Terry Harget
Terry Harget, who has served in law enforcement agencies from New York to Atlanta, has joined the city taking the vacant office of police chief.
"My biggest gift I think I can give is the opportunity to work with such a great team that you have here at Euharlee," Harget said. "My job is to improve the quality of life for our city, to make sure the quality that we all enjoy now prospers and grows, and the biggest factor that we all need to enjoy is safety."
Harget noted that he hopes to meet the citizens of Euharlee and become friends with everyone.
"Community policing is a philosophy that I embrace," Harget said. "We work with each other and get the job done, we work against each other the job will not get done, I believe in God, family, job, you don't get those priorities mixed up. It's very important that we understand that what we have in life is a gift and what we have with each other is a gift and friendship is a gift and I hope I become friends with each and every one of you."
"I think we did really good," Councilman William Eubanks said on the decision to hire Harget. "I'm happy with him."
Moving onto old and new business during the meeting, the council approved several changes.
According to an amendment to the zoning ordinance regarding donation boxes, anyone wishing to place donation or drop-off boxes in certain locations must first obtain a permit from the city to prevent boxes and the areas around them from not being maintained.
Renewal rates for businesses licenses will see an increase beginning Jan. 1, 2012. The rates will raise from $45 to $75 per year with a 10 percent late fee if the license is processed after March 1.
Taking a shortage of city employees into account, the city approved to offer employees the option to buy back vacation time for the 2011 year. With this option, employees can sell up to two weeks of their vacation time back to the city. This option only applies to the current year.
A second change pertaining to employees focuses on sick time. A policy amendment was approved to give employees the option to donate their accrued sick time to another employee who may be in need. Up to one week of time may be donated under the policy change.
An approval for an amendment to the budget also was passed during Tuesday's meeting. The amendment includes alterations to consider building repair and city maintenance in various areas as well as a rise in cost for electricity. The amendment keeps the budget on track and the city currently stands under-budget for the year.