Newspaper Page Text
Page 8A
Thursday, July 29, 2021
2020 Audit,
The Upson Beacon
Continued from front
Trash Route Service Day Changes
Effective Aug. 23, 2021
We at GFL Environmental would like to take a moment to thank you for your business. As
part of an effort to increase efficiencies and reduce fuel consumption, we are rerouting the
city of Thomaston. This reroute will result in changing days of service for some community
members. The rerouting changes will begin the week of August 23, 2021, and individual no
tifications will be sent to all customers whose service day changes, to notify them of their
new day of service. We appreciate your help and consideration as we strive to bring the best
possible service to our customers.
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Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Proper Cart Placement
Help us diminish risks to our employees and the general public.
GFL/Waste Industries would like to encourage Thomaston and Upson County residents
to be conscious of how trash carts are placed at the curbside for collection and how trash
is placed properly in the cart for pickup. Customers should place cart in the proper po
sition for side loader trucks to empty carts. Please remember to place debris in a trash
bag prior to placing in the receptacle and properly place cart on the curb the night before
pickup. Failing to bag trash prior to placement in the container, will cause excess
litter/debris on streets and yards. Do not overfill the cart causing the lid not to close.
Trash carts should not have bags on top of them or trash debris surrounding them. To
report repairs for trash carts within the city limits of Thomaston, please call (706) 647-
6633. If you live outside the city limits and need to report a repair for your trash cart,
please contact Upson County Solid Waste at (706) 646-5439.
Customers Asked To Help Place Trash Carts Properly At Curbside
Correct
Correct
4> 4}
Correct
Container placement is essential to automated side loadingr.
Please remember we don’t want to damage your property, so be
sure to keep your container AT LEAST 5 feet away from:
Mail Boxes Street Lights
Vehicles Electrical Posts
Always remember to keep
the wheels facingr AWAY
from the curb, or the arm
will not be able to pick up
your container! See below
for the best placement of
your cart:
Street
Street
Mailbox
include water and sewer,
electric, and sanitation. The
$13.7 million total is an im
provement of more than
$1.3 million over the city’s
position since the 2019
audit.
Proprietary funds also
include $4.5 million in in
vestments designated to
service the city’s debt to
Municipal Electric Au
thority of Georgia resulting
from a commitment to par
ticipate in the development
of nuclear Plant Vogtle.
MEAG-devoted investments
increased $438,000 since
last year’s audit, represent
ing the bulk of a proprietary
fund increase of $573,000
from 2019 to 2020.
The general fund in
creased more than
$751,000 from 2019 to
2020, which includes more
than $458,000 received
through the COVID-related
federal CARES Act. Other
categories were affected by
pandemic relief measures,
including temporary sus
pension of Georgia Environ
mental Finance Authority
debt service loan payments.
The audit report shows
cash holdings of $4.8 mil
lion in the general fund and
almost $3.2 million in pro
prietary funds, totaling
more than $8 million.
City finance director
Lonnie Joyce recently up
dated the mayor and council
with a mid-year summary
which shows the city operat
ing more than $850,000
over budget, but Joyce said
the numbers should balance
by year end.
The largest deficit -
$615,000 - is in fire protec
tion, which includes ongo
ing construction of the new
department facility and
“salaries higher than
budgeted due to new pay
scale,” according to Joyce’s
report notes. More than
$100,000 ofthe shortfall in
cludes a $75,000 property
purchase and inspection
fees related to a downtown
master plan.
In contrast, Thomaston
Police Department showed
the most budget savings -
$190,000 - largely due to
payroll from a reduced
number of officers, accord
ing to the report. Chief Mike
Richardson repeatedly has
emphasized the difficulty of
recruitment and retention
of qualified officers.
GBI,
the Franklin County Jail. GBI
was assisted in this investiga
tion by TPD and the Franklin
County Sheriff s Office, the re
port stated.
The investigation is part of
the ongoing effort by the In
ternet Crimes Against Chil
dren Task Force, housed
within the GBI’s CEACC Unit,
to identify those involved in
the child pornography trade.
The ICAC Program, created
by the U.S. Department of
Justice, was developed in re
sponse to the increasing
number of children and teen
agers using the internet, the
Continued from front
proliferation of child pornog
raphy, and the heightened on
line activity by predators
searching for unsupervised
contact with underage vic
tims.
Anyone with information
about other cases of child ex
ploitation is asked to contact
the GBI’s Child Exploitation
and Computer Crimes Unit at
404-270-8870. Tips can also
be submitted by calling 1-800-
597-TIPS (8477), online at
https://gbi.georgia.gov/sub-
mit-tips-online, or by down
loading the See Something,
Send Something mobile app.
Greathouse, Continued from front
vate agencies to assist the
needs and risks of the local
homeless population,” he
continued. “We can become
a stronger and better com
munity.
“Homeless seek permis
sive environments... Public
policies affect their migra
tion. If you don’t show them
negative results of this type
activity, they continue to do
it. If our goal is to make life
as attractive as possible for
homeless, that’s what’s
going to happen - we’ll
have more.”
Greathouse said the cur
rent situation is “not good
for the homeless, and not
good for the city.” He sug
gested a “tough love” ap
proach which has proven
successful in other cities.
“The worst thing you
can do is give money to
panhandlers,” Greathouse
warned. “We need to mix
compassion with common
sense enforcement of the
law. ...We can’t put our
heads in the sand any
further.”
Greathouse asked Major
Sidney Corley of the Thom
aston Police Department to
add his thoughts.
“In the city, we don’t
really have a homeless
problem, we have a mental
health problem,” Corley
said. “We have people who
are incapable of caring for
themselves. That’s what you
have to solve if you want to
solve the homeless prob
lem.”
Corley said TPD typi
cally will pick up homeless
individuals, for various rea
sons, and often transport
them to Upson Regional
Medical Center for eval
uation or treatment. After a
few hours, they are released
or referred to a facility for
further care. A few days
later, “they wind up right
back where they were,” Cor
ley said.
Trash Complaints, Continued from front
dlebrooks represents Boyt,
who cited Greatest Genera
tion Memorial Park as one
of the improvements which
has led to what he said are
upgraded services and prop
erty values across Highway
19. He added that a “car
wash” is operating near his
brother’s house, disrupting
normal activity in a neigh
borhood zoned residential.
“My property value is
going down. People’s prop
erty value across the road is
going up,” Boyt stated. “I see
it as a four-prong problem:
Either there are no codes, no
enforcement... landlords,
and renters. I’m not saying
you don’t care, but I feel
neglected. When I call Mr.
Middlebrooks, I get action,
but I shouldn’t have to call
him.”
City Manager Russell
Thompson admitted to Boyt
that the city has fallen short
of resident expectations in
the area.
“We normally don’t re
spond to public comments...
I’m not speaking on behalf
of the council, but with re
gard to code enforcement
and garbage pickup, we’re
not doing a good job right
now,” Thompson said. “We
acknowledge that, we’re
going to do better, and we’re
going to fix your issue.”
GFL Enterprises repre
sentative Bobby Cunning
ham, who assumed
responsibility for the Upson
County area two months
ago, said his company has
experienced a substantial in
crease in yard waste volume.
“There were one to two
trucks picking up yard
waste, and they would dump
[full loads] three to four
times a day,” Cunningham
said. “A month ago, I put
three trucks on the road
every day. The least number
of dumps among the trucks
was 21. The volume has in
creased.”
Cunningham explained
that trucks sometimes are
forced to “skip a pile or two”
because of limited space in
the truck bed, returning
later to collect the larger
piles. GFL recently “re
routed” Thomaston and
added trucks to streamline
service, he said.
New garbage and trash
routes will begin Aug. 23.