TIFTON — The Tifton City Council was presented bids for the Pebblebrook water main replacement project at the July 2 meeting.

City manager Pete Pyrzenski said that they received six bidders with Doyle, Hancock and Sons out of Doerun as the low bidder. The company bid $511,526.10 for the project.

The other bids were around $660,000, with the highest bid reaching more than $865,000.

“We’re wanting to hustle this project along because of the situation that continues to happen in Pebblebrook,” Pyrzenski said. “I’m bringing that forward for your comments and see if you wanted to carry the vote forward to mid month so we can get this project going.”

Council members Jack Folk and Johnny Terrell raised concerns about the bid being so much lower than the others. Pyrzenski and ESG project manager Jeff West explained that the company was a reputable company and could put more crews on the project, which would result in savings for the city.

Pyrzenski also suggested the council take a look at the current alcohol ordinance to see if there is any way to discourage the same stores submitting new applications for a new alcohol license every couple of years.

“What I’m seeing in certain areas is a rotation of managers,” Pyrzenski said. “If property moves and changes hands, then your manager is being moved and rotated and we’re seeing it more frequently. We’re seeing a trend, and I wanted to ask you if it was time to address the alcohol ordinance to talk about stipulations with managers and how often it’s done.”

He said that he wants the city to be better prepared to address issues related to alcohol licenses.

Mayor Julie Smith added that council member Johnny Terrell has been concerned about this issue with stores in his district for a while.

“I do think it would be beneficial to see how other communities are handling this situation,” she said. “We’ve got this constant turnover.”

Terrell said that it is getting out of hand.

Pyrzenski presented the first draft of the annualal report, which is a new project.

“At each staff meeting the department heads provide me with significant accomplishments,” Pyrzenski said. “They talk about training, they talk about personnel, anything that happens within the month, we try to capture that as best we can. This is where all that material went.”

He also informed the council that two standing water issues were solved when ESG discovered drains that had been covered or paved over and corrected the issues.

Pyrzenski updated the council on the city’s plan to implement mosquito control by dropping tablets in waterways and distributing them to residents to put in areas that hold water.

“This is 100 percent effective,” Pyrzenski said. “For a small investment we can certainly take care of the first phase and see how it goes this year, and react accordingly.”

Pyrzenski also informed the council that the Environmental Management Department will now be known as the Department of Community Development and will be moved to a new location.

“This is one of the goals that we had set,” Tifton Mayor Julie Smith said. “To make that department much more accessible and available and user-friendly so that anyone looking to open a business or expand or build a house or whatever they want to do, they have access to this department.”

Department head Danny Wallace said that accessibility is the “number one gripe” he hears about the department.

Pyrzenski suggested that the council review the zoning for mobile home parks and make sure it lines up with the city’s comprehensive plan.

City Clerk Jessica White presented two new alcohol license applications to the council for their review before the meeting on June 16.

One license application was for the EZ Mart located on 3301 US Hwy 82 W and the other was for Kwiq Stop Food located at 307 W. 7th St.