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By Sarah Brown – Managing Editor

Live Video of Meeting

The Cordele City Commission met on Tuesday October 17, 2023 at 9am at the Cordele City Hall Courtroom with Chairman Joshua Deriso, Commissioner Vest Beal Shepard, Commissioner Isaac H. Owens, Commissioner Royce Reeves, Sr., Commissioner Wesley Rainey and City attorney, Tommy Coleman in attendance.

The meeting started with agenda items for consideration:

1. Discussion of the appointment of Ethics Officer
2. Discussion of the City’s Form of Government

These items were not approved by the commission to be put onto the agenda.

It then went into a public hearing in regards to Article II. Definition and interpretations; Article VI. Use provisions by district: section 660.3 area regulations: maximum height 45ft. Jones Construction Company This request is for a variance to accommodate a 135-foot Bucket Elevator height structure. The City Codes’ regulations maximum building height is forty-five (45) feet. Jones Construction Company is proposing to construct a processing tower as follows: (70’ height of Bin Structure; 92’ height of Silos; and the maximum height of a 135-foot Bucket Elevator (vertical conveyors). The construction of a process Tower structure will be used for Cement Manufacturing. The site consists of Ninety-Six plus (96.92) acres and is zoned (HI), Heavy Industrial District. The Peach State Packaging LLC is the property owner and Jones Construction Company is the applicant.

There were two speakers who signed up for a specific agenda item; Jay Waters and Darrell Graham in regards to agenda item number nine.

They then went into department heads and accomplishments:

Finance Director Rusty Bridgers celebrated 1 year with the city back in September.

Cordele Fire Chief, Todd Alligood gave his update on their goals and accomplishments starting with the training that 13 of their fire fighters have completed since April of this year. In total they have earn certificates from 25 different classes which is a total of 430 training hours above and beyond the training their receive from Georgia Fire Standard and ISO. They will be sponsoring the Red Cross Blood Drive on November 7^th at the Community Clubhouse from 1:00-6:00pm. They have continued work on Station 1 and are ready to start painting. October is fire prevention month with the theme “Cooking safety starts with you.” On the 19^th they will be going to Crisp County Primary School to speak with over 200 kids about fire safety. They conducted the smoke detector blitz on October 7^th in collaboration with Red Cross. They install a total of 42 smoke detectors from 17^th Ave W to 21^st Ave W and 14^th street S to 8st S. They will be participating in a festival at Williams Park on October 28^th bring a couple of their trucks for, “Touch the Truck.” Lastly they will be hosting 20 special needs students on October 31^st for a tour of Station 1.

Cordele Police Chief and Codes, Jalon Heard who started with codes speaking on their officers getting inspection certified. They have finished the door hangers with the yellow being informational and the redish pink color being a violation (not a citation). When someone receives a violation they ask that you contact the codes officers to go over the violation and work together to fix it. For the police departmen

Agenda item number one was the recognition of employees that are cancer survivors. They recognized two employees of the City, Beverly Vance in the finance department and Benny Harpe in public works.

Agenda item number two was the consideration and approval of an event permit for the purpose of a Fall Worship Festival: family event on October 28, 2023 from 4-8pm at the corner of 1^st street and 15^th ave. The even is sponsored by Glenn Jarrett, 313 Dorough Rd. N. Cordele, GA. Please block off the 700 block of 15^th Avenue, between 1^st Street and Hickory Avenue. This has already been approved by Police Chief Jalon Heard on October 12, 2023. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously

Agenda item number three was the consideration and approval of an event permit for the purpose of Suicide Awareness event by the Legacy Group that will be held at the Community Clubhouse, 108 East 15^th Avenue, Cordele, GA on October 28, 2023 from 10:00am-3:00pm. This has already been approved by Police Chief Jalon Heard on October 12, 2023. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously

Agenda item number four was the consideration and approval of an event permit for the purpose of Cordele Rail Fan Festival that is sponsored by Cordele Main Street, 105 East 9^th Avenue, on November 11, 2023 from 10:00am-4:00pm. This has already been approved by Police Chief Jalon Heard on October 12, 2023. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously

Agenda item number five was the consideration and approval of an event permit for the purpose of a Family Christmas event organized by Cordele Main Street and Empire Dance on November 25, 2023 from 2:00pm to 7:00pm, 119 W 11^th Avenue. They have their own barricades. This has already been approved by Police Chief Jalon Heard on October 12, 2023. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously

Agenda item number six was the consideration and approval of a request for a variance from Jones Construction Company to construct a Processing Tower that will accommodate 70’ height of bin structure; 92’ height of Silos; and a 135-foot bucket elevator. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously

Agenda item number seven was to discuss and consider the approval of the solid waste agreement with Express Disposal. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously

Agenda item number eight was the discussion of appointing to the Board of Zoning Appeals. This was discussed with the mention of a second application from Ron Michael. No further discussion.

Agenda item number nine was the consideration and approval of Bridging the Gap Educational Services, Inc (BGES), as the new tenant of the facility located at 212 N. 2^nd Street, beginning January, 2024. This was motioned, second and approved unanimously.

City Manager, Angela Redding gave her report that covered events coming up, new businesses in the city, and setting dates for public hearings.

For full details check out our video on Facebook @cordeledispatch.