Mayor Julie Smith and Vice Mayor Wes Ehlers shaking hands with TPD personnel.

TIFTON — Pete Pyrzenski was officially appointed Tifton city manager at the Jan. 9 meeting of the Tifton City Council.

Pyrzenski, who has previously served as city manager for Commerce and Waycross, has been the project manager at ESG since April 2016.

The city manager position has been vacant since July 2016, when Larry Riner resigned. The decision to appoint Pyrzenski came after reviewing more than 60 applications for the job.

Rob Wilmot, city attorney, said that Pyrzenski was “hands and head above everyone else” who applied for the position.

The motion to approve the appointment was four in favor and councilman Frank Sayles abstaining.

Mayor Julie Smith said, “This is just great for Tifton.”

“We’re just thrilled,” Smith said. “I think this is a new day for us.”

Pyrzenski, who was joined by family for the appointment, said that tonight was really not about him.

Pyrzenski recognized “champions” from ESP, the city of Waycross, friends and coworkers and his family.

“It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about the service to those here in the city of Tifton and especially the residents and to you as elected officials. I’m really excited about that and ready to embark on a new journey together.”

When asked what made him apply for the job, Pyrzenski said that he felt he was in a unique position with ESG and the city of Tifton.

He didn’t come to Tifton with the intention of applying for the city manager position, but “as the months developed it quickly became evident that my past experience and what I’ve done over the past eight months was just an excellent fit for the city and I’m just real honored and humbled to serve the residents and the city council.”

Pyrzenski will officially assume the position of city manager at the end of January.

Smith made several presentations, the first of which was to recognize members of the police department on National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.

“We as a city and as a city council just wanted to say thank you to each and every one of you for what you do every single day,” said Smith. “You serve this community, you protect this community, you make sure that we are safe.”

“Law enforcement plays such an integral part in our society, they are the guardians of our lives and they deserve our support and appreciation,” she read.

Smith also read a proclamation recognizing Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“On Monday we will celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., a man who supported nonviolent change, a man who stood up for what he firmly believed in, a man who changed our country and who was sadly taken away from us much too early,” she said.

“Each citizen can and is encouraged to contribute to making our community better with increased opportunity for all,” read Smith, who said that performing acts of service was an appropriate way to honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr.

Hal Baxley was sworn in to the Downtown Development Authority Board, Ray Cross for the Tifton-Tift County Tourism Board and Peter Crowley for the Tifton Planning and Zoning Board. Jafaria Robinson was appointed to the Tifton Housing Authority as well.

There was citizen input from Walter Dykes, who addressed the council regarding being arrested for disorderly conduct in January 2016(?) and requesting the council to expunge his record.

Dykes was told that the council doesn’t have the authority to expunge anyone’s record and that he can fill out an application to get his record expunged.

Discussion continued regarding adding a local vendor preference to the city purchasing policy.

The council had previously agreed that the definition of a local business is a business located within the city limits with an active business license and that local preference should be given if the difference between the local and non-local low bid is no more than 3 percent.

The council had also previously discussed requiring a vendor registration for local businesses. Interim city manager Hunter Walker recommended Tifton not institute vendor registration since Tifton is not as large as the city on which the local vendor preference was modeled, which was Augusta.

Voting was deferred on this issue in order to further refine the language so that it is a good fit for Tifton. It will be discussed at the next workshop session.

The proposed education and training incentive plan for full time employees of the city of Tifton was also deferred until the workshop meeting.

The ordinance approving a rezoning application for .46 acres located at 316 West 6th Street submitted by Brown Dog Development was passed. Smith recused herself because of a conflict of interest, but the remaining council members voted to approve it unanimously.

The city council voted to approve the mutual aid agreement for fire services with Tift County Fire and Rescue after going into executive session to discuss the matter.

The council came out of executive session and approved the mutual aid agreement unanimously, which stipulates that in the event of an emergency personnel from either department will provide emergency care and intervention regardless of jurisdiction provided notice of the the emergency is provided to the other jurisdiction.

Qualifying fees for the November 2017 election were discussed and passed unanimously.

Two council members, one from District 1 and one from District 3 are up for reelection this year.

Fees are set at state law at three percent of the salary, which would be $207.

Several beverage licenses were up for approval by the council.

All of the applications except for one was approved.

Councilman Johnny Terrell moved that the owner and the manager of the Sunmart on S. Central Ave come in to talk with the council prior to approval of the application.

The council also approved a special called meeting during the Mayor’s Day event in Atlanta and moving the time of the Feb. 16 workshop to 4:30 p.m.