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Tuesday, November 29, 2011 – 6:30 p.m.
This meeting was attended by all five commissioners, County Manager (CM) Bill Sawyer, County Clerk Teresa Watson, and County Attorney Rob Morton. One change was made to the agenda to allow Edd Sanders to present information to the Commissioners on the Pike County School Based Health Center under Public Comment.
1. CALL TO ORDER .................................................................................... Chairman Doug Mangham
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ................................................................... Chairman Doug Mangham
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. 50-14-1 (e) (1))
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - (O.C.G.A.§ 50-14-1(e) (2))
a. Minutes of the following: November 9, 2011 Regular Monthly Meeting.
5. INVITED GUESTS
6. REPORTS – From Commissions, Departments, Committees, County Manager, Attorney
a. Monthly Reports submitted from County Departments and County Authorities – None*
*A Comprehensive Report will be provided at the first monthly Board meeting in December.
b. County Manager Report:
• Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund $190,570.62
Jury Account $0.00
Cash Reserve Account $185,690.38
Jail Fund $31,302.25
E-911 Fund $57,038.64
DATE Fund $10,614.09
Juvenile Court Fund $29,490.69
Residential Impact Fees $275,529.88
Commercial Impact Fees $12,119.39
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund 2011 $263,589.96
LOST Collections for the month $63,815.01
SPLOST Collections for the month $84,582.90
Update 12.1.11:
• County Manager Comments: Advised that there will be a Workshop on December 7, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. to discuss Impact Fees. The public is invited to attend. * CM Sawyer advised that bids were opened that morning on the Courthouse Renovation SPLOST project. All bids were higher than the $2.5 million that was voted on in the SPLOST. Said that three options are available: 1) rebid the contract, 2) ask the architect to scale down the project, 3) take the low bid and try to negotiate. This will be discussed at the next BOC meeting.
Update 12.3.11:
Bids were as follows: John W. Spratlin & Son, LLC out of Lincolnton, Georgia was the apparent low bidder with a bid of $2,995,000. Headley Construction Corp. out of Newnan bid $3,040,000. Ricks Contractors, Inc. out of Buford bid $3,220,000. Hughes Co., Inc. out of Griffin bid $3,999,000.
c. Commissioner Reports:
Commissioner Don Collins advised that the Christmas celebration will be held in Zebulon on Saturday, December 3, 2011 with the Christmas Parade starting at 6 p.m. He said that Santa Claus will be at this celebration.
d. County Attorney Report to Commissioners: A draft contract for Countryside Sanitation will be available for Commissioners' review at the next meeting. Commissioners had previously approved a contract to be drawn up.
7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
8. NEW BUSINESS
a. Approval/denial of cancellation of the December 27, 2011 Board of Commissioners meeting due to the holiday schedule.
Motion to approve the cancellation of the December 27, 2011 meeting. Approved with a 3-1-1 vote. Commissioner Tamra Jarrett voted against cancellation and Commissioner Carol Bass abstained from the vote.
b. Approval/denial of Renewal for Alcohol License (Retail Sales) for Beer and Wine for Saifullah Bhamani, d/b/a The Rock Store, 4131 Highway 19 South, Zebulon. County Manager recommends approval; applicant has met all criteria.
There had been a sale of alcohol to a minor violation prior while in Hampton at another establishment, but he paid the fine and listed it on his application as he was required. It was advised that this board issued an alcohol license after this time and there have been no problems in Pike County with this. Approved 5-0.
c. Approval/denial of Renewal for Alcohol License (Retail Sales) for Beer for Mitul R. Patel, d/b/a Caddie’s Corner, 10030 Highway 19 North, Zebulon. County Manager recommends approval; applicant has met all criteria.
Motion to approve: 5-0.
d. Approval/denial of Renewal for Alcohol License (Retail Sales) for Beer for Nawaid Sadiq, d/b/a Mountain View Convenience Store, 3181 Highway 19 South, Meansville. County Manager recommends approval; applicant has met all criteria.
Motion to approve: 5-0.
9. PUBLIC COMMENT (Limited to 5 minutes per person) – Edd Sanders to Discuss the Pike County School Based Health Center
The public is invited to attend the School Based Health Center Lunch and Learn with Dr. Veda Johnson, Director of the Emory University Department of Pediatrics Urban Health Program on December 15, 2011 from 12 noon to 1 p.m. at the Professional Learning Center Meeting Room #2 located in the old Pike County Middle/High School next to Ruth's Restaurant in order to find out more information on this program. The program is presented by the Pike Community Resource Network which is part of the Georgia Family Connection statewide network of county collaboratives committed to cultivating public and private collaboration at a local level. RSVP by December 12, 2011 to Michael Powell at 770-567-2930 or powellm@pike.k12.ga.us. *To read a copy of the information that was passed out to commissioners at the meeting, click here.
10. EXECUTIVE SESSION at 6:43 and back into Regular Session at 6:52 p.m.
a. County Manager requests consultation with the county attorney, or other legal counsel, to discuss pending or potential litigation, settlement, claims, administrative proceedings, or other judicial actions brought or to be brought by or against the county or any officer or employee or in which the county or any officer or employee may be directly involved, as provided in O.C.G.A. §50-14-2(1), germane to Magistrate Court.
No action taken in this meeting. Again. [Note from the Editor: It seems like Magistrate has been on the agenda constantly for the past several months.]
Marcia Callaway-Ingram v. Pike County Georgia was filed on August 1, 2011 and is still unresolved at this time. The following is from the September 14, 2011 BOC Meeting. Marcia Callaway-Ingram v. Pike County Georgia (also naming the County Manager and each Commissioner individually) is a Writ of Mandamus that was filed on August 1, 2011. She seeks a Writ of Mandamus requiring the Board of Commissioners pay her the salary that was set at the outset of the 2009-2012 term as required in OCGA 15-10-23(d), require the county to hire a full-time Associate Magistrate Judge as there was prior to the her appointment in office, give a permanent injuction for the County, the BOC, and County Manager Bill Sawyer from "interfering with the effective operation of the Magistrate Court" including the prevention of job applications from reaching her office for a vacant position, and also seeks back pay with interest and attorney's fees. Her lawsuit is based on the Georgia Constitution at Article 6, Section 7, Paragraph 5 which states, "An incumbent [judge]'s salary, allowance, or supplement shall not be decreased during the incumbent's term of office." The lawsuit cites two lawsuits which directly address her complaints. Lee v. Peach County Bd. of Comm'rs (1998) in which the Supreme Court ruled that a chief magistrate appointed to fill an unexpired term of office was entitled to a writ of mandamus to compensate him at the rate in effect at the time of his employment. Poppell v. Gault (2004) in which a ruling was made that county government cannot reduce the compensation to one appointed to fill the unexpired term of chief magistrate after the appointment. The lawsuit cites Dudley v. Rowland (1999) as evidence of a prohibition against the reduction of a full-time magistrate position to part-time in the middle of a chief magistrate's term. The lawsuit also asks for a writ of mandamus to fund the Associate Magistrate position on a full-time basis at the salary set at the beginning of the 2009-2012 term of office. She asks for a Permanent Injunction against Pike County, the County Manager, and individual and the group of County Commissioners to prevent the interference of the county with personnel in Magistrate Court according to Article 9, Section II, Paragraph I(c) of the state constitution because it "violates the role reserved exclusively to the Judicial Branch" according to OCGA 15-10-20. Pike BOC Meeting 9.14.11
Part of these complaints were addressed with the resolution of Pike County vs. Rakestraw in Pike County Superior Court. Click here to read about the conclusion of this lawsuit. From the 11.18.11 article: According to the Consent Order and Final Judgment, Assistant Magistrate Rakestraw will return to her position on a 20 hour per week basis with full-time benefits until her current appointment expires on December 31, 2012. Rakestraw was also awarded $40,000 in attorney's fees. Rakestraw was appointed as Assistant Magistrate by former Magistrate Priscilla Killingsworth when she was elected on January 1, 2009. Former Magistrate Killingsworth resigned from office on April 8, 2010. Pike County filed a declaratory judgment action on April 14, 2010 to ask the court whether Killingsworth's resignation terminated Rakestraw's appointment as Assistant Magistrate.
11. ADJOURNMENT at 6:53 p.m.
Read past write ups of Board of Commission meetings by clicking on the Pike County Times "Links" page above, clicking on Pike County Government, Commissioners, and then scrolling down to find out what the date of the meeting is.
All of my links to past meetings are listed as follows: www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOC[insert date here like this 11.29.11].html. Today's meeting is online as www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BOC11.29.11.html. The County Government website also has links to minutes from past meetings.