John Oxford
The Moultrie Observer
MOULTRIE —
Moultrie City Council enacted Tuesday a program to determine an applicant’s citizenship status.
City Manager Mike Scott said the city approved a memorandum of agreement between the city and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The agreement was to enact the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program.
The SAVE program requires the city to do background checks on certain applicants who apply for benefits or for licenses, Scott said. Among the areas that will be checked as retirement benefits, health benefits, disability benefits, contracts, alcoholic beverage licenses, occupation tax certificates, insurance company licenses, pawn brokers licenses, precious metals and gems dealers licenses, and peddlers and itinerant traders licenses. It also sets up a vehicle to charge for the background checks.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the SAVE program’s benefits include determining the immigration status of applicants to ensure only entitled applicants receive the benefits. It also allows the city to access immigration status information contained in the department’s databases, with more than 100 million records available. The program does not, however, determine an applicant’s eligibility for benefits or a license and it does not verify employment status.
Other matters discussed and approved by the council included:
• Awarding a bid to Hicks Seal Coating and Striping, LLC, of Bell, Fla., for Tom White Linear Park restoration and expansion. The bid was the low bid received for the project at $37,251.60, and
• Scott announced a four-way stop will be installed at the Fourth Avenue Southwest and First Street Southwest intersection. Traffic studies by the city Engineering Department and Moultrie Police Department determined a four-way stop was needed at the intersection.
