TIFTON — A resolution authorizing the transfer of assets and administration of the city’s retirement plan to the Georgia Municipal Employees Benefit System Plan and Trust was approved unanimously by the Tifton City Council at the Sept. 17 public city council meeting.

Deputy Executive Director of the Georgia Municipal Association’s Retirement and Employee Benefits Randy Logan spoke to the council to highlight the benefits of joining the program.

“This plan would still belong to the City of Tifton,” Logan said. “The mayor and council would be the governing authority of this plan and all the rules and regulations in the plan would be contained in a city ordinance. The assets in the plan that you have would remain in a retirement trust that belongs to the City of Tifton. The only purpose this money would be used for would be to pay the benefits out of or to pay the cost of administering the plan. It’s still your plan.”

He said that the city would benefit by adding their money in with 288 other cities in the state for investment purposes.

“With that kind of asset base you can get the better asset managers for cheaper administrative fees,” Logan said. “We get some of the best asset managers in the country and it’s shown in our returns.”

Logan said that the employees would benefit from having standardized plans that they could take with them should they move to another city. Employees would also receive a benefit estimate and education.

Council member Wes Ehlers moved to approve the plan with several amendments, including the amendment of changing retirement eligibility for first responders. The new option adds age to years of service, and if the total equals 75 the employee would be eligible. The previous total was 80.

Council member Jack Folk said that he wasn’t sold on the change because he was worried about people retiring and then being on the pension plan for another 30 years.

“Lots of studies show that cities are going broke over benefit plans,” Folk said. “They can’t afford them, which is exactly why private industry got rid of them 20, 25 years ago.”

He added that retiring at 60 after working for the city for 20 years was “a pretty good deal.”

Mayor Julie Smith said that the new option was specifically for first responders.

“I think that those men and women who work in law enforcement, firefighting, any type of public safety first responder position, they’re putting their lives on the line every single day in a different way than any other city employee,” Smith said. “And I think they suffer because of that. I think they suffer burnout, I think they suffer challenges and issues that are hard to deal with that are different from someone, maybe, who has been in an accounting or customer service position.”

Smith said that the city also needs to recruit public safety employees and that having this option is an incentive.

“I think it’s the right thing to do for those people who are at a very different level of interaction and involvement in the community than the rest of the city employees,” she said.

City Fire Chief Bobby Bennett addressed the council about the amendment.

“The majority of people are going to be in their early 20s or at the latest 30 when they get started in the public safety area,” he said. “As far as the fire department goes, we wear 75 pounds of gear on our body. We’re doing physical fitness every day. We’re constantly talking about saving on healthcare, and as your age rises, what’s going to happen? You’re going to start having problems. Getting up at two or three in the morning when you’re 55 or 60 years old, jumping on the truck, going to a call, jumping off the truck, grabbing a hose line, pulling hose lines out, going inside a burning building, pulling someone out of that burning building is very taxing on a young man, much less an old person. That is going to be one of the biggest fears I have, that we’re going to start losing firefighters.”

He said that no matter how much they focus on physical fitness and eating well, “you can’t roll back years of constantly answering those calls.”

Bennett said that the toll isn’t just physical, but mental and emotional.

“Three times I had the privilege of helping save someone’s life,” Bennett said. “Twenty-seven times, I didn’t. That’s in my mind. I think about it every day. They think about it every day. That’s something we live with every day, and if we can help that by getting out of this at an earlier age to go on.”

He said that he was in favor of the amendment, as were his firefighters, approximately 20 of which were crowded in the back of the council meeting room.

“That’s why my guys are here,” Bennett said. “They’re in favor of it. We’re pleading our case for y’all to please help us.”

Folk said that he supports first responders and worked to raise pay and ensure that the departments are fully staffed.

The approval of the resolution with the amendment was met with cheers from employees who were in attendance.

City Manager Pete Pyrzenski said that nothing will happen to current retirees plans and payments and that everything will carry over from the old plan for current employees.

Speaking during the public comments section, Spud Bowen urged the council to think long and hard before moving the city employee retirement into the Georgia Municipal Employees Benefit System.

The council approved a request from Tift Regional Medical Center to close and realign roads to accommodate hospital expansion.

City attorney Rob Wilmot presented the roads to the council.

The proposed plans show 18th Street will be closed from Old Ocilla Road to the new entrance and relocate John Orr Drive to match up with the entrance to the hospital. They are also asking for a variance along parts of 18th Street and Lee Avenue.

A request to annex and rezone 23.54 acres located on North US Highway 124 was approved by the council through one annexation ordinance and one rezoning ordinance.

The property will be rezoned city residential 12. The developer, David Deloach, said that the initial development will include 19 lots with houses ranging from 1,900 to 2,200 square feet.

The council approved the consent agenda, which contained items discussed at the Sept. 10 workshop. These items included:

• Awarding the bid to Griffin Ford for six police vehicles. Griffin Ford bid $141,510.

• Authorizing participation in the Heating Energy Assistant Team (H.E.A.T.) program for 2018.

• Approving a resolution appointing Cameron Roberts as assistant prosecuting attorney for Tifton Municipal Court.

• Amending the Hotel Motel Tax Ordinance.

Bennett presented two new firefighters to the council for recognition. Brook Ulm and Jason Demos completed their training in August.

Smith read two proclamations at the meeting.

The first declared Adult Education and Family Literacy Week and was presented to members of the Literacy Volunteers of Tifton-Tift County, and the other declared September Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. Buffy Hankinson, programs director for the Alzheimer’s Association Tifton office, accepted the proclamation.

Kristen Morrison was sworn in to serve on the Historic Preservation Commission.