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The ADVANCE, January 3, 2024/Page 4A
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
ONE ACT PLAY STATE CHAMPIONS - During the December meeting of the Vidalia City Council, the Vidalia Heritage
Academy One Act Play team was recognized for their recent Class A GAPPS State Championship Victory, Front
Row, L to R: Mason Cauley, Director Selena Hutcheson, Thomas Betsill, Brantley Mae Thompson, Miranda Morgan,
Lily Nuetzi, Ransom Poole. Back Row, L to R: Owen Belcher, Fine Arts Director Thomas Rhodes, Logan Belcher, Mayor
Doug Roper, Hailey Morgan, Maggie Hilton, Josey Harrell, Kate Jarriel, Aubrey Betsill, Mattie Griffee,
Photo by Makaylee Randolph
COMMUNITY COOPERATIVE EFFORT - Reverend Ronald
Miller thanked the Vidalia City Council and administra
tion for their help and support in improving and beautify
ing neighborhoods within the city,
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continued from page 1A
I think it speaks volumes
of Vidalia Heritage Acad
emy to be able to recognize
both teams and what they
have accomplished.”
The Vidalia Heritage
One Act Team - led by One
Act Play Director Selena
Hutcheson, Fine Arts Di
rector Thomas Rhodes,
and Volunteers Amanda
Betsill, Donna Belcher, and
Nancy Harrell - won the
Class A Georgia Associa
tion of Private and Parochi
al Schools (GAPPS) State
Championship during the
school’s Fall semester. The
team was composed of
members from 7th until
12th Grades.
Also during the Fall
semester, the Vidalia
Heritage Academy Var
sity Football team - led by
Head Coach Seth Sitzman
and fellow coaches Jeff
McCormick, Billy Johns,
Blake Adams, and Bryan
Havoc- won the Class A
GAPPS 8-Man Football
State Championship. Due
to their performance dur
ing the season, Jackson
Poole, Dalton Price, and
Brannen Brantley all re
ceived both All State and
All Region honors, while
Hardy Franklin and Trevor
White earned the title of
All Region players.
The participants, ac
companied by their coach
es and leaders, stood at
the front of the meeting as
Roper read official procla
mations of the city’s pride
in the school’s achieve
ments through the champi
onships.
During the public par
ticipation section of the
meeting, two community
leaders - Reverend Ronald
Miller and Sweet Onion
Animal Protection Soci
ety (SOAPS) Volunteer
Dennis Ingley - spoke on
the work being completed
within the community.
Miller spoke first, as
he detailed the commu
nity’s efforts to improve
Martin Luther King Jr. Av
enue within the city, and
thanked the City Coun
cil and staff for their help
throughout the endeavors
to improve local neigh
borhoods. “I would like to
take a moment to say thank
you to some special staff
members within the City
Council,” he began, as he
named Councilman John
Raymond Turner, Interim
City Manager Bill Beding-
field, City Marshal Chad
Phillips, and Mayor Doug
Roper for their collabora
tion with him.
“I think that as we con
tinue coming together and
working together, we will
continue to form not only a
beautiful spirit among each
other and but with our
community,” Miller added.
He shared that he was
grateful to those coming
together to beautify areas
of the community, as he
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any cost, thanks to the idea
of involving the construc
tion classes.
“Originally, it was
Carol Rice’s idea,” Holman
clarified. “We all know
Gray - he does a great job
with the shop class, and
was the perfect option for
this project. We’re so grate
ful for the classes and all of
their hard work.”
Meredith, who has
taught construction class
es at the high school for 4
years, said that this project
shared that many recently
had met to discuss needed
changes within their neigh
borhoods to beautify those
areas. “I am one who be
lieves in doing a job that
no one else is doing - we
will continue to do what
we need to do to beautify
our community, and make
safe havens not only for our
neighborhoods, but all of
the city of Vidalia,” Miller
said. “We can talk about
it, but until we pick up the
shoulder and each other, it
will remain dead. We will
do the best that we can as
leaders in the community
to continue that work. I am
not standing here to criti
cize anyone - I am here to
thank you for allowing us
to do so.”
He continued, “I see
some improvement - I
can feel the warm spirit of
people working. That’s the
thing - coming together
and working together,
and that’s exactly what the
community is doing.”
The Reverend ended
his address, asking that the
city administration con
tinue to support this work,
and thanked them again for
all that they had done.
Ingley spoke second,
sharing a report of the
work which SOAPS com
pletes on a daily basis.
“What we are here to
tell you about is what we
do at SOAPS, which we
think is a really good com
mitment to the commu
nity and to the state,” he
explained.
According to Ingley,
SOAPS not only takes in
stray and unwanted dogs
and cats, but also rehomes
the animals to areas both
locally and in other states,
such as Florida, Washing
ton D.C., and New York.
“We’re not just out here
doing a volunteer jobs -
we are doing what we feel
like the community would
love,” he emphasized. “My
wife [Theresa] is an expert
at this, and spends most of
her retired life working on
it.”
is much larger than any
thing the classes have ever
completed before. “We’ve
done smaller stuff - like
some small storage build
ings for the high school,
but as far as out in the com
munity and spending time
out here, this is a first. We
load up on the school bus
every day and come out
here - that’s pretty rare,”
he emphasized.
The teacher shared
that the SkillsUSA club
first began on the proj
ect during the week of
Thanksgiving Break, and
each school day since, the
classes have traveled to
Ingley shared that
this year alone, over 1,000
animals will be rehomed,
over 1,000 low-cost ster
ilization procedures will
be completed, dog and cat
food will be supplied to all
the local animal control
facilities in the surround
ing area, and more. He also
thanked the City Council
for allowing the organi
zation to use the Vidalia
Community Center for the
annual Spayghetti Dinner
fundraiser, which will be
held on Tuesday, February
27.
Also during the meet
ing, Mayor Roper an
nounced that local attor
ney Daniel O’Connor had
been selected to fulfill the
City Attorney role, as long
time City Attorney Justin
Franklin would not be con
tracted with the municipal
ity in 2023.
Roper commented
on the change. “As most
of you are probably aware,
our city attorney for quite
some time has been Justin
Franklin, who has served
us very well, but we have
reached a point where Jus
tin’s time with the city is
going to come to an end,”
he told the audience. “In
next month’s meeting, we
will be swearing in Daniel
work on the construction.
He estimated that the proj
ect will take around two
months, and is teaching
the classes to use the skills
which they are learning in
a new format.
“It’s real world - if you
were going to build this, it
would look just the same
- it’s really an incredible
learning experience,” he
emphasized.
The pavilion is expect
ed to be available for use
throughout the upcoming
spring and summer sea
sons, and will be complet
ed by March.
O’Connor as our next city
attorney. We’re looking for
ward to establishing that
relationship and moving
forward with him.”
He continued, “Unfor
tunately, Justin could not
be here tonight - it would
be nice to thank him in a
room like this, full of peo
ple - but, we certainly ap
preciate what he has done
for us, and wish him noth
ing but the best moving
forward.”
“Daniel, we are look
ing forward to working
with you, and thank you for
being here, as well,” Roper
concluded on the subject.
Interim City Manager
Bill Bedingfield cleared
up concerns regarding wa
ter bills during his report
within the meeting, as he
informed the Council and
public of the truth behind
a YouTube video posted
by the viral group Georgia
Transparency.
According to Beding
field, the “Georgia Trans
parency” group is one of
the many First Amend
ment Auditor groups with
in the country, which work
to “hold public offices
accountable” for their ac
tions. Bedingfield said the
group came in with cam
eras and questioned a clerk
managing one of the city
hall counters, ultimately
frustrating her.
Upon this frustration,
the group then requested
for information on the em
ployee, who had previously
been written up for using
the computer system to
estimate water bills, rather
than reviewing the data to
determine that the bills
were correct. “If your bill
is different by $10 or more,
it comes up an alert in our
system. Our policy when
this happens is to edit the
bill - meaning, to go in and
review the amount of wa
ter used to make sure that
the bill is correct. It is not a
tedious process, but it does
take a little bit of time,” Be
dingfield explained. “How
ever, there is an ‘estimate’
button, which averages
the previous bill and new
bill to form an estimation
of what the bill should be.
This is what that employee
was doing.”
Yet, regardless of this
estimation, the bill ulti
mately ends up catching up,
according to Bedingfield,
meaning any unpaid ex
pense ultimately becomes
paid for as the computer
system discovers the new
water usage to be normal.
Nevertheless, he said
that this information got
out to the public through
the YouTube video, and
several concerned citizens
had called the City Hall.
“I assure you that there
was no crazy manipulation
done to the bills,” Beding
field emphasized. “Policy
was not followed, and the
issue has been handled.”
When asked if the em
ployee was still employed
by the city, Bedingfield
chose to refrain from com
menting on personnel mat
ters within the meeting.
The Council approved
a 60-day moratorium on
business licenses for short
term vacation rentals, such
as Air BnB’s and VRBO
properties, within the city
limits. The Licensing and
Permitting Committee
requested this pause in li
censes after contacting the
Georgia Municipal Asso
ciation (GMA) for advice
on regulating these type of
businesses, as currently, Vi
dalia has no ordinances in
place regarding these rent
als. The GMA suggested
reviewing ordinances from
around the state to help in
creating regulations appli
cable to Vidalia; thus, this
60-day window gives the
city administration time to
complete that review and
drafting of ordinances.
Also at the meeting,
two bids were awarded to
companies for the comple
tion of projects at the Vi
dalia Regional Airport and
Swift Creek Wastewater
Treatment Plant.
Council members se
lected TCA to rehabilitate
and replace Runway 7/25
lighting and signage. Pas-
sero Engineering, who
is overseeing the entire
Vidalia Regional Airport
Runway Rehabilitation
Project, recommended
this company for the task,
which will cost $926,100
total. The Georgia Depart
ment of Transportation
will pay 75% of this cost,
leaving the city’s share to
total $225,000 - Interim
City Manager Bill Beding
field said that the origin of
these funds within the city
finances will be announced
later.
Taylor Industrial Mill
Supply was awarded the
bid to purchase 8 pieces of
aluminum bar grating for
the Swiff Creek Wastewater
Treatment Plant. This grat
ing will be used to cover
openings within the facility
to help improve safety for
employees. The purchase
totals $13,884.72, and will
be funded through the Wa
ter/Sewer Fund, as it was
budgeted for in the 2023
budget.
During the business
portion of the meeting, the
Council tabled the approv
al of a special event permit
submitted by Dr. Jesus Jimi-
nez and Dr. James Mason
of the Church of Christ/
Solomon’s Temple. The
men were seeking to host a
revival in the field adjacent
to Paul Thigpen Chevrolet,
in which they would pro
vide free food and cloth
ing to attendees from 10
a.m. until 9 p.m. each day
on December 15-17. Be
dingfield explained that
because no local church
was tied to the event, he
was hesitant to suggest ap
proval of the permit, as he
felt like that local connec
tion was needed for more
information on insurance
for the event. An attendee
at the meeting spoke up
and shared that he knew
Mason, and informed the
Council that the preacher
was affiliated with the Sol
omon’s Temple church in
Swainsboro. Council mem
bers agreed to table the
permit until more research
could be conducted on in
surance for the event, and
retrieved contact informa
tion for the men from the
attendee.
Several alcoholic bev
erage and coin-operated
machine licenses were re
newed for 2024, but Bed
ingfield told Council mem
bers that 27 businesses had
not met the requirements
for the alcoholic beverage
license renewals and would
be voted on later once
those issues were resolved.
During his report, Vi
dalia Fire Chief Brian Sikes
announced that as of the
end of November, the city
was averaging 30 calls less
than the year to date in
2022. Vidalia Police Chief
James Jermon also an
nounced that he had helped
to solve an overcrowding
issue at the animal shelter
by cutting registration fees
in half - from $40 to $20
- and by partnering with
local pizza businesses to
offer free pizzas to those
who adopt a pet. He shared
that between these incen
tives - and an agency out
of Brooklyn, New York,
which took 5 dogs back
north to be rehomed - a
total of 20 dogs left the
shelter.
Vidalia Recreation Di
rector Scott Strickland an
nounced that the 8U All
Star Soccer Team won the
State Championship for
the second year in a row - a
feat which he said the De
partment was very proud
of.
He also shared that the
recreation basketball pro
gram had experienced tre
mendous growth, as there
was now separate leagues
for the 8U and 10U Girls,
which has never been avail
able because of lack of par
ticipation. The recreation
basketball program is start
ing up soon, and will host
a March Madness tourna
ment event at the Vidalia
High School gym in the
coming months.
ESG Project Manager
Tony Hall told the Coun
cil that 6,500 water meters
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