third batch of alcohol license renewals for license year 2025.
“I think this process has gone well in terms of the inspections and businesses being ready for the license renewals as well as you all approving them in batch form,” said Griffeth.