Some changes will soon take place in the University of Georgia Extension Services in Bryan County as local extension agent Don Gardner steps down to fill an empty extension agent position in Glynn County.

Gardner said the UGA Cooperative Extension uses a tier system to evaluate how extension office resources should be used in counties. Bryan County has enough need to warrant a full-time 4-H agent but not a full-time agriculture and natural resources agent, he said.

“I’m not moving because I don’t love Richmond Hill,” he said. “It’s just there is a greater need someplace else right now.”

Gardner will begin Thursday as the agriculture and natural resources extension agent in Glynn County. But that doesn’t mean Bryan County will be without an agriculture agent. Gardner lives near Richmond Hill and has volunteered to continue services in South Bryan in the mornings and evenings, something he said he has always done.

“I’ve been working with folks here for so long, they’re not just customers, I consider them friends and I don’t want to leave them hanging,” he said.

Gardner said he has been working with businesses and residents in the area for quite some time and already knows the issues and problems here. It would be the easiest way to provide services, he said.

As far as services on the north end of the county, Gardner said Carole Knight, the extension agent for Bulloch County, will extend her work area into the North Bryan area.

“I think she’ll do great and fit in very well,” he said.

Read more in the Nov. 30 edition of the News.