Blackshear City Council discussed and/or voted on the following during their monthly work session Tuesday, July 7 and regular meeting held Tuesday, July 14.
Changes to water utility bill policy: The Blackshear City Council unanimously passed a resolution to adjust the present policy governing when water services are cut off due to lack of payment and how late fees are assessed for water services to be reconnected.
The new policy extends the grace period by 30 days for those late in paying their bills. However, the late fees to be paid in addition to the overdue balance before services can be turned back on have been increased from 10% to 15%.
The resolution and new late fees took effect immediately upon passage of the resolution.
Application sent to Georgia EPD to increase city water: The Blackshear City Council unanimously passed a resolution to submit an application to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for the purposes of increasing Blackshear’s yearly average withdrawal amount from 680,000 gallons per day to 1,250,000 gallons per day.
Per the resolution, “the requested increase is intended to position the city to responsibly plan for and support future commercial and industrial growth, while maintaining sufficient capacity to meet the needs of existing customers and anticipated future development.”
Tindall to take over water testing: At the July 7 work session, Mayor Keith Brooks explained recent delays due to the USPS were negatively impacting the timely arrival of water test samples to state authorities. These delays prompted consideration of a local testing provider in order to meet with state testing requirements on time.
Tindall Enterprises of Blackshear submitted a quote to provide water testing and chemical monitoring services for $9,000, which is $300 cheaper than what the city currently pays state testing facilities.
Brooks further explained utilizing Tindall allows for the water to be tested more often than the state mandated reporting requirements.
The council unanimously approved a resolution at the July 14 regular meeting to accept Tindall’s bid.
Purchase of new tractor loader authorized: The Public Works Department under the supervision of department head Wallace Tomlinson has finalized its testing and selection process for a new tractor loader. The council unanimously voted to approve the purchase of a Caterpillar 275 Compact Track Loader with a heavy-duty forestry mulching attachment and related forestry equipment from Yancey Brothers Company for the amount of $161,345.
Department Reports Blackshear Police Dept. Report: BPD reported 14 vehicular accidents in the month of June, 4 with injuries. Seven warnings, 84 citations and 2 ordinance violation were recorded last month.
There were only 4 arrests in June, all adults, which is still a 100% increase from 2 arrests in June 2025.
Blackshear Volunteer Fire Dept. Report: BFD responded to 38 different events in June. BFD workers and volunteers completed a total of 257 cumulative hours of activities and training.
Public Works Dept: Last month, the department conducted 25 water and sewer locates, 2 water service repairs, 3 water main repairs, 5 sewer service repairs and 4 sewer main repairs. There were also 3 water meter, meter box and meter lid replacements. There were 70 leak checks with 60 found. There were also 20 read checks, 25 close outs, 37 service cut offs, 30 services cut back on and 25 new consumers connected in June. No incidences of consumer tampering were discovered during the reporting period. Public works also performed routine grass maintenance, replaced damaged street signs, conducted routine cleaning of storm drains, repaired potholes, performed routine limb trimming and did routine grass maintenance at the cemetery.
Main Street Program: The Main Street/Better Hometown program and Downtown Development Authority did not file a report prior to the agenda for the regular monthly meeting being sent to The Blackshear Times.
Senior Center: Center volunteer Karen Herndon delivered a brief update on the senior center’s steak dinner fundraiser. A total of 126 steak dinners have been sold to help support activities and events for local seniors.
Attendance: All members of the city council and City Attorney Adam Ferrell were present at the regular Tuesday meeting, except for council member Mat Boatright.
Next meeting: The council will hold its next work session, meeting at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 4 and its next regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 11.
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