The first order of business for Statesboro City Council and incoming Mayor Jonathan McCollar at 9 a.m. Tuesday will be McCollar’s historic swearing-in.
This occurs in the City Hall council chambers at the start of an open meeting with a full agenda. Afterwards, to give the public a further chance to welcome McCollar as mayor, the city will host a drop-in reception from noon until 2 p.m. in the Joe Brannen Hall, which is a city-owned facility next door to City Hall.
McCollar makes history as Statesboro’s first African-American mayor. He follows by just one four-year term the first woman to hold the office, outgoing Mayor Jan Moore, after McCollar won a majority of votes in the Nov. 7 election over Moore and another candidate.
Judge to do honors
Current Mayor Pro Tempore Travis Chance, the District 5 council member, will convene the 9 a.m. meeting, according to the agenda released Thursday by City Clerk Sue Starling.
After District 3 Councilman Jeff Yawn leads a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, Bulloch County Probate Judge Lorna DeLoach is slated to administer the oath of office to the new mayor and two council members.
McCollar is listed first. Then District 1 Councilman Phil Boyum and District 4 Councilman John Riggs, who were re-elected without opposition, are to be sworn in for new four-year terms.
After that, the five council members are to select from among themselves a mayor pro tem for the next two years.
T-SPLOST etc.
Business items for this first meeting of 2018 include an engineering contract for the Blue Mile streetscape project on South Main Street and a construction contract for the sidewalk project on East Main.
The selection of a city employee health insurance broker, based on last summer’s request for proposals but now with a third-party recommendation, is back on the agenda.
So is discussion of the Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax negotiations, after the city and the Bulloch County government failed to reach agreement before the holidays on how revenue from the proposed new tax will be distributed. A majority of voters in a countywide referendum would have to approve the tax, which would also supply revenue to Brooklet, Portal and Register, as well as Statesboro and the county, for transportation projects.
TAD board
Also on the agenda, council will receive the outgoing mayor’s resignation from the Tax Allocation District Advisory Committee and consider appointing someone else. The council appointed Moore to the TAD board with a 4-0 vote Dec. 5, but she later declined, citing a potential conflict of interest.
Inaugural ball
Friends and supporters, not the city, are first hosting an inauguration ball for McCollar, 6-10 p.m. Saturday at Snella’s Place, 17 Allen Circle. More information about this event can be found at www.eventbrite.com and elsewhere online.
Herald reporter Al Hackle may be reached at (912) 489-9458.