Following a series of water main breaks and prolonged outages, the City of Baldwin is undertaking efforts to improve its water system. The city council recently ratified an emergency declaration and approved pursuing a loan from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) for infrastructure repairs.
During the city council meeting on July 8, Public Works Director Scott Barnhart discussed the issues affecting service, particularly on Baldwin Mountain.
“We’re dealing with somebody’s install from 65 years ago,” he said. Barnhart said he found water lines that were never bedded into the ground properly. The backfill for some lines was “just chunks of rock on top of [the line].”
Despite these issues, he said that an upcoming project would help expel air from the water lines for faster repairs. Seven two-inch air relief valves will be installed in various places along the Mountain System main line.
“These repairs are gonna help tremendously when we have our next break,” Barnhart said. “I’m not gonna say ‘if’ we have our next break, but ‘when’ we’re gonna have our next break, because it’s gonna happen again.”
A half-million dollar loan
Baldwin Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster said the city is seeking a $545,000 loan to install a cased water line running under Highway 441. The Georgia Department of Transportation recently gave the city approval to dig under the road to install the new line.
District 50 State Sen. Bo Hatchett was instrumental in helping the city get funding for the new water line project, according to Baldwin Mayor Pro Tem Alice Venter. Hatchett helped city officials get in contact with GEFA, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, and the Georgia Rural Water Association.
“It’s like having your big brother step in and say ‘alright, let’s go,’ so I definitely wanna give credit where credit is due,” Venter said.
A ‘win win’ for Baldwin Elementary
In other action Tuesday, the council approved a new intergovernmental agreement between the Baldwin Police Department and the Habersham County School District to provide a full-time school resource officer to Baldwin Elementary School beginning in July 2025.
“For a long time, there’s been nine school resource officers,” said Baldwin Police Chief Chris Jones. “So that means five schools got a partial SRO, and Baldwin was one of those.”
The new agreement changes that by assigning a full-time Baldwin PD officer exclusively to Baldwin Elementary. Jones explained how the partnership came together: “A few months back, [Habersham] Sheriff [Krockum] asked if we might be interested in providing an SRO to Baldwin Elementary. The Habersham County Board of Education would 100 percent fund an SRO from our police department to that school. I thought that was a great idea.”
The terms of the contract ensure that the school district will cover the full cost of salary, benefits, training, and necessary equipment for the officer. The Baldwin Police Department will remain responsible for selecting and supervising the officer.
“There’s few times in government where there’s a win-win situation,” said Habersham County Superintendent Patrick Franklin, who attended the meeting. “But I see this as a win-win.”
Franklin added that the school system is committed to ensuring the right fit: “We take pride in finding the right person and the right fit for our county’s SROs.”
The agreement takes effect immediately and renews annually, unless terminated by either party with at least 60 days’ notice.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, the city council approved the city’s SPLOST VIII project list.
