REMERTON — The Remerton City Council gathered for its first meeting of the new year Thursday to swear in a new mayor and council members and discuss community issues.

As the regular meeting/work session began before a full room of attendants, Judge George Hart shared a bit of the town’s history before swearing in officials, including new city Mayor Cornelius Holsendolph, incumbent council member Sherry Wood and new council members Lydia Day Ryan Gordon, Reginald Stacks and Bill Weatherington.

Hart encouraged the council members to remember the efforts and work of those who had served before as they maintain their duties and commitment to the Remerton community.

“This community has for years been well known as a mill town, and right now, in the Sunset Hills Cemetery, Mr. Strickland’s monument is facing west because he loved this town and he wanted his monument there so he could keep an eye on that mill and the people of this town, or so the story goes,“ said Hart “We have come a long way, and I hope that you all will remember that you are standing on the shoulders of all the people who have come before you.”

Several agenda items were up for discussion Thursday, the first of which were to select a mayor pro-tem and council member to serve on the newly-established Downtown Development Authority. Stacks was voted mayor pro-tem and Wood will serve on the authority.

The city is also looking to hire a new city attorney following the resignation of former city attorney Al Turner just before the holidays.

“About 30 days ago, Mr. Turner and I had a discussion and he let me know that he would like to step down, but given that we had an election, he stayed through that time,” said city manager Brian McDougal. “If it pleases the council, I would like to take bids for the position and hopefully we will have a competitive number for the process, and be able to find the best man or woman for the job.”

At the approval of council, the city of Remerton will open bids for the position in upcoming weeks.

The council is also re-considering a decision made last week by the former council to secure Circuit Board Computers as the city’s new IT provider after Police Chief Mike Terrell shared his concerns about the switch over from RDC.

“ In my three years as police chief, I have developed a relationship with RDC, and it is my opinion that in matters of criminal history, government dealing with government is best,” Terrell said. “I would ask that the Police Department maintain RDC as our IT provider because the guidelines of the GCIC (Georgia Crime Information Center) state that in the event of improper dissemination of criminal history, the head of the department will be held responsible, and it is punishable by jail time, fines, and loosing GCIC certification. My main issue is security, and I am more confident staying with someone we’ve been dealing with for three years.”

In efforts to try and uphold the decision made by the former council, some discussion was held in regards to splitting IT services between Circuit Board for the administrative office and the RDC for the police department. According to Terrell, however, the administrative office also carries a great deal of criminal history information on its computer systems, as probation fines and payments are taken in the city hall.

The council voted to postpone decisions regarding the matter until a specific committee could review the issue.

Stacks opened discussions regarding changing meeting times to a later hour after speaking with some local citizens about attending the monthly meetings. In efforts to ensure that both citizens and city employees, who are required to attend the monthly meetings, are accommodated fairly, the council voted to postpone any decisions on the matter until further discussions with both groups.

In closing reports, the Remerton Probation Department has been working with individuals to help make a positive impact in the lives others by holding a food drive during the Christmas holidays.

“We held a canned food drive for those who are on probation last month, which could be done as a part of their community service,” said Probation Officer Jessica Freeman. “We were able to give 2,514 pounds of canned goods to the America’s Second Harvest Food Bank. That equates to 1,676 meals.”