By Barbara Augsdorfer, Editor for the Effingham Herald

You may have heard that many states that have an official tree, an official bird, or even an official song; many states have an official color … or two or three.

Now Rincon has an official color: Bobcat blue.

Councilmember Mona Underwood mentioned the new benches and trashcans on Hwy 21 are a “Beautiful Bobcat blue” and first gave credit to fellow Councilmember Michelle Taylor and the beautification committee.

“That was (City Manager) Jonathan (Lynn),” Taylor said.

“We were in Atlanta (for Effingham Day at the Capitol) and we were talking about it being Bobcat blue,” Underwood explained. “We said we should adopt that and show some camaraderie with our kids and our school because we're so proud Rincon Elementary.”

In other action, the city council discussed adding purple pipes (indicating reclaimed water) used for residential irrigation. Using reclaimed water for irrigation could save a significant portion of the city’s clean water supply.

The golf course already uses effluent water for irrigation. Houses in Lost Plantation nearest the golf course may be the first ones to be connected to a water-reuse system. Funding for the project could come in the form of grants if the city applied for them.

“We spoke with an engineer while we were in Atlanta and he said that there is there's a lot of money out there in grant money for water reuse,” Councilmember Kevin Exley offered. “I want to go after that. I mean I think that needs to be a priority that we go after (grant money.) Our drinking water so important right now.

“I know getting rid of that (effluent) water is important, but not putting our drinking water into the ground is as equally important,” Exley continued. “I've been looking at getting someone started on just looking for grants to see where we can pay for some of this. This would be super helpful.”

The City of Rincon already has an ordinance to ensure that new developments incorporate reclaimed water in their irrigation plans.

Lynn added, “All new developments are required to put in that purple pipe. We do have that in our ordinances now.”

There was some discussion about feasibility of using reclaimed water for residential irrigation.

“That's pretty neat how y'all did it. It says this ordinance shall not prohibit the developer, builder and/or the owner of the development from entering into a reasonable use agreement with the city of Rincon as an alternate means of handling the amount of reclaimed water during the development,” Ben Perkins, acting city attorney, read.

“‘Agreement shall provide an alternative means of distributing the reclaimed water generated by the development either through a monetary contribution, through the use of reclaimed water as irrigation water or other suitable alternate parcel of land or any other legal means agreed to by the city of Rincon,’” Perkins added. “So, I guess it's contemplating the developer can designate a tract or a hay field or something like that and you could use your reuse water there.”

The Rincon City Council also

·       Approved an amended and restated employment agreement for City Manager Jonathan Lynn.

·       Approved the purchase of three Chevrolet Tahoe trucks for the Rincon Police Department from Hardy Chevrolet for $151,400. These are 2024 budgeted items and are paid for through Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds.

·       Increased the rental rate for golf carts at Rincon Golf Course from $19 to $25 for 18 holes; and from $11 to $19 for nine holes. Members with their own carts are not affected.

·       Approved the first reading of a proposed amendment to increase fines to businesses and residences for police and fire response to false alarms. “It’s mostly from older systems that get water in them and cause them to send out an alarm,” said Rincon Police Chief Jonathon Murrell. The police and fire departments will give three warnings for responding to calls that turn out to be false alarms. Fines start at $100 for the fourth call within a 12-month span. Murrell added that police respond to “six to eight” false alarms per week – of course not knowing when the initial call comes in that it’s a false alarm. Residents and business owners will be encouraged to contact their alarm companies for repair or replacement of their alarm systems if the police or fire departments are called multiple times which turn out to be false alarms.