Grovetown reviews applicants for new job

Wayne Newman will soon share the workload on his already overfilled plate with whomever is named to the city's newly created position - director of Water and Sewer.

Newman, who has been Grovetown's director of Public Works for 20 years, depended on his right-hand-man Bill Hawthorne to supervise the city's Water and Sewer division.

As the city began to experience rapid growth in the last few years, so did the Water and Sewer department, Newman said.

"It's getting bigger and bigger," he said. "Everything is growing."

After Hawthorne retired from the middle-management position last month, Newman's job, which already included managing four other departments, expanded to overseeing the fast-growing city's water and sewer department.

"It is too much," Grovetown Mayor Dennis Trudeau said. "It was all right when we were small. But now, everything is growing so fast."

The Grovetown City Council has approved splitting the Public Works department by adding a separate Water and Sewer director.

Supervising the Water and Sewer department requires the most paperwork, up-to-date knowledge of Environmental Protection Division rules and the oversight of water lines for the city's many new subdivision and other construction projects, Trudeau said.

"You never get away from it," Newman said about the growing Water and Sewer department that requires so much attention. "You take it home with you. It is something all the time."

Newman will still be director of Public Works, which encompasses streets, sanitation including the city landfill, maintenance including the mechanics shop, parks and recreation.

At Monday night's city council meeting, the council approved an annual salary of $35,000 for the new director and a $5,100 annual decrease for Newman.

Two people - one from in-house and another from outside the city - applied for the position. The city stopped taking applications for the position Monday, Trudeau said.

Because the position is a director of a city department, the mayor and city council must chose who will fill the position. Trudeau said he and the council members are reviewing the applications and will meet soon to make a decision.