News

During the December 17th Council meeting, the City Council voted to award a contract to Lavender & Associates for renovations to Whitesville Park. Previously a privately owned property operated by volunteers, Whitesville Park was closed to the public indefinitely in 2016 due to decaying infrastructure, vandalism, and other maintenance challenges. Volunteers from the Whitesville Community Resource and Development Organization Inc. had been in talks with the city to take over the park’s management for several years. The land was officially deeded to the City in April 2022. Since then, City staff have been working to identify grant funding opportunities and solicit bids for the project.

After multiple grant applications to the Department of Community Affairs were denied, the City designated 1.2M dollars from federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to pay for the park renovation. Work is expected to start in late Spring 2025, with an anticipated completion date of Fall 2025. The property currently has a restroom, swingset, and basketball court on the site. After the renovation project, the park will feature a new restroom facility, basketball court, playground, and pavilion.

On Thursday, January 9th, Mayor Jonathan McCollar had the pleasure of speaking at the City of Brooklet’s groundbreaking ceremony for its “Brooklet to Statesboro Sewer Forcemain Project.” The ceremony featured remarks from local and state elected officials, including Brooklet Mayor Nicky Gwinnett, Bulloch County Board of Commissioners Chairman David Bennett, GA Senator Billy Hickman, GA Representative Lehman Franklin, and Former GA Representative Jan Tankersley.

The much-anticipated $5 million sewer project will overhaul the community’s infrastructure and ensure reliable wastewater service for its residents and businesses. Currently, residents and businesses in Brooklet operate on individual septic systems, which have pushed the limits of the local septic field capacity. The new sewer system will accommodate the city’s current sewer needs with the capacity to handle expected growth in the community over the next decade.

The City of Brooklet will be tying into the City of Statesboro’s existing sewer infrastructure located to its north with Brooklet funding the extension of infrastructure into its city limits. The City of Brooklet has contracted Parker Engineering of Statesboro to manage the project and has awarded bids to Y-Delta Inc. and Shockley Plumbing for the installation of the sewer infrastructure. The project is anticipated to take around 12 months to complete.