Leadership group leading cleanup effort downtown

Some members of a local organization are teaming up with Keep Dublin Laurens Beautiful to make downtown a cleaner place, and they encouraged Dublin City Council members to join them in their effort.

Arilyn Erickson, member of Leadership Dublin-Laurens’ current class, discussed the biweekly downtown trash pick-up campaign with members of the city council last week.

“During the month of March, we draw hundred of thousands of visitors,” Erickson said. “This month we are hosting Leadership Georgia and that is going to bring in 150 people during Super Saturday and that week. I want to express the importance of having pride in our community.” 

The importance of this is the fact of the heavy amount of litter, especially in the downtown area. 

“It is everywhere really, but downtown is important to me because this is the face of Dublin,” Erickson said. “This is what draws our visitors in. I took it upon myself, with my leadership class, and called Keep Dublin Laurens Beautiful to do a trash pickup in our downtown area (on March 3). I want to try to do that at least twice a month.” 

Erickson, who works at Visit Dublin GA, said people can call her there for more information.

“I wanted to make us as leaders, as well as citizens and individuals,  aware of what our community looks like to people on the outside,” she said. “We want people to keep coming back and tell their friends that this is such a beautiful town and they had such a great time. We don’t want them to say they were walking down the street and piece of trash flew into my face. This actually happened while we were having a tour in downtown.”

Dublin City Mayor Joshua Kight commended Erickson for starting this effort.

“It is really great when somebody sees a problem and comes up with a solution,” Kight said. “The fact that you saw the issue and organized a litter pickup yourself, and you are doing something about it is a real credit to you. I appreciate you taking that leadership and for doing this.” 

Erickson extended an invitation to the council to meet them around 5:30 p.m. on March 17 at the parking lot across the street from the Episcopal Church and city hall.

“I’d like to see our city leaders and other leaders in the community to come out and do this,” Erickson said. “We did this for a hour. I would do it longer, but we were doing it as long as the sun was up. We had five people so we could not cover more ground.” 

Councilwoman Tess Godfrey also appreciated Erickson and her group.

“I plan to join and help,” Godfrey said.

Godfrey also announced that the Great American Cleanup for the Oconee Alumni Association, will start on April 4 through April 11.

“I hope we can get a lot of teams involved,” Godfrey said. “We have four wards, so if we can get a team in every ward, that would make a huge, huge impact.”

Councilwoman Sara Kolbie told Erickson she would have a lot of support from the council.

“Trash is a constant issue,” Kolbie said. “Litter is not a pick up one time. Another thing we need to talk about is the fact that a lot of people have pickup trucks and they put their trash in there and it goes flying out as they go down our street.” 

Kolbie said there are more people coming in during the end of March, including students from Osaki, Japan.

“They have been sister cities with us for more than 25 years now through a relationship formed with Mayor Bob Walker through YKK,” Kolbie said.

She said the students will be in town on March 25-29.

In other news, the city council:

• Approved a DetectaChem Apex Raman Spectrometer, a device that can determine the type of drug police are encountering without having to take a sample from the plastic bag or container. This will allow officers to determine the type of drug without risking exposure to drugs that contains fentanyl, said Dublin Police Chief Keith Moon.

“We have participated in opioid settlement class actions,” said Dublin City Manager Josh Powell. “We have received some funding for different things related to combating the terrible effects of opioids on our community.” 

The device, which costs $35,900, will be paid from the opioid settlement funds, Powell said.

• Approved two businesses to do work at the Quail Hollow lift station that needs a replacement pump. This station was installed in the 1980s. DW Industrial LLC, out of Hawkinsville, will do the electrical work at the pump station for $16,600 while Southern Diversified Services, out of Wrightsville, will do the rest of the work for $17, 620. 

• Held a second reading to amend the ordinance regarding fire safety for mobile food service units.

“We want to make clear what provision comply for mobile food service units,” Powell said. “We want to make clear that there is an annual inspection of those mobile food service units.”

• Heard a first reading on an ordinance to amend the fiscal year 2026 budget.

• Approved Dublin Construction Co. for the renovation project of the Stubbs Park amphitheater stage and walking bridge, that were both damaged during Hurricane Helene. Cost will be $42,903.

“We are able to get some money from both the federal and state government for this work,” Powell said. 

• Approved Garbutt Construction as the construction manager at risk for the renovation and repair for the city of Dublin water works building.

“Our groundwater plant, that has not been touched since it was built in the 1930s,” Powell said. “It needs some substantial renovations done to it.”

• Approved AR-15 stocks as declaration of surplus.