Brunswick creates new city staff position, renames two others
Aug. 11—The Brunswick City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved adding a new staff position and renaming two positions.
The new position of program manager will be in charge of geographical information system databases for the city, data mapping, stormwater and floodplain management, and project coordination, city documents show.
It will have a salary range of $66,227 to $100,526.
Carrie Myers, Brunswick's director of administration, proposed the new program manager position since the staff is pulling out some duties from the planning department and putting them under the assistant city administrator of public facilities' purview.
She also proposed renaming the project coordinator positions in the planning and zoning department to principal planner I and principal planner II.
"We would like to change those to be more in line with what the county calls their planners," Myers said.
Principal planner II would have more experience, Myers said.
Principal planner II would have a pay scale between $66,227 and $100,526, according to city documents.
Principal planner I would have a pay scale between $47,050 and $71,448, city documents show.
Brunswick police respond to almost 1,000 calls in JulyThe Brunswick Police Department had 969 calls for service in July, Chief Kevin Grunwell reported during Tuesday's City Council meeting.
The department has responded to 7,270 calls this year. Grunwell said that's about 1,000 calls more than at the same period last year, he said.
According to city documents, seven calls in July were for assault, two were for breaking and entering, three were for theft, and eight were for motor vehicle crashes. Police made 11 arrests, including eight adults and three juveniles, city documents showed.
Grunwell highlighted several calls for service for the month.
Two were potential lifesaving calls for service. One was for a female on a bridge in a mental health crisis. Police were able to get her off the bridge, Grunwell said.
The other was for an older man with a medical condition who died despite attempts to save his life, Grunwell said.
Grunwell also mentioned a burglary at the Brunswick Branch Library. Several juveniles who broke in were identified through video footage, but Grunwell said police were unable to charge them due to a new law the state passed that indicates juveniles under 13 cannot be charged unless it's for a serious crime.
However, Grunwell said police arrested a juvenile who stole a couple thousand dollars from an older woman. The woman took a picture of the juvenile, which helped identify him for an arrest.
Finally, Grunwell mentioned the K-9 unit, which did three scans in July. Two scans were positive alerts, and one was negative, he said.
In other business:
— The city approved a $130,582 purchase to furnish the Milton E. Frech Jr. Operations Center, the city's new police and public works building. The purchase from Miller's Supplies at Work, an office supplies company in Virginia, should equip the entire building, City Administrator David Dunn said.
— Councilman Andrew St. John was elected mayor pro tem, who fills in when the mayor is absent. Councilwoman Angel White cast the only no vote. Before St. John was approved, White nominated Councilman Vaughn Ripley, but the motion did not pass, with only White and Ripley voting in favor.
Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel
