Hinesville city council adopted two new ordinances at their May 19 meeting at City Hall.
Assistant City Manager Ryan Arnold reviewed the final Food truck ordinance, noting that they did change a requirement brought up by Terrence Tyler, during public participation, at their previous meeting of May 5.
The change allows anyone associated with the food truck provider to be able to drive the vehicle as long as they provide a copy of their valid driver’s license to the city. The prior draft would have allowed the city to pull the license if the owner of the business had his driver’s license suspended or revoked.
Councilmembers also changed the minimal distance between a food truck and a brick-and-mortar diner from 200 feet down to 100 feet.
The city also adopted their new wrecker service operations ordinance. In the newly amended ordinance each wrecker service operator providing heavy duty wrecker services on the wrecker rotation list shall maintain a valid city business license and demonstrate access to and own at least one heavy-duty wrecker. A heavy-duty wrecker shall be defined as a wrecker with at least 32,000 pounds minimum gross vehicle weight rating equipped with a 16 to 25 ton power take-off mechanically driven power winch crane and having independent dual booms and with dual rear wheels.
The city also added language to address the concerns of councilwoman Vicky Nelson regarding operators who consistently get complaints.
The ordinance states, “In the event the wrecker service which has been approved by the city for inclusion on the rotation list fails to meet the requirements provided for herein, violates any of the approval specifications, or fails to provide prompt and adequate service then the chief of police shall have the authority to remove the wrecker service from the rotation list.”
The wrecker service would be removed from the list for a year and can reapply to be on the list after the 12 months pass. Language was also added that allows the wrecker service to appeal the removal decision.
Mayor and council tabled resolution number 2022-04 which finds Comcast of Georgia/South Carolina, LLC in violation of the franchise agreement for failure to comply with the audit findings of Comcast’s business records to ensure proper payment.
Arnold explained the city conducted an audit to make sure it was collecting the franchise fees from Comcast as per their agreement and its upcoming renewal period. The last audit was in 2010. Since then, the city has annexed additional properties which were not reflected on maps Comcast was using for the fees. Arnold said they received a settlement agreement and asked council to table the matter until they can finalize the agreement with Comcast.
City Manager Kenneth Howard said they seem to be at a point where the agreement issue can be resolved.
Council members Nelson and Keith Jenkins asked if the city could look into other companies who would be willing to provide internet and TV service citing the increasing prices from Comcast and a lack of competition in the market.