Panel votes to retain designer

The Columbia County Clean and Beautiful Advisory Committee voted earlier this month to recommend that the county retain a landscape architect or designer to help plan future developments.

Committee Chairman Jim Truitt said the county should "have somebody who has some expertise on how to develop things."

He noted that no one on the committee has the training to plan for aesthetics in future developments.

Truitt said the committee was not suggesting how the county should obtain the landscape service - whether by contract or hiring a full-time landscape designer or architect.

"We don't want to tell the county how to do it. We want to recommend," he said.

Lillian-Katharine Blanos, executive director of Columbia County Clean and Beautiful, told the committee members that the Great American Cleanup is tentatively scheduled for April 22 in Columbia County, but details of the campaign have not been finalized yet. The committee met at the Savannah Rapids Pavilion.

The committee also is considering purchasing magnetic signs or peel-off window decals that say, "Thanks for not littering."

The signs or decals would be given to residents and possibly placed on county vehicles, if the county approves the program.

The committee also announced that the March Point of Pride Award was presented to SunTrust Bank on Washington Road. The award is given annually to the company which makes the best improvements to its grounds.