A Message from Mayor Julie Smith

Tifton Mayor Julie Smith provided an update on the community’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene. She praised the work of city employees, Rylan Environmental, and ESG for their dedication in clearing debris and ensuring public safety. She urged residents to remain patient during the cleanup process, as every area will be addressed. Mayor Smith also encouraged citizens to visit the city’s website and social media for updates and contact city officials for specific issues. She highlighted the support Tifton has given to neighboring communities and expressed gratitude for the local solidarity shown during the recovery.

Transcription

Hello, I’m Julie Smith, Mayor of the City of Tifton, and I wanted to take just a
few minutes to get together with you today just to share with you what’s
going on in the community following Hurricane Helene and the damage that
we’ve been through. I would be remiss if I did not first of all thank all of our
partners and all of our city employees for the great work that you’ve done in
getting this community through this. Rylan Environmental who provides our
yard debris and trash pickup, ESG who provides our public works service, they
have worked around the clock since the wind stopped blowing to make sure that
you were safe as a community, that the streets are clear, that we can get out
and go about the business of getting this town put back together. So, thank you
to Rylan Environmental and ESG. I’d also like to thank all of our city
departments, our fire department, our police department, and all of the folks
who work with the City of Tifton who have just gone above and beyond. They
have really stepped up and I’m so proud to be associated with all of these folks
who have done such a great job. I’d like to ask you the public though to do some
things for us if you don’t mind. Please be patient with us as we continue to
clean up the community. I can assure you that every street, every sidewalk, every
curb will be canvassed but this is going to take some time. There is a lot of
damage out there and a lot of cleanup to take place so your area will be cleaned
up but it may be a little bit longer than you anticipated but please know
that we will get around to getting that for you and take care of that so that
our community will be the beautiful town of Tifton that we’ve always been. I’d
also like to let you know that you can refer to the city’s website, tifton.net,
for the latest in information regarding shelters, how to report problems, if you
have any specific issues. That website is being updated many times during the day
as we receive information so that is the best place to go. We’re also providing
updates through our social media so please follow the City of Tifton
Facebook, Instagram and other social media pages so that you can get the
latest in information. There are also ways that you can call us if you have
again, a specific incident or something that’s a little unusual that you’re just
not sure how to find out the information. Let us know and we’ll do all that we can
to get that for you. Of course, I and your City Council
representatives are available should you have any calls you’d like to share with
us or any information would be glad to handle that for you, but we just want to
say that we’re very very blessed that we didn’t have more damage than we had. I
look at our neighbors to the south and to the east of us we have been able to
provide equipment, materials and manpower in some cases to our neighboring
communities as they’ve suffered through this very specific loss through the
hurricane so it’s always good to be good partners and good neighbors. We’ve sent
materials and equipment down to Valdosta. We’ve sent things to Alapaha to
Nashville Georgia so knowing that those communities would respond to us if we
were in the same situation so I’m very thankful again for the partnerships that
we have with our neighbors that surround us. We’re very fortunate here we didn’t
have any fatalities. We just want to keep this whole South Georgia really the whole
southeastern United States and our thoughts and prayers and just let us
know if there’s anything that we can do for you but thank you for your patience.
Thank you for rallying and coming together as a community and for all of
those who have collected water, who have served foods, who have helped a neighbor
pick up limbs in their yard. Anything that you have done makes this community
better so I’m just very thankful for each and every one of you. If I can be of
service to you please let me know. My cell number is 229-339-1776.
My email address is [email protected] and we’ll make sure that your
information gets in the right hands but thank you Tifton and stay strong. We are
Tifton strong. We’ll recover from this and let us know how we can help you.
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