Byron council to deliver job reviews to department heads

BYRON — City Council will meet Aug. 19 to give the city’s six department heads performance reviews.

The reviews are a follow-up on recent updates to Byron’s personnel policies, which included instituting annual performance reviews for department heads. This summer, the board agreed to carry out the reviews by the end of August.

Council also discussed several traffic matters during its regular Tuesday meeting.

At the recommendation of Police Chief Wesley Cannon, the board agreed to ask the state to expand the number of streets in Byron where speed detection devices can be used. Cannon said the request reflects the growth of new subdivisions and comes as result of complaints about speeders.

As part of the request, Cannon also said a stretch of White Road near Byron Elementary School will become a school zone. The zone will run along White Road from just east of Ga. 49 to about 1,500 feet east of Linda Drive. Cannon said signs will be up for the zone in six to 10 days and will begin being enforced 30 days after that.

He said the speed limit will go from 45 to 35 miles per hour from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. on school days.

Council also discussed fire hydrants and parking, citing a problem area near Alan’s Towing Service on Old Macon Road. It was noted that a hydrant there was one of the few in the city that was accompanied by a no parking sign and had recently been drawing tickets.

Council determined that since state law prohibited parking 15 feet or closer to a hydrant, the law would be enforced uniformly, and also noted that the particular hydrant was due to be moved in six months to a year, solving any unique parking problems it represents.