Blackshear City Council discussed and/or voted on the following during their monthly work session Tuesday, April 7 and regular meeting held Tuesday, April 14.
Blighted and derelict property ordinance: The Blackshear City Council held its second and final reading of the Derelict Property Ordinance. Ordinance 2026-3 was unanimously passed by the council and now serves as the legal framework to address abandoned or blighted properties within the city limits, primarily though increased ad valorem taxes until issues with the offending properties are remedied. The ordinance also outlines the process of identifying derelict properties, notifying the owners of those properties of the legal requirements to correct their violations and the penalties for failing to do so.
Enterprise Fleet Management: The city council unanimously approved a resolution to enter into a vehicle leasing agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management. Enterprise presented a proposed vehicle acquisition plan to the city, including the purchase and financing of three (3) 2026 Ford Police Interceptor Utility vehicles with an estimated annual cost of $34,044.48.
This is a test run for leasing police vehicles from Enterprise rather than purchasing them outright.
BPD equipment purchased with donation from WoodmenLife: Blackshear Police Chief Chris Wright reported to the city council the recent funds donated by WoodmenLife were used to purchase new bullet-resistant vests, which are now ready for use.
City approves IT contract bid: The city council unanimously voted to award a contract for managed information technology services to Security and Energy Systems (SES) of Patterson.
SES was the sole response to the request for proposal posted by the city. SES will provide “comprehensive IT services, including support for workstations, servers, network infrastructure, cybersecurity, software licensing and backup services” for the next three years with an option to renew.
The monthly cost of services is $3,646.55 for a cost of $43,758.00 per year. The city council expressed the opinion a monthly lump sum payment was preferable to hourly or per individual computer/hardware repair pricing.
Fire equipment financed by PrimeSouth: The city council unanimously approved a resolution to authorize financing the purchase of the Blackshear Fire Department’s (BFD) new fire engine through PrimeSouth Bank.
The total amount to be financed is $579,000 subject to final terms and conditions that are acceptable to the city. Mayor Keith Brooks and Chief Wright confirmed that PrimeSouth’s financing will be done at a more competitive rate than that offered by financing the purchase to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Utility right-of-way ordinance approved: The city council unanimously approved an ordinance to amend, improve and otherwise outline how rights-of-way owned by the city may be use and how the city will be compensated for such use.
Rights-of-way are defined in the ordinance as “the surface and space in, on, above, within, over, below, under or through any real property in which the city has an interest in law or equity, whether held in fee, or other estate or interest, or as a trustee for the public, including, but not limited to any public street, boulevard, road, highway, freeway, lane, alley, court, sidewalk, parkway, or any other place, area, or real property owned by or under the legal or equitable control of the city”.
The driving factors behind the new ordinance were to clearly outline the standards, including permitting, aesthetic appearances and the restoration of damaged areas after digging. Various utility companies must adhere to when using city rights-of-way.
Department Reports Blackshear Police Dept. Report: BPD reported 16 vehicular accidents in the month of March, 2 with injuries. Eight warnings, 66 citations and 2 ordinance violation were recorded. There were only 6 arrests in March, 5 adults and 1 juvenile, up slightly from March 2025.
Blackshear Volunteer Fire Dept. Report: BFD responded to 47 different events in March, including two grass fires and and a trash/rubbish fire. BFD workers and volunteers completed a total of 319 cumulative hours of activities and training.
Public Works Dept: Last month, the department conducted 15 water and sewer locates, 2 water main repairs and 2 sewer main repairs. There were also 4 meter replacements, meter box replacements and meter lid replacements. There were 53 leak checks, locating 50. There were also 30 read checks, 30 close outs, 17 service cut offs, 23 services cut back on and 35 new consumers connected in February. 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 and did routine grass maintenance at the cemetery.
Main Street Program: The Main Street/Better Hometown program did not file a departmental report for March, but program manager Bethany Strickland reported the newly formed Downtown Development Authority had recently held its first meeting and the board members were completing their DDA training.
Strickland also reminded those present of the Friday, April 15 concert which took place in Blackshear City Park.
Attendance: All members of the city council and city attorney Adam Ferrell were present at the regular Tuesday meeting.
Next meeting: The council will hold its next work session, meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 5 and its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 12.
