New police chief hails from Charlotte

After a nationwide search, Milton has named a 26-year law enforcement veteran from North Carolina its new police chief.

George “Rich” Austin Jr. will join the Milton Police Department on Jan. 30 from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, where he is captain of internal affairs. He will succeed Steve Krokoff, who was appointed chief in February 2015 and has held two jobs since February 2016 when the City Council named him interim city manager.

Austin entered law enforcement in 1990 as a patrol officer in Pineville, N.C., near Charlotte, and joined the Charlotte-Mecklenburg department in 1993, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has served in patrol, criminal investigations, internal investigations, community policing, traffic, personnel management, budgeting, administration, policy development and management. placing riprap at the shoreline of an island to stem erosion has already wrapped and four more were set on other islands in the lake, mainly in Hall County. She said the first of that group is close to a finish. Those four expected to be done by March of 2017 at a cost of approximately $437,000. Hall and Gwinnett counties are kicking in toward the cost of the product using local tax money, as is a local philanthropic foundation.

Riprap is a combination of rock material and sometimes concrete rubble placed on shorelines to fight erosion. Cloud said disappearing shores on the lake’s islands pose a shallow-water boating hazard. In addition she says, soil washing into the reservoir reduces its storage capacity. Cloud said over the years some islands on the lake have entirely eroded away.

City to pay $2.3M for firefighting vehicles

The Alpharetta City Council has approved spending $2.3 million for two replacement fire engines and a fire aerial ladder truck.

The apparatus will be built by Pierce Manufacturing Inc., purchased from Ten-8 Fire and Safety Equipment of Georgia and financed by Banc of America Public Capital Corp., according to a staff report prepared for the Council.

The engines, also known as “pumpers,” and the ladder truck will replace two existing Pierce engines and a Pierce ladder truck acquired in 2007. The existing units will be placed in the Public Safety Department’s reserve fleet. Another pair of pumpers and a ladder truck in the reserve fleet will be declared surplus.

Alpharetta has eight fire apparatus on active duty: six engines, one ladder truck and one air/light truck. The new units will be paid with a term of 10 years and interest rate of 2.075 percent for the engines, and term of 13 years and interest rate of 2.25 percent for the ladder truck.

The Powder Springs City Council approved four expenditures recently. They include:

$21,480 for a 2017 Ford Taurus from Hardy Family Ford for the Public Works Department.

$15,000 to Matchpoint Inc. to provide an extensive leak survey for 65 miles of water system pipes — a state requirement.

$11,850 to repair a water main break on Hopkins Road by Ardito Construction.

up to $1,110 for each water meter that is tested by UWS Inc.