January 28, 2005
Sylvester- During the past year the city of Sylvester has seen a major overhaul in a number of departments.
"It has been a rather challenging year for the city, but we're going to move forward and we're going to be all the better for it," says Mayor Bill Yearta.
Friday acting on a recommendation by city manager Danny Lucas voted 3 to 2 to hire interim police chief Tony Strenth permanently.
"He is familiar with the community. He has been here some time and been through a very difficult year and performed very good for the community," Yearta says.
City manager Danny Lucas says he was chosen over at least 30 other applicants.
"A number of them were weeded out simply because of their salary expectations and demands," says Lucas.
The appointment comes just weeks after Sylvester Utilities superintendent Charles Jones was asked to retire after 55 years on the job, a decision by the city that still has some residents stunned.
"He had worked for fifty years and I think he deserved to have a better retirement opportunity or at least be able to request his retirement," says Janice Carter.
In the meeting, council members were also presented with an evaluation report done by the Electric Cities of Georgia. That report pointed out lack of training of several utility employees and a list of equipment that was in disrepair.
Mayor Bill Yearta says the city's request of the evaluation was in part due to the recent personnel change.
"There are always issues that we can improve on, so we're not going to blame any one individual for any of these things, but there are always things we can improve on," Yearta says.
Mayor Yearta says there has been some talk of bringing former Sylvester Utilities superintendent Charles Jones in part-time as a consultant, but he says their haven't been any definite decisions yet.
Posted at 7:10 PM by elaine.armstrong@walb.com
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