Newspaper Page Text
May 20, 2019, The Islander, Page 5
City names park after Abe Brown
• Mayor questioned about JWSC director resignation
By Pamela Permar Shierling
Last week (May 15) the Bruns
wick City Commission approved a
resolution naming the G St. Park af
ter former Glynn County Coroner Abe
Brown.
The park will be formally named
the Abram F. Brown Sr. Park in honor
of his life and service to the City and
to Glynn County. A ceremony has been
planned for June 30.
Brown’s family was at the meet
ing and received a warm round of ap
plause when introduced by Mayor Cor
nell Harvey.
Com. Johnny Cason added an item
to the agenda asking for a Brunswick
Glynn Joint Water and Sewer Com
mission (JWSC) update from Mayor
Harvey who is the City’s representa
tive on the JWSC.
Mayor Harvey said he had received
an email from a city commissioner ask
ing about recent news items referring
to the resignation of Executive Direc
tor Jimmy Junkin.
Harvey said it (the resignation) was
a personnel issue that happened in ex
ecutive session and he was not at lib
erty to discuss it.
Harvey said the commissioner
asked how the personnel change would
affect the city’s position of not honor
ing the JWSC’s request to convey land
and assets from the city to the JWSC.
The mayor’s response: “It doesn’t af
fect it whatsoever.”
Then Harvey discussed the pending
change in water cut-off policy, invento
ry, smoke testing on St. Simons Island,
and customer refunds of deposits.
Com. Cason stated that during his
time serving on the JWSC it went
through executive director changes.
“I don’t think this is what we needed
at this time,” Cason said referring to
the change. “I don’t like hearing about
it on the street and I just don’t under
stand why a move of this magnitude
was made and this commission (refer
ring to the City Commission) hears
about it on the street.”
‘What happens in executive session
has to stay there,” the Mayor respond
ed. “I apologize that you had to hear it
that way (on the street).”
Cason said, “You also have an obli
gation to this commission to keep us
informed and in this case it just wasn’t
done.”
“I don’t take these kind of things
lightly and I don’t understand how
we get what is probably our first well
qualified JWSC executive director and
all of a sudden he’s gone and no body
knows about it. I expect better.”
Com. Cason then asked Harvey
what projects currently are being done
jointly by the JWSC and the City.
The mayor mentioned the L St.
project which is a joint city / JWSC
project and he told Cason he would
have a JWSC member come to a city
commission and give them all the proj
ect updates.
Cason asked what was going on
with Academy Creek Waste Water
Treatment Plant. “There are capital
improvements there that need to be
made. They were discussed when I
sat on the JWSC. Are they going to be
Exchange Club Student of the Month
The Exchange club of Brunswick recently held their third installment of the student
of the month program honoring the high school seniors for the months of February,
March and April. One senior from Glynn Academy and Brunswick High school
are chosen each month by their teachers and counselors for academic and extra
curricular achievement. Each student is awarded a plaque and a check for $100 from
the Exchange Club. Paul McKenzie Chairman of the student of the month program
was the master of ceremonies. From left back row Pres. Elect George Barnhill, Past
Pres. Marcus Edgy, Chairman SOM Paul McKenzie and Pres. Kevin Higgins. From
left font row: BHS senior Sidney Hall, Mauricio Padilla, Nahid Khalil and GA senior
Brianna Milks, Hanay Waye, and Jon Michael McKinnon. Provided photo
made?”
Harvey said he would have the in
terim JWSC director, Andrew Bur
roughs, give the city commission an
update.
Cason said he wanted the record to
show that “I think we had a mighty
capable person running the JWSC and
for some reason we seem to be mov
ing away from the good tilings that I
thought took place while I was down
there.”
“That is a matter of record for me
and I stand behind who we chose to
run the operation. I have given you in
formation (in the past) and you have
not reciprocated It’s going to cost the
community a lot of money to make this
change again,” Cason said.
Harvey said the JWSC would be
fine and would move forward and that
there would be no hiccups during the
transition to a new executive director.
The Georgia Department of Revenue is installing a new vehicle tag and title registration system
called DRIVES, which is designed to integrate Georgia driver records and enhance data integrity.
What Glynn County Customers can expect:
• May 23 and 24 - Walk-in tag and title services will be UNAVAILABLE.
• May 21 through May 27 - Online tag and title services will be UNAVAILABLE.
• All property tax services will continue to be AVAILABLE during normal business
hours, Monday - Friday, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm.
How will this new system impact tag and title customers?
• Beginning with implementation, tag and title customers may experience longer than
normal wait times.
• To avoid such delays, Glynn County residents with May and June tag renewal dates who
normally renew in person are encouraged to renew prior to Monday, May 20.
• Customers and dealers seeking to conduct any title transactions should complete their
business prior to Thursday, May 23.
We are excited to partner with the Georgia Department of Revenue on the DRIVES project. Our
staff wants to continue offering excellent customer service, so please share this information with
your family and friends. We appreciate your patience as Georgia makes this important transition.
For more information, please visit www.georgiadrives.com.
Respectfully,
J.L. 'Jeff' Chapman
Tax Commissioner, Glynn County, GA
