In the next few months, residents in Senoia should feel a lot safer as the city's Neighborhood Watch program gets underway.

Senoia Police Chief Ben Thomas told the city council Monday night that two of the watch programs were already underway in the city and more neighborhoods would soon be participating.

The program encourages residents to keep an eye out on any suspicious activity in their neighborhood and work together to keep crime from infiltrating their neighborhood.

"This should quell a lot of the calls we receive," Thomas said.

One of the areas the department has received a lot of calls lately has been stray dogs roaming through the city. Thomas emphasized the town has a leash law and urges residents to keep their dogs contained.

Mayor Joan Trammell said she receives a call nearly every day from a resident who says a dog is running through the Martinwood subdivision, but the caller doesn't leave an address.

"We don't have ESP," said Thomas.

In other news, the council:

Approved a contract with Turnipseed Engineering to serve as the city's engineer on upcoming water and sewer projects. The city is gearing up to get back in the water business after a nearly five-year hiatus and Trammell said the engineering company is familiar with the city's water system. Turnipseed did the original engineering when the water plant was built and Trammell believes the company will provide the city good service at a fair price.

Heard that Thomas will soon be sending out inspection forms to the city's restaurants that serve beer and wine. The city's ordinances require that restaurants serving beer and wine must sell at least 55 percent food. Thomas expects to start inspecting the restaurants in early November.

Agreed to send out a questionnaire to Cumberland residents about proposed speed bumps in their subdivision. The subdivisions' residents have been extremely vocal about a proposed realignment of Rockhouse Road. The realignment, residents maintain, will cause numerous commuters to drive-through their subdivision as a short-cut to other locations in the city.