To say that the year 2020 has been challenging is a gross understatement for most. And to a growing and progressive city such as Centerville, the results of those difficulties could potentially be devastating. However, according to its mayor, middle Georgia’s city of Centerville has a lot to be thankful for in spite of it all.
“Like almost everybody else, I’m looking forward to next year,” Mayor John Harley admitted. “But this has been a good year for Centerville in a sense.”
He went on to explain in more detail that while COVID-19 and other unforeseen issues have caused the city’s government to make some adjustments, the cooperation of the citizens and the determination of the government came together in a major way, and because of that, Centerville has experienced far more wins than losses. Those victories can be visibly seen in the growth and expansion that has taken place since the start of the year and even since the onset of the pandemic.
“We got Center Park done,” the mayor began detailing, referring to Center Park at Centerville, one of the city’s freshest offerings that officially opened to the public earlier this month. “We can’t wait ‘til people can get out there full time and with no COVID restraints. They’re using it right now since we officially opened it, and it’s a great thing for the city. We don’t owe any money on it,” Harley went on to express. “Between the citizens, the SPLOST (special-purpose local-option sales tax) program, donations and a lot of help from the county, we were able to get Center Park up and going this year.”
The park is located at 103 E. Church Street, and with amenities like a walking track, pavilion, splashpad and a playground, it offers something for the entire family. But as remarkable and celebrated as the new park is, it is not where Centerville’s growth, this year, ends.
“Our main street out in front of Centerville City Hall has been expanded it into three lanes this year,” Harley mentioned. “We have sidewalks on both sides, whereas we had a lot of ditches before. We’ve made remarkable improvement. Kate has been a good leader in that area for us.”
The “Kate” that Harley referenced is Kate Hogan, Centerville’s Director of Economic Development. Hogan plays a large part in helping to organize, and even spearhead, many of Centerville’s projects relative to city growth and expansion.
With the major street work complete, Harley said Centerville is gaining a sense of what it means to have a true downtown. With the opening of Center Park and other things that are being created in the area, it’s the beginning of the manifestation of a downtown district that the city has never had before.
“Of course, we’ve also now started to build our new fire station, and that thing is coming along very, very well,” Harley emphasized. “Contractors have done a wonderful job of putting it together and building it to the point where it is now. We’re estimating that we’ll occupy it somewhere around August of next year. That’s absolutely a fabulous step forward for our city.”
The current station had become too small to house all of the equipment the city needs to have. The new state-of-the-art firehouse will serve the city for many years to come. As with Center Park, the SPLOST program played a great role in the building of the new fire station. “It’s been remarkable,” said Harley. “Of course, we got a lot of assistance from the Georgia Municipal Association, too,” he added. “They helped us get the best funding possible. We’ve got an excellent, excellent funding source on that, but SPLOST is actually paying for it. It’s coming out of taxpayers’ money.”
Centerville was not able to avoid the bite of COVID altogether though. There were a few things that the pandemic took from the city this year, but only temporarily. Events on the city’s regularly scheduled events calendar such as its Independence Day Celebration, Fall Festival and Christmas Parade—celebratory events that residents look forward to each year—were canceled in 2020 due to COVID, but the plan is to bring all of them back—bigger and better—in 2021.
Additionally, though not due to COVID, the city found its police chief slot vacant this year when the previous chief resigned. For the past three or four months now, an interim chief, assigned by the Houston County Sherriff’s Office, has been filling in while the city searches for a viable permanent replacement.
“It should be soon,” Harley updated. “We’re right now taking applications. We’re not going to do as we have in the past and select ourselves, we’re going to get the Chief of Police Association to do it for us. They have a program where they’ll go through [the applications] and eventually present three to us for our consideration. They will do a thorough review.”
Citizens of Centerville won’t have much longer to wait, based on Harley’s calculation. He expects that it will be sometime in late February or early March, that the Chief of Police Association will render their recommendations.
One of the final 2020 moves that the city of Centerville made was apply for a Community Home Improvement Program (CHIP) Grant. Harley believes the city has a very good chance of being awarded the funding. It will be an added boost as the improvements to the city roll over into 2021. Funding from the CHIP Grant will target an area of home ownership within the city of Centerville that is characterized by a high level of poverty. Receiving that will add to the optimism Centerville has gained in 2020 and help to make real strides with the housing team across all the departments.
Harley believes that all these things work together to make the year 2020 a good one for Centerville, and he gives much of the credit to those who call Centerville “home.”
“Our citizens have been very supportive during this time of COVID-19. I can’t thank them enough for the way they’ve handled things,” Harley concluded. “We’re getting through this thing a lot better than some other areas are because of what our residents have done. It’s really the citizens that make a city. We have to depend on them. They depend on us to a certain extent,” he added, “but we have to depend on them too. We need them as much as they need us.”
HHJ News
