DUBLIN, Ga. — Dublin will swear in three new city councilmembers, and they all agree they would like to see growth in the city.
Richard Mascaro wants to see crime go down. He served in the Georgia Army National Guard, and has now lived in Dublin for a little more than a decade. He owns a restaurant downtown called the Company Supply.
"I'd like to see our police force's morale boosted. I want the police to be people's friends again. I want people to perceive them as protectors and not hurtful," said Mascaro.
Another new councilmember, Sara Kolbie, leads a neighborhood watch and has lived in Dublin for 12 years. She lives with her four kids and husband, and currently works at Capitol City Home Loans as a mortgage consultant.
"Even the engineering of our city needs to come into play. When you're talking about safe places for our children to go out and ride a bike, or for our family to go on a walk," said Kolbie.
Both councilmembers say they view jobs as a priority.
"Focusing on small business, encouraging our county and our city to do the things for small business that we do for big business, and then that feeds small family units in communities," said Mascaro.
"International larger corporations come in and provide the big number jobs -- 100, 200 jobs at a time -- but we also want to support our local businesses that are growing and expanding. We want them to stay right here," said Kolbie.
The third new councilmember, Tess Godfrey, was ill Wednesday and could not speak with us, but she told us that she is looking forward to working with Dublin's new mayor and council as well as being a "servant leader for the people of Dublin."