The City of Hoboken council discussed/ voted on the following agenda items during the Tuesday, January 7, 2025 monthly meeting.
• Elected officials pay increase: City Attorney Adam Ferrell told council members a resolution had been sent to the Legislative Council.
“The session just started so I don’t have any updates specifically on that yet,” said Ferrell. “I’ll try to follow up and get some specific on when it was going to be introduced.”
• Re-appointment of City Attorney Adam Ferrell, City Judge Brad Collins: Mayor Joey Crews informed the council of needing a motion to either re-appoint City Attorney Adam Ferrell and City Judge Brad Collins or have a personnel meeting to appoint someone else.
Councilwoman “Skeeter” Stone made a motion for the re-appointment of Ferrell and Collins. Mayor Pro-tem Robin Helmuth seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
• Appoint/re-appoint Mayor Protem for 2025: Councilman Kenny Jordan made a motion, after a request from Mayor Crews, to re-appoint Robin Helmuth to Mayor Pro-tem.
The motion was unanimously passed.
• Hoboken Police Department: Mayor Crews gave the December monthly HPD report with the absence of new Police Chief Sammy Hendrix, who was out with sickness.
The department answered 49 public calls, made 10 traffic stops ending with six written citations (seat belt violations/ speeding), issued four warnings, had three animal complaints, responded to two mutual aid calls, two family violence calls, made one arrest and filed three miscellaneous reports.
The mayor informed council members of one of the squad units being in an accident during the holidays at approximately 11 p.m.
“We’re waiting on the insurance company, who is waiting on the Georgia State Patrol report,” said Crews.
“I think if something happens in the city that the city council should be notified,” said Councilman Jimmy Ray. “We should be notified, text, called or emailed something happened in the city. The city council needs to know if somebody asks us about it.”
Mayor Pro-tem Robin Helmuth said it was embarrassing “when you’re asked something or told something and you’re not aware of it.”
“There are a lot of times things happen and we don’t even know,” said “Skeeter” Stone.
The mayor asked council members to appoint someone to be in charge of contacting them.
• Street/Water Departments: Mayor Crews updated council members on the Hwy. 82 West sink hole saying the (Georgia) DOT was working on the issue.
“They’ve been there about a week or so,” the mayor said. “The pipe underneath the road is cracked pretty bad. I don’t know if this patch is going to fix it. It was about two foot deep the other day.”
Councilman Kenny Jordan said there is more heavy load (equipment) traffic traveling through Brantley County.
“The Savannah port has done away with all equipment,” he said. “Equipment traffic running through Brantley County from Brunswick’s port and to Brunswick’s port has increased 36 percent and that’s causing issues.”
