The Hoboken City Council discussed/ voted on the following agenda items during the Tuesday, 1 monthly meeting.
• Hoboken Police Department: Chief Sammy Hendrix told council members his department conducted 108 traffic stops during the month of March with 40 written citations (29 speeding, three seat belt violations, two tail light requirements, two expired drivers’ licenses, two tage requirement citations, and one each for Too Fast for Conditions and Driving While License Suspended.
There were 68 verbal warnings issued and one arrest. The chief said there were 27 public calls answered, one for residential alarm, one vehicle accident, the HPD assisted six motorists, responded to two mutual aid calls, answered one family violence, answered to three animal complaints resulting in two animal leash law citations, responded to two suspicious person/vehicle calls, assisted with one medical call and took in one theft report.
Chief Hendrix said he is awaiting the decision concerning the abolishment of cameras in school zones. The City of Hoboken has two in place at Hoboken Elementary School.
The chief said the new truck for the police department has been decaled. He was waiting on a quote from a company in Waycross for the center console box to put a radio in. Once that’s done, then the radio and lights will be installed.
• Hoboken VFD: Chief Hendrix gave the monthly report for the Hoboken Volunteer Fire Department in the absence of Fire Chief Ricky Floyd.
Personnel responded to five brush fires, three medical calls, two accidents with injuries, two structure fires, one accident with no injuries, one vehicle fire, one weather report, one chase in progress and one undefined for a total of 17 calls in the month of March.
• Street/Water Departments: Mayor Joey Crews said the departments have been doing road repair work on Church Street. The pipe for the project was expected to be shipped Monday, April 14. The county will help install the pipe.
City Clerk Linda Henderson said the county helped by bringing in dirt to fix the branch on Chicago Avenue.
• Community Center: Mayor Crews informed the council the air conditioning unit has been replaced. The big unit was changed out and a mini-split unit was installed in the kitchen area.
“So far there has been no issues,” said Crews. “When get the light bill we’ll know if we went in the right direction or not. We’re thinking it’s going to make it easier to keep the temperature regulated in there.”
The mayor said the lock on the front door is messed up and the seals are gone. He is getting someone to look at the door with a possible quote.
• Blight Ordinance: Council members were presented a copy of the City of Hoboken Blight Ordinance and one from the State of Georgia.
Mayor Crews said City Attorney Adam Ferrell was researching Blight Ordinances.
“The attorney said the one from the state covers a lot smaller issues we’re running into,” said Crews.
“A lot of municipalities have adopted the state ordinance,” said Ferrell. “It doesn’t have to be as comprehensive as the state law. You can kind of fashion what your needs are. One of the most important things is where it’s talking about how you serve complaints to the landowners.
“Sometimes you’re in a situation where you can’t find anybody, so got to figure out how we deal with an absent landowner. It offers specific ways you can give notice to somebody that’s an absent landowner to get them to court to address the issue.”
