Blackshear City Council discussed and/or voted on the following during their monthly work session on Tuesday, February 3 and regular meeting held on Tuesday, February 10.
Rezoning requests: The city council conducted its second reading of two different rezoning requests on parcels of land within Blackshear city limits.
NCG Properties, LLC, requested a wooded lot on Grady Street be rezoned from single family residential to multi-family residential in order to build apartments. Alison Byrd requested three lots on NW Central Avenue and Reppard Street, totaling approximately 1 acre, be rezoned from single-family residential to multi-family residential in order to construct duplexes.
Both requests were unanimously approved by the city council.
ATC park easement: The city council unanimously voted to approve Alma Telephone Company Broadband’s (ATC) request for an easement beneath the Blackshear City Park roughly corresponding to the previous location of Greenleaf Street. The easement is to allow ATC to maintain their original plans for bringing highspeed fiber optic internet to that portion of Blackshear. Originally, ATC had been granted a right of way along Greenleaf Street, but when the street was eliminated during the redesign of the city park, so was the right of way. (See related article in this edition of The Blackshear Times).
Right-of-way management agreement: A late addition not listed on the regular meeting agenda, the city council unanimously approved a motion allowing the mayor to enter into an agreement with the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA) for right-of-way management services. GMA’s telecommunications and right-ofway service will handle the details of Blackshear’s right-of-way licensing for phone, internet and other utilities. The yearly fee for GMA’s service is $2,100, but the city can opt out at any time. Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright explained to the council the audit of existing right-ofways could recoup not only the cost of GMA’s service but funds from those previously undercharged for using Blackshear’s right-ofways.
Minutes approved: The council unanimously approved minutes from January’s regular meeting, the January 12 public hearing and February’s work session at the February 10 regular meeting.
Department Reports Blackshear Police Dept. Report: BPD reported 19 vehicular accidents in the month of January, 3 with injuries. Ten warnings, 104 citations and 5 ordinance violations were recorded.
There were 8 arrests in January, 7 adults and 1 juvenile, double that of arrests made in January 2025.
Blackshear Volunteer Fire Dept. Report: BFD responded to 42 dispatched incidents in January. BFD workers and volunteers also completed a total of 278 cumulative hours of activities and training events. Due to the recent shift from the older National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) to the current National Emergency Response Information System (NERIS) that will be in use going forward, a more detailed breakdown of the calls BFD responded to was not available. More detailed dispatch info should resume with the March department report.
Public Works Dept: Last month, the department conducted 1 water service repair, 1 meter replacement, 1 valve replacement, 3 meter box and meter lid replacements, 6 sewer service repairs and 2 water and sewage locates. Of 90 leak checks, 80 leaks were located. There were also 15 read checks, 15 close outs, 3 services cut back on and 20 new consumers connected in January. There were no incidents of consumer tampering during the reporting period. Public works also performed routine grass maintenance, replaced damaged street signs, conducted routine cleaning of storm drains, repaired potholes and performed routine limb trimming. No cemetery cleaning was done this month.
Main Street Program: No department report from the Main Street Program, Better Hometown or the Downtown Development Authority was attached to the regular meeting agenda for February.
Senior Center: Shearly Coleman delivered a brief update about upcoming senior center events. February 25 the seniors will play bingo with Stacey Thrift of Satilla Hospice calling numbers. February 27, staff from the Three Rivers Library system will come to the senior center to run a special game day.
Coleman also requested all present keep center volunteer Karen Herndon and her family in their prayers due to her mother’s health.
Next meeting: The council will hold its next work session, meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 3 and its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 10.
