Senoia should be a little safer, thanks to a recent federal grant.

Police chief Ben Thomas told city council members Monday night the city would have to spend $42,000 over the next three years to get two new police officers from a COPS grant.

The total of the grant is $168,000 for three years and Thomas said the grant is renewable. The city's portion will fund the new police officers' salaries and benefits and Thomas said there is a chance the city could get another federal grant to fund vehicles for the officers.

"I don't want to buy any more cars," said councilwoman Judy Belisle.

With the two new officers coming on board, Thomas said his department will now have two officers on each shift. Currently, some of the shifts have only one officer, which leaves the city in a vulnerable position.

"If he makes an arrest and has to take the person to the jail in Newnan, that's a least an hour or an hour and a half, the city's left uncovered," he said.

The council voted unanimously to accept the grant and pay the city's portion of the funding.

In other news, the council denied a request by Chapultepec Mexican Restaurant on Ga. Highway 16 to light their newly installed sign. The owners of the restaurant had installed the sign without a sign permit and public works director Leonard Thompson told them the sign could not be lighted until the city council approved the sign.

The council tabled the issue until all members could examine the sign. Mayor Joan Trammell said she did not have a problem with the sign, but she did not want to see it lit.

"I don't think it goes with what we're heading towards. This would set a precedent,' she said.