Writer: Taylor Cooper
Published December 22, 2022
The Brunswick News, from yahoo!news
Brunswick will be taking part in a new workforce development program from the Georgia Municipal Association and the University of Georgia's Carl Vinson Institute.
"We're the guinea pig, so to speak," Assistant City Manager Jeremiah Bergquist told the City Commission on Wednesday.
Brunswick and the city of Douglas are the first two cities to take part in the program, he said.
Called Georgia City Solutions, the program aims to recruit for hard-to-fill positions in local governments. But it's more than just a headhunting agency, Bergquist explained. Among other things, the two organizations will study the city's governmental structure and different positions to determine why some positions are hard to fill, find inefficiencies and create a strategy for filling positions in the future, he said.
City Manager Regina McDuffie said she'd served on a workforce development committee and assisted the GMA with some programs. The association was aware of the city's workforce retention woes and selected it as one of the first to benefit from the program.
Commissioners were unanimous in their approval of Brunswick's participation in the program, voting 4-0 to give their assent to moving ahead. Brunswick Mayor Cosby Johnson was absent.
In other business, the commission voted to renew L St. Liquors' alcohol license.
Commissioners deferred the owner's alcohol license renewal request last month due to loitering complaints. Commissioners suggested he clear loiterers from the property and provide his own security after the owner, Rakesh Patel, said he could not rely on the police. He was resistant to the idea of security, saying it would only make a bad situation worse.
The commission deferred the license renewal until the city's legal counsel could write up a proposal to impose a security requirement on Patel.
Brunswick Police Department Deputy City Marshal Armelia Brown said the BPD had conducted an investigation and found the owner was not operating a "nuisance business." She said she personally had watched the business and had not witnessed much loitering since Nov. 21.
Bergquist said since the investigation had turned up no violations, the city had no authority to impose further restrictions.
The commission gave its consent to the city working with the Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority to distribute American Rescue Plan Act dollars as part of the authority's rental assistance program.
Under the proposal, the city will contract with the Coastal Georgia Area Community Action Authority to select people to provide assistance. The CGACAA already vets people for rental assistance from the state Department of Community Affairs, McDuffie said at the meeting, so the city's ARPA funding would effectively supplement the program. McDuffie said the particulars of the agreement have not been formally worked out.
McDuffie recommended tapping $250,000 of the city's American Rescue Plan Act funding to kickstart the program. Commissioners supported her proposal.
Commissioners also:
—Renewed four alcohol licenses in good standing — Bunky's at 2803 Glynn Ave., Cool on Cool at 1706 Second St., Downtown Grocery at 1300 Gloucester St. and Snappy Foods at 2905 Glynn Ave. — and reviewed one with a violation, Fountain Package Store at 2300 Norwich St.
—Deferred discussion of a contract with CivicPlus for a 311 public line for citizens to call to ask questions, make suggestions and lodge complaints.
—Announced city offices would be closed on Monday in observance of Christmas.
