VALDOSTA — Valdosta City Council will review a potential ordinance to mandate masks citywide Aug. 26.

During the “council comments” portion of the City Council meeting Thursday, Councilman Eric Howard said he would like to see council discuss a mask mandate during a future council meeting.

“I want to see if we can bring this up for discussion at our next public meeting,” he said.

Howard told The Valdosta Daily Times earlier this week he would like to see a mask mandate due to COVID-19 placed on the city agenda. The other six council members told the Times they would support adding it to the agenda – though council is split on adopting a city mask mandate.

During the meeting Thursday, council members Sandra Tooley and Vivian Miller-Cody reiterated they each had inquired about mask mandates in varying capacities to Valdosta City Manager Mark Barber. Barber said he would follow the council’s wishes about putting it on the next agenda as an item.

“We can definitely get it on next week’s agenda for the special called meeting,” Barber told City Council.

Details of an ordinance remain unclear and would be hashed out Aug. 26. Council member Joseph “Sonny” Vickers said “the devil is in the details” of and looks forward to the council’s discussion.

The Aug. 26 special called meeting will be 5:30 p.m. in council chambers on the second floor of Valdosta City Hall.

Other items approved during the meeting were two resolutions involving the city receiving grant funding from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.

The first resolution authorized and accepted the funding from the U.S. Department of House and Urban Development, and the other resolution will request a portion of CARES funding received by the state of Georgia.

Members also approved $314,221.36 for road emergency repairs made on Country Club Drive by RPI Underground, Inc. The repairs were due to a June 9 manhole failure and took about three weeks to complete, City Utilities Director Darryl Muse said.  

Council approved city employee benefits to be brokered by One Digital. It is a three-year contract with two one-year renewal options, according to the city agenda.

Finally, a new backhoe for the engineering department was approved for $103,500 from Flint Equipment.

Flint Equipment’s bid was the second-lowest bid. The low bid was $95,000 from Tidewater, but the engine was too small, City Engineer Pat Collins said. While the bid price was $95,000, the net cost for the backhoe will end up being $58,500 because of a five-year buy-back plan in the contract with Flint Equipment, Collins said.