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The February Boykins Town Council meeting featured the introduction of a new Public Works supervisor and also the free offer to paint a town mural.

Boykins Town Clerk/Treasurer Victoria Edwards shared the details from the meeting, noting that Mayor Jackie Robertson introduced the new Public Works supervisor, Justin Merchant. 

“Justin Merchant then gave a brief report on a few items he had completed since his start date,” Edwards said.

Councilwoman Linda Beatty shared that Christopher Revels would coordinate workshops and, through volunteers, paint a “Town of Boykins” mural for free if there was community support.

“(Councilwoman Beatty) stated that Rick Francis is willing to use his property,” Edwards said.

Francis, the Southampton Circuit Court clerk, said he owns a two-story brick building on the west side of Main Street in Boykins, just north of the railroad tracks, with wall space visible by southbound and northbound travelers. The wall facing to the south once had a Coke advertisement as well as a later RockAuto company design.

“I believe I know the interested artist and would be interested in looking at his sketch renditions,” Francis said, adding that he is willing to have one of the two walls on his building used for an appropriate mural. “I have visited towns in which murals appear to have captured the spirit/history of the area, reflecting well on the town.”

In other matters addressed at the Town Council meeting, Robertson reported that COVID-19 outbreaks have caused a slowdown in progress on construction of the Boykins town shop, Edwards said.

“Our contractor is waiting for power and gas to be hooked up before they could paint and do final touches to the building,” Edwards said.

In the financial report at the council meeting, it was stated that the general fund balance forward in January was $200,159.03, and the ending balance in January was $189,158.55.

Edwards also summarized the police report from Sgt. George Brozzo for the month of January.

“Sgt. Brozzo reported there were 18 calls for service, three incident reports were required, 31 traffic summons were issued, one criminal summons issued and two arrests,” Edwards said. “He also reported that our auxiliary officer resigned.”

The Boykins Town Council’s March 8 meeting was set to address the passing of Councilman Jerry Rice, who died Feb. 17 at the age of 78. 

Edwards said the council would discuss nominating an appointee to fill the vacancy created by Rice’s passing.