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NEWS
FAYETTE
COUNTY
4*THE TRUTH SINCE 1886 4*
INSIDE Fayette County, Sandy Creek
Advance to State Title Games, Bl
VOL 151, NO. 10
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2023
$1.00
INSIDE: City Council Retreat Set March 14-15, A2
INSIDE: Coweta-Fayette EMC Announces 2023WYT Delegates, A7
Peachtree City officials and members of the fire and rescue department was down the new truck. Courtesy of PTC
PTC Firefighters Push
New Fire Truck in Ceremony
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
PEACHTREE CITY -
As a city known for its
public service providers
assisting its citizens, the
Peachtree City Fire and
Rescue Department ex
presses excitement sur
rounding the arrival of its
new fire engine last week,
but Engine 82 could not
be placed into service
without the traditional
“push-in” ceremony.
The tradition began in
the 1800s, after crews re
turned from an emer
gency call on
horse-drawn equipment.
The animals had diffi
culty backing into the
station and some could
not back into the station
at all. This meant
members of the team had
to detach the horses and
push the equipment into
the bay, according to the
Fire Rescue website.
Now, to honor the
early crews, the Peach
tree City Fire and Rescue
Department holds a
push-in ceremony and
invited firefighters, po
lice officers, city employ
ees, and the public to
push the newly acquired
engine into the fire
house.
Engine 82 was also
blessed by clergy and
washed with the assis
tance of Peachtree City
Mayor Kim Learnard.
Fayetteville Council Approves $190,000
for Banks Road Resurfacing Project
Sydney Spencer
News Reporter
sspencer@fayette-news.net
Fayetteville City Coun
cil unanimously approved
a $190,000 resurfacing
project for a portion of
Banks Road from the city
limits to Highway 54 dur
ing its March 2 meeting.
Director of Public Serv
ices Chris Hindman in
formed council of the
application process to re
surface Banks Road and
the history surrounding
the project’s inception.
“We have been working
with ARC in Fayette
County and other munici
palities since 2019 for dif
ferent projects. We sub
mitted two applications to
ARC during that time
period that had different
road projects, one includ
ing Jimmy Mayfield. We
were approved with that
grant at that time. The sec
ond application, which
had Banks Road, was not
approved at that time,”
Hindman said.
Hindman further ex
plained why he and staff
are requesting approval of
the resurfacing and why it
needs to take place.
“This is a re-up of the
application to resurface
Banks Road. Initially in
2019, Fayette County was
going to widen their por
tion of Banks Road. Since
then, they have gotten
public input and they’ve
backed off of that, so what
we are going to do is com
bine with them and resur
face the road from city
limits all the way to High
way 54>” Hindman in
formed.
The road resurfacing is
an approved project in the
current special purpose
local option sales tax, ac
cording to Hindman.
“Our portion of that is
approximately $190,000
total - $152,000 in grant
money and about $38,000
in local match. This is an
approved SPLOST project,
so this will be SPLOST
funds for the local match.
We have the money in the
bank to do this because we
had money left over from
the resurfacing,” Hindman
explained.
After hearing Hind
man’s presentation, the
board voted unanimously
to approve the application.
Council also approved
authorization for Fire
Chief Linda Black to apply
for the Staffing for Adequ
ate Fire and Emergency
Response (SAFER) grant.
The SAFER grant was
created to provide funding
directly to fire depart
ments and volunteer fire-
See Banks Road, A5
PTC Police Chase leads
to Arrest for Reckless Driving
PEACHTREE CITY — According to a PTC PD conduct a traffic stop,
A Peachtree City Police
Department officer, while
patrolling the area of
North Highway 74 and
Kedron Drive, witnessed a
man drive through a red
light, which began a chase
into Tyrone, leading to the
arrest of Danny R. Seiber
on Feb. 28.
report, the officer saw 40-
year-old Seiber run the
light “without any due re
gard” to others, and the of
ficer began pursuit.
Once the officer caught
up with Seiber, he re
ported seeing additional
traffic infractions. While
the officer attempted to
Seiber reportedly refused
to stop the vehicle and
began traveling into the
city limits of Tyrone.
Officers successfully
executed a precision im
mobilization technique
maneuver, which is a pur-
See Arrests, A5
Fayette Sees Low
Voter Turnout for
SPLOST in First Week
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
FAYETTE — Residents
of Fayette County are
frequently vocal about the
changes they want to see
within their communities,
contrary to a low voter
turnout reported by elec
tion officials for advance
in-person voting during
the first week of the special
purpose local option sales
tax referendum question.
Although citizens have
remained diligent in com
ing to area council meet
ings to address the
councils in public com
ment, the turnout seems
“discouraging” when many
of the cities’ and towns’
leading officials and staff
are working diligently to
ensure that their citizens
are informed on what is
placed on the SPLOST bal
lot for approval.
According to the up
dated ballot count on
March 3, the total number
of cast ballots was 866,
with 269 ballots cast at the
Fayette County Elections
office, 456 ballots cast at
the Peachtree City Library,
and 141 ballots cast at the
Tyrone Recreation Center.
Out of the 44 absentee by
mail ballots that have been
issued, five have been re
turned.
Brian Hill, director of
elections and registration
for Fayette County, said he
noticed that the engage
ment this first week of ad
vance in-person voting has
See Voter Turnout, A5
SPLOST Early
Voting Begins
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
FAYETTE - On Feb.
27, Fayette County began
early voting for the 2023
special purpose local op
tion sales tax referendum
at three early voting loca
tions.
Advance in-person
voting for SPLOST ranges
from Feb. 27 through
March 17 from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. Monday-Friday.
There will be voting on
Saturday, March 4, and
Saturday, March 11, from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Early vot
ing locations include Fay-
See Early Voting, A5
FCDA Selects
Vanderslice as
President, CEO
The board of directors
for Fayette County Devel
opment Authority has se
lected Niki Vanderslice to
serve as president and
chief executive officer, ef
fective March 1.
As president and CEO,
Vanderslice is responsible
for FCDA operations, im
plementing the board’s
strategic direction, and
outreach to state and com
munity partners.
Vanderslice, who most
recently served as interim
president and CEO, brings
more than 20 years of ex
perience in community
and economic devel
opment, as well as a work
ing knowledge of FCDA
operations and FCDA
board.
Prior to joining the
board in 2016, Vanderslice
was executive director of
business development and
external affairs for the
Technical College System
of Georgia’s Quick Start
Niki Vanderslice Submitted
program.
In the role, she served
as a liaison to external
local, regional, and state
economic development
entities in business re
cruitment efforts and sup
ported continuous
improvement initiatives to
maximize the professional
effectiveness of the state
wide technical college vice
presidents of economic de
velopment in serving new,
expanding, and existing
See Vanderslice, A5
INSIDE:
COMMUNITY
B2 FAYETTE VIEWS
A4 LEGALS
B3
OBITUARIES
A2 SPORTS
Bl CLASSIFIEDS
B8
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