THOMASVILLE — The City of Thomasville plans to pick up the community service program dropped by Thomas County Board of Commissioners last week.

“We are currently working on a strategic plan to improve the image and cleanliness of the city,” City Manager Steve Sykes said. “This is at low cost and an effective way to clean up the city.”

Sykes does not expect the city to incur a lot of cost by picking up the program.

He estimated the city would have to pay $5,000-$6,000 a year because the only things it should have to pay for is supervision and some small supplies.

“That is worth the benefit we are going to receive, about 2,000 hours of litter detail inside the city limits. We are estimating that crews will work at least 40 Saturdays a year, eight hours each day. The detail officer would be about 320 hours, not a full-time job.”

City staff was asked to research the idea in order to determine whether or not there would be enough work for the city should the county decide to resume the program, if any special vehicles would be needed for the service and whether the city would have any costs for training and certification.

Sykes said there should be enough work, the city should not have to purchase any special vehicles and it is already certified and licensed as a community service site provider for probationers by the state probation office.

Sykes brought the item to Thomasville City Council at its Wednesday workshop to get its opinion.

“One of the eight strategic planning initiatives we are working on right now is improving the image of the city,” he told the council. “The city now has the opportunity to pick up some community service detail work since the county does not plan on using it.”

The council was receptive to the idea, but asked some questions about liability, help and locations.

Councilman Max Beverly asked about risk management and insurance.

Sykes said the city would not be liable; the workers would be covered by the state.

Councilman Roy Campbell thought it was a great idea, but questioned whether the city would be able to find a trustworthy supervisor.

Part of the plan is to utilize the city’s police force, officials said.

“The suggestion is not to hire a full time officer, but to give officers a chance to earn a little overtime,” Sykes said. “This will be cheaper and will mean that those with law enforcement backgrounds will be on site. They should know how to handle any wayward community service worker.”