Grovetown gets Point of Pride

Making sure the city's properties are clean and maintained is a hard job. Just ask Mike Woods, the director of Grovetown's Parks and Recreations Department.

On the job for four years, Woods said it is great to receive recognition in what is often an under-appreciated job.

"I think it's great," said Woods, after learning of the awarding of the Point of Pride Award to the city park by Keep Columbia County Beautiful.

The award is presented quarterly to a business chosen for efforts to beautify the landscape around its premises.

"During the grass-cutting time, we're there nearly every other day," said Woods of the work at the city park.

"We're keeping water in the fountain, grass from between the bricks, trash out of the fountain, all of that kind of stuff," he said.

In addition to the maintenance work at the park, city workers also are responsible for the city's Christmas lights displays.

"It took us two-and-a-half to three weeks to put up all the lights in the city," said Woods, adding that the Streets Department helped in the project. "It's quite an undertaking."

The Augusta Chronicle recently noted that Grovetown's Christmas display has the highest number of lights of any city in the area.

Woods said the Point of Pride Award has helped boost morale of city employees, primarily Eddie Jones, Frazier Houston, David Jenkins and Michael Mills, all who work at the park on a regular basis.

"They were pretty proud of it," he said.

"There were several of our workers who said they were happy somebody recognized our work."