Hinesville City Council approved applications Thursday to seek grant funding for the police and fire departments.

Erica Usher, a grant writer in the Community Development Department, presented at the meeting to get authorization to submit the application for the Georgia Municipal Association’s Safety and Liability Management Grant Program.

The police and fire department’s equipment requests are each a few hundred dollars over the maximum grant amount of $6,000 for each department, but the departments would pay for the excess, according to Usher. 

If approved, the Hinesville Police Department will use its money toward the $6,304.76 cost of 12 body cameras, accessories and a squad-car Digital Video Mirror, which is able to record video and audio from a police vehicle. 

Police Maj. J.W. Hodges said the 12 cameras would replace older ones and ensure that everyone below the lieutenant rank will have a camera.

The Hinesville Fire Department wants to spend its grant on a $6,916 Simo gas-power unit with electric start that will help firefighters use equipment, such as the Jaws of Life or hydraulic cutters, if there is not a power-source available.  

In other business, Betsy Stow, the Liberty County area coordinator for Live Oak Public Libraries, announced that she will resign her position in three weeks.

During her presentation on the annual update of library activities, she said that she will pursue graduate studies full-time, but she will be back to see the new Hinesville library when it is completed. 

For more details, check back with coastalcourier.com and see the Sunday Coastal Courier.