During the regular Baxley City Council meeting, on Dec. 8, the Appling Christian Academy Eagles Football Team was recognized and presented a resolution from the city. City Manager Jeff Baxley read the resolution recognizing the team for winning the 2009 Georgia Christian Athletic Association championship and the Eagles were invited to participate in the National Championship playoffs and emerged as champions of the National Association of Christian Athletics. All Eagle coaches, players, support staff, cheer coaches and cheerleaders were congratulated and received an individual resolution from the mayor. Head Coach Keith Wiggins, coaches, Jordan Beasley, Josh Horton and Glenn Ritch led the Eagles to a 12-1 record this year.

New business

One new water/sewer discount application was approved.

Old business

The council approved two-second readings/adoptions for ordinance annexations. The first property is located at 630 Hundred Road, owned by Damaricus Terrence and Roscellia Andrea Green, establishing a Business/Residential (BR-1) zone. The second property is located at 789 County Farm Road, owned by Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church, establishing a Residential (R-12) zone.

Council member Tim Varnadore announced that the Winter Wonderland went off smoothly thanks to everyone involved. He also stated there were a lot of marshmallows that were roasted during the event. Tim commented that this was the best year so far.

Mayor Pro Tem Dr. Esco Hall reported that he attended the State 911 committee meeting recently. He commented that the 911 for the city and county is in good shape and is very fortunate to not need an abundance of the stimulus money for improvements. Hall then asked why there were buggies selling items at the parade and Winter Wonderland. Manager Jeff Baxley explained to Hall that the parade is separate from Winter Wonderland. The venders get permits from the Baxley/Appling County Chamber of Commerce to sell items at the parade. Hall stated that there was a vender near the popcorn stand at the Winter Wonderland. The manager replied that they would keep a watch for that next year so that won’t happen.

Mayor Steve Rigdon gave an update on the city park project. Rigdon announced that there is only a little bit of electrical drawing work to be done by the engineer to complete the design for the park and this will be completed in the near future, hopefully by mid January.

City manager report

-Jeff Baxley announced that Lil Juliano who has been with the Baxley municipal airport for a long time would be leaving. The city will oversee and approve the contract to sell to someone else. Juliano will stay until transactions are completed. He further stated, “We will miss her in a big way.”

-He reported that the insurance company for the city that handled the worker’s compensation was ordered to be liquidated by Oxendine and the manager further stated that they have bought insurance from another company for five months until the end of April. The manager concluded by saying there was never a lapse in insurance during this transition to another company.

-The manager announced that Okefenokee Occasion is coming up and the deadline for registering is Dec. 15 to attend the January 13 event held in Atlanta at the train depot.

-He also announced that the striping project is complete. This project was totally funded by a safety grant through the DOT.

-The manager stated he did not hear any complaints about this year’s Winter Wonderland. Jeff stated this event is very popular and is an event that everyone really talks about. He commended everyone involved in making it a success.