Jeff Whitten, freelance correspondent

In addition to the new groundwater monitoring partnership with Bulloch County, Bryan County commissioners also approved a $7.68 million contract with McLendon Enterprises to install about 17,000 feet of 30-inch pipe in North Bryan as part of the project. That will connect to approximately 20 miles of pipeline being installed in Effingham County.

Commissioners also voted Tuesday to move forward with a pre-application for a 20-year $5.5 million loan at zero percent interest through GEFA’s Hurricane Helene Resilience Fund program to construct a Miocene well in South Bryan.

Taylor said the program was highly competitive, but could help save water and sewer customers in South Bryan while also helping reduce reliance on the Floridian aquifer, a concern which has led to various efforts to limit withdrawals along the Georgia coast for decades, at the same time the area has experienced booming industrial, commercial, and residential growth.

In other business, commissioners approved a resolution in support of House Bill 1440, which recently passed through the general assembly and will exempt property owners from increases to school taxes by tying them to a base year. The matter will be put to voters in a referendum.

And: commissioners voted to delay a reading on a request by a developer for the Magnolia Hills neighborhood in South Bryan to build 32 townhomes in the subdivision rather than 12 single-family homes. The delay is to ensure the item comes up on the agenda when commissioners again meet in Richmond Hill in June.