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Editor Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor(@)pikecountytimes.com
This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. The Editor can be reached at 770-468-7583 or at editor(at)PikeCountyTimes(dot)com. Pike County Times is a website for citizens to keep up with local events and stay informed about Pike County government. It began on November 13, 2006 as a watchdog on county government and has turned into an online newspaper.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2024 – 9:00 a.m.
Courthouse, Main Courtroom, 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, Georgia
Town Hall Meeting at 8:45 a.m.
ZEBULON - The Pike County Board of Commissioners will meet in the upper courtroom of the courthouse on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 9 a.m. for a regularly scheduled meeting. There will be a Town Hall Meeting at 8:45 a.m. for anyone who would like to speak to the commissioners about any issues that you may have.
The meeting is open to the public will be broadcast live on Pike County Times' Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes.
[Note from the Editor: It will be nice when our county joins so many of the surrounding cities and counties to record and broadcast its meetings in a central place so citizens who cannot attend the meetings can watch at their convenience. Especially those who do not have a Facebook account because there are more people out there than you know who don't like Facebook.]
Click here to see the documents that have been uploaded with the agenda on the Pike County government page.
Commissioners James Jenkins, Jason Proctor, Tim Guy, and Vice-Chair Tim Daniel were present along with County Clerk Angela Blount, County Manager Brandon Rogers, and County Attorney Rob Morton. Chairman Briar Johnson was not able to attend this morning.
There are a few members of the public and many department heads in the audience since the budget will be discussed.
1. CALL TO ORDER ....... Chairman J. Briar Johnson
2. INVOCATION ....... Silent Invocation
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ....... Chairman J. Briar Johnson
4. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. § 50-14-1 (e) (1))
Motion to approve the agenda. Approved 4-0.
5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - (O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e) (2))
a. Minutes of the April 10, 2024, Regular Monthly Meeting.
b. Minutes of the April 10, 2024, Executive Session.
c. Minutes of the May 6, 2024, Special Called Meeting.
d. Minutes of the May 6, 2024, Executive Session.
Motion to approve all of the minutes. Approved 4-0.
6. INVITED GUEST
a. Employee Recognition for service to Pike County.
• David Sellers – Public Works
David Sellers. 10 years at Public Works. County Manager Brandon Rogers praised David for his hard work at Public Works. David said that it was pleasure to work here and that he appreciated the opportunity to work with Pike County.
• Angela Blount – Board of Commissioners Office
County Manager Brandon Rogers said that Angela makes sure that things get done. She goes out of her way to come back early to be work on meetings and works late a lot. Said that she goes above and beyond.
7. REPORTS FROM COMMISSIONS, DEPARTMENTS, COMMITTEES, AUTHORITIES
a. Monthly Reports submitted from County Departments and County Authorities, including a Revenue/Expenditure Statement for all departments and a summary check register.
Discuss/Approve/Deny
Motion to approve the reports. Approved 4-0.
b. County Manager Report
Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ....... $1,745,126.16
Fire Dept. Donations ....... $9,847.17
Cash Reserve Account ....... $96,847.74
Jail Fund ....... $29,680.77
E-911 Fund ....... $80,394.11
DATE Fund ....... $36,134.15
Juvenile Court Fund ....... $13,984.51
Residential Impact Fee ....... $305,534.47
Commercial Impact Fees ....... $35,333.46
C.A.I.P FUND ....... $217,849.65
General Obligation SPLOST 2022-2028 ....... $1,685,134.00
L.M.I.G. Grant (DOT) ....... $150,797.66
c. County Manager Comment
4 positions open on the Parks & Rec Board. Get application in. 1 opening on DFCS Board. 1 Opening on EMS Council.
Cattleman’s Association. Thank you to Tim Guy for stepping up on this. They will supply the main meal at Employee Appreciation Day if that is ok with the commissioners.
1st Hazard Mitigation Meeting. 21 and 30 at the EMA Building. It helps us prepare for upcoming disasters here and in surrounding counties.
Elections Office has had some issues with District 3 race as well as surrounding counties. Do not cast your ballot if it is not correct.
Finished up on some roads over the next 3 weeks. Have some striping to do.
AARP awarded an award to the county.
Conversations about Clerk of Court. Request for increases for employees. Typically, we make that happen in the budget. We’ve already done this once this year. But this is creating an issue for next year’s budget. Hesitant to make these changes. [Note from the Editor: We need to pay our employees what they are worth in order to keep them here in Pike County after we have trained them. However, I am looking at some sort of consistency in this. The budget salary study should have been done before now, but now is good too. There was a point a few years ago when we had employees working for $12 an hour in the courthouse. (Yes, employee pay is open records information.) $12 an hour was not enough to keep people here, and that was changed. My thought is, How we are going to handle employee pay should be handled according to a standard of some type. I say that after seeing requests all over in the upcoming budget as well as in past budgets with no pointing of fingers at ANY department. Our people need to be paid well, and our insurance costs matter too. Those two things plus retirement can help retain our employees who are the best thing about our county.]
d. Commissioner Reports
Jason Proctor. Went to the Council on Aging event last month. There are some who can use some help like steps or ramps on homes, walkers, canes, or need help getting their yards cut. Stop by and see Mrs. L at the Pike County Senior Center.
James Jenkins. Approached about the fire station in Hollonville. Needs more lighting for security.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners
None.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - NONE
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Consider one appointment to the Pike County Parks and Recreation Authority to fill an unexpired three-year term, set to expire June 30, 2025. Applicant has met criteria.
Applicants are: Bobby Mills, Brian Hammock, Craig Smith, and Jim Woodall. Craig Smith was recommended. Motion to go with the CM’s recommendation. There are 4 other spots open so they will be considered for the open positions. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
b. Approve/deny surplus of Library personal property on GovDeals.
Uncirculated books that we are trying to replenish, etc. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
c. Approve/deny purchase and installation of kitchen hood ventilation system for the Senior Center.
We had heard a rumor at one point that the price was going to go up. We looked at opening up our own kitchen because of the possible cost. Upson County is losing money as they prepare our meals, and we need to be prepared to prepare our own meals to keep our meal costs down. Motion to go with G&G Mechanical Service. [Note from the Editor: Planning for the future is a very good thing.]
d. Consideration of appointment to Griffin-Spalding County Area Regional Airport Authority.
Made the recommendation for Kyle Fletcher to be our county representative because CM says that she has more knowledge on this than he does. County Attorney Morton advised that a designated alternative of Kyle Fletcher can be done according to the state and county rules. Motion to appoint Kyle Fletcher to the Authority and for Chairman Briar Johnson to sign this resolution. Approved 4-0.
e. Approve/deny CivicPlus for county website.
Our website has become burdensome. It would bring in everything that we do as a county where the current website is not able to do. This resolution could be attached and will stay there forever. Tim Guy. I would like to consider this option for our website. Motion to deny. Denied 4-0. [Note from the Editor: Look for this to come up again in the future. Our old website is not doing what it is supposed to do, and support for the website will be gone pretty shortly. It needs to be replaced.]
f. Consider Tax Refund Application from Sarah Harkness in the amount of $30.70.
The owner recently passed away and been overcharged for 3 acres. Can go back 3 years. Motion to refund. Approved 4-0.
g. Discussion of Dunn Road.
Dunn Road. An individual homeowner, Glen Bufford, requested to asphalt a section of the road. He would pay for the materials and the county do this. It was quoted for about $40,000. Millings were discussed and are not as affordable as paving. CM doesn’t see any issues with this. We could pave up to his property with no problem. Commissioner Tim Guy says that this sounds great but was concerned that the cost of materials going over the tonnage that might cause us some auditing issues. CM is going to suggest that he set up an account with CW Matthews and we just pick it up and lay it down for him. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
h. Discussion of Second District Road.
This was an advertised SPLOST project. About 6 weeks ago, y’all redid the scope on this and decided to pave the right of way on that gravel section. Since then, the City of Williamson has expressed concern about traffic from this being paved. There have been discussions about the way that the streets are laid out there. CM says that he thinks we should move forward with this because it’s a SPLOST project but move forward with caution with the city. Doesn’t know whether this can be removed. Second District was a primary list road rather than an alternate. Maybe replace a primary with an alternate instead. It was advertised as a SPLOST project. Increases are coming with SPLOST. Morton. To remove Second District, there would have to be a referendum to remove it from the project. The order that we do it is not the issue, but to remove it will require going through the voting process. James Jenkins. Traffic is a nightmare there. Probably within the next 1 ½ or 2 years, we’ll have to discuss the alternate roads that we want to pave. Probably not enough to pave them all. Jenkins. We own one side of the road, and Williamson owns the other side of the road. This is a weird situation. Said that Woodard has a lot of houses and could be brought onto the primary list instead for now. More discussion on moving Woodard to the primary list rather than Second District. CM said that it will be a much larger project than Second District, and it won’t be any time soon if at all. There’s a $300,000 difference in the roads. More discussion will occur with more information at a later point.
i. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input regarding Capital Improvements Element (CIE) Annual Update Fiscal Year 2023, pursuant to the Georgia Development Impact Fee Act and the Development Impact Fee Compliance Requirements of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
To be able to transmit to DCA, etc. for approval. We need this for local qualified government status. Nov 2022 through October 31, 2023 including Impact Fees and how they were spent. This lays out what Impact Fees will be used for. IN FAVOR/OPPOSITION. None. Motion to transmit and for the Chairman to sign the resolution. Approved 4-0.
j. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input regarding the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Budget.
CM said that there was a mistake on the adding it to Novus Agenda. The budget summary sheet had some extra columns from last year’s budget. The one on there now is accurate with no questions. The information was correct.
Tim Daniel confirmed that today is not our second reading. There has been quite a large adjustment on the budget since the 1st reading. CM wanted to hear direction on this before making changes. $2.5 or $2.7 million. Went back and took information from departments, commissioners, etc. and now the recommended column shows a million dollar difference from the last time. This is a balanced budget.
20 Minutes.
Cherry Thomas. Not seen an explanation about the $2.7 and who is responsible for this. Found what was online to be very confusing. Concerned about the budget being out of hand. Need to cut things and run this like a business. The citizens don’t want to pay for this and asked for an explanation of how it happened.
Lynn Smith. A lot of this budget is stuff that is contracted out. Not representing any board as he speaks today. Every year we have to set a sales ratio and pay someone to do a mass appraisal. We have an office that is capable of this. Last year, a neighboring county did our mass appraisal. We need to take care of our own business. Saw that we are going to contract for a walk around. We already have a shortfall and going to have to spend more county money on this. We have an office that is told by the DOR to do a walk around of the county 1/3 every year so done in 3 years. This hasn’t been done in 10 years. Now we are going to contract this out. People in Pike County aren’t going to like people walking around on their land. We have 5 appraisers in the office now. It would be an investment to have 2 more people and another vehicle for this office to do ourselves. Is this something that we are going to have to pay every year? We ought to take care of our own business. The guy that did our mass appraisal had issues with the state and still did our mass appraisal. Why don’t we do this ourselves?
Becky Watts, Editor of Pike County Times asked the following and received answers after the public speaking portion of the public hearing was ended. [Note from the Editor: All of my questions are together so it makes more sense.]
1) Is our annual audit completed at this time? It hasn’t been presented at a public meeting so I am assuming that it is not complete. Why is it not complete? When can we expect it? And how can we pass this year’s budget without knowing where we are from last year?
Answer: Annual audit is not completed, but we can continue because based on information that we have.
2) Is there an across the cost of living board raise for our employees in this budget? It looks to me like numbers have been interjected for raises per department instead of across the board. Who authorized that when we are looking at a pay study for the entire county?
Answer: A 2 1/2% cost of living adjustment is included in the budget but... County Manager Rogers wants to plan on this but complete the salary study and use the increase/COLA to start phase 1 of the salary study so don’t have two impacts in a year.
[Note from the Editor: That would mean waiting on raises until sometime later in the year if and when the salary study is completed. I think our employees deserve better than that.]
3) The line item for county manager has gone from $90,636 to $92,902. Why is that?
Answer: The county manager would get the same COLA as the rest of the county employees.
[Note from the Editor: I am ok with this in case any of you are wondering.]
4) Why is there a line item for uniforms for Building and Grounds but not for Public Works? Should there be a line item in either one?
Answer: One wants uniforms, and another doesn’t.
5) Please explain why the budget calendar is different this year than in years past. Normally, there are 1st and 2nd readings of the budget posted in the newspaper along with two public hearings – one at 1 p.m. and one after 6 p.m. but before 7 p.m. so the public can attend and ask questions or speak their minds on the budget. This year, there is an ad in the newspaper advising that there will be a public hearing on the budget on May 15 but nothing else.
Does that mean that this Board is going to discuss a budget that could result in a tax increase on a morning meeting and completely disregard those who could attend and speak at a night meeting? And y’all can make the next meeting a public hearing too, but for all intents and purposes, when we come to this room on May 28, the budget is going to be a done deal so it won’t matter if the public speaks or not.
Answer: The question was asked of the county manager, Are we required to have two hearings? County Manager Brandon Rogers said, No.
[Note from the Editor: This was the only discussion. Open and shut. But y'all please feel free to peruse what is written here and look through the enclosed photos of budget calendars since 2020 pinned to the top of my Pike County Times Facebook page. More on this in a moment.]
2020 - 2021 Budget: Public Hearing on June 18, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. Final adoption on June 25, 2020 at 5 p.m.
2021 – 2022 Budget: Public hearing on April 22, 2021 at 1 p.m. 1st Reading on May 4, 2021 at 1 p.m. 2nd Reading on May 20, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Final Adoption on May 25, 2021 at 5:30 p.m. (The calendar says, “2 hearings – need one at 1 p.m., and one after 6:00 but before 7:00”)
2022 – 2023 Budget: Public hearing on April 21, 2022 at 1 p.m. 1st Reading on May 3, 2022 at 1 p.m. 2nd Reading on May 26, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. Final Adoption on May 31, 2022 at 5:30 p.m. (The calendar says, “2 hearings – need one at 1 p.m., and one after 6:00 but before 7:00”)
2023 – 2024 Budget: Public hearing on April 20, 2023 at 1 p.m. 1st Reading on May 2, 2023 at 1 p.m. 2nd Reading on May 25, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. (The calendar says, “2 hearings – need one at 1 p.m., and one after 6:00 but before 7:00”)
2024 – 2025 Budget. Public hearing on May 15, 2024 at 9 a.m. Final adoption on May 28, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.
I would ask more questions, but at this point, I don’t think that it matters. Unless this Board as a whole chooses to ask some really hard questions and looks at what is going on with our budget and the actions of our county manager on a daily basis, nothing that anyone says is going to matter. And same old, same old isn’t a pretty picture for our county.
[Note from the Editor: And that comment above ended what I said to commissioners on Wednesday morning at the regular called county commission meeting.]
[Note from the Editor: Please note that one of these budgets is not like the others. We had a budget presentation on April 10 with a $2.5 million imbalance in the presentation and a public hearing/board discussion at the regular meeting on May 15 where the numbers were reduced and the budget was balanced, but there is no opportunity for working people to speak on this budget. **Public hearings will be required if the millage rate goes up, but it’s a little late to address that if the budget is already set in my opinion. Maybe y’all have a different opinion on this than I do, and I don’t mind hearing it though!**
The Property Taxpayer's Bill of Rights requires three public hearings if the millage rate is going to be higher than last year's millage rate. We're not to this point yet, but here is the law if you want to read it. https://dor.georgia.gov/property-taxpayers-bill-rights
If you would like to look at the revised 2024 - 2025 REVISED budget, you can see the Budget Summary and the Proposed Budget at: https://pike.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=7998&MeetingID=763
You can look at a copy of the original budget at www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSproposed2024.2025budget.html though it needs to be understood that the budget has been revised to a lower number that can be read above at the 2024 - 20025 Revised budget link above.]
Discussion. Commissioner James Jenkins asked some questions.
Revenue Item. $30,000 last year. $75,000 and $100,000. Reinvested in Georgia One.
Uniforms. Public Works doesn’t use uniforms. Questioned the uniforms last year in Building and Grounds and Public Works as well as the County Commission Office. Public Works didn’t want them.
Travel in the commissioner’s office has gone up. Training classes.
Question on the County Commission line items. Regular employess $159,000 in 2024. $245,000. This is up $80,000 in payroll. Difference in finance officer pay including COLA's.
Second Reading and Final Hearing at the May 28 meeting. Are we required to have two? No.
CM Rogers. Addressed Cherry Thomas. How did we get to this $2.7 million deficit? He has been saying that we don’t have enough revenue for the past several years. $225,000 to $700,000. It has continued to grow because we are setting a budget. When we roll back the millage rate, there is a problem. Until we fix the problem, we will continue to have the problem. Either cut services or raise taxes. Those are our two options. We have done some fund balance correction in the past, but there will be a deficit again next year unless we address this now.
Addressed Lynn Smith. Said that he disagrees and the office did not address the problem over the past couple of years when it needed to be done. Thinks there is about a million dollars that is not being paid that should be with incorrect assessments, and it isn’t fair. Thinks that we should pay this outside vendor to walk the properties. Those that are incorrect won’t see a tax increase. Those that are low will be corrected. Pulling this from ARPA so this won’t affect taxes. Believes that cutting back in that office is the best thing that can be done. Wants to pay someone to do 1/3 of the county walk the county so there is no favoritism and pay for those in the office to do what is needed and could save enough money in personnel to pay for this. Thinks can get this for $100,000 a year and save it from not having to pay for additional vehicles and people.
Becky Watts. Annual audit. Not completed. Can continue because based on information that we have.
COLA. 2 1/2 %. Thought to plan on this but complete the salary study and use the increase/COLA to start phase 1 of the salary study so don’t have two impacts in a year. Same for County Manager with 2 ½%
Uniforms. One wants uniforms and another doesn’t.
James Jenkins. Finance officer and increases in the department. Addressed travel. Only increased $20,000 because that was the wrong line item.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT (Limited to 5 minutes per person)
a. Becky Watts to address the Board requesting an investigation into the improper/possible illegal destruction of public documents. [Note from the Editor: Comments are included from my written document that I read from in the meeting.]
Request for an Investigation Into the Improper/Possible Illegal Destruction of Public Documents According to OCGA 50-18-99, “All records created or received in the performance of a public duty or paid for by public funds by a governing body are deemed to be public property and shall constitute a record of public acts.” State law requires that we have a person who follows state law with retention, security, and destruction of public records.
Here in Pike County, our County Clerk is our Records Custodian. She has been trained on how to store public documents as well as how destruction should be handled.
Earlier this year, a large number of boxes of old public documents from the Pike County Commission had been set to the side at a secure location in preparation for destruction according to state law. Pike County Times became aware of a possible problem when a picture of smoke coming out of the incinerator at Animal Control went on social media. The March 21, 2024 post basically stated that we don’t have animal control so whose animals are we putting down and burning?
I didn’t put the pieces together until after I attended a county meeting in April and saw that the boxes were gone.
When I began filing open records requests, I found that these public documents had been destroyed without the knowledge of the Records Custodian which means that state law was not followed, there was an invoice for $311.06 where a representative had come to the county to show how to operate the incinerator, and there were emails including a proposal from Shred-X that showed where the Records Custodian had been involved in a discussion since earlier this year to have these records destroyed. Shred-X provides a certificate of destruction and has a special insurance that is required to handle the destruction of documents that contain confidential information. This should have been a fairly easy process, but that isn’t what happened.
Someone broke the chain of custody on our public documents and gave orders to have these boxes moved from their secure location with the intent to burn them in the incinerator at Animal Control. That may not sound like a big deal until you understand that these old documents could have included confidential information such as worker’s comp, retirement, and financial records.
Now as volatile as things are in our county with a county manager who is hands on about everything these days, I am going to make an educated guess that employees from other county departments are not going to take it upon themselves to step into county commission business to move old county documents from their secure location over to Animal Control to be burned. And everyone doesn’t -- and shouldn’t -- have keys to the location where these documents were stored. My guess is that the county manager decided that he wanted to handle this himself… though I can’t imagine why.
Let me ask something from a taxpayer’s point of view. Does it make any sense that multiple county employees spent time moving and then burning probably more than 25 or 30 large boxes of documents when it would have been fewer tax dollars to simply follow state law and use a certified company to do the job? This has cost the county much more than just a service call from the incinerator company. Don’t our employees from Building and Grounds and Animal Control have better things to do with their time? And why would these documents be destroyed without consulting the Records Custodian or the County Attorney? I’ve been talking to this Board for more than a year about the blatant disrespect from the county manager to the public, employees, and to this Board, and yet here we are again. This is yet another example of behavior that the Pike County Board of Commissioners should not be tolerating.
It makes me wonder what else is being done that no one knows about. This Board IS responsible for the behavior of your employee -- including what he does that you don’t know about.
In closing, I am asking for an investigation from an outside entity to find out who gave the order to move and destroy these public documents. I am also asking for an investigator to go to Animal Control to 1) ensure that all of these documents have been destroyed and that nothing is left in the incinerator, 2) determine the whereabouts of these documents if they have been moved to yet another location, or 3) oversee the removal of any remaining documents back to the secure location where these documents can be destroyed under the sole authority of our Records Custodian as is required by state law.
It would also be helpful for the Pike County Board of Commissioners to be advised whether state law was broken by this action and for commissioners to act on this if state law has been broken. Again. And I shouldn’t have to say this out loud, but I’m going to say it anyway because ethics and accountability SHOULD matter. This investigation should have a WRITTEN conclusion that should be made known to the public in one of your meetings rather than simply being talked about in Executive Session in an attempt to circumvent public knowledge.
Becky Watts, Pike County Times
[Note from the Editor: Pike County Times did a couple more open records requests before writing this up into an article. For those who want to criticize how I do things, please note that I spoke to the county manager in person when I first asked about the records being moved from the secure location to Animal Control, I then sent an open records request regarding the documents that should have been a red flag to bring the documents back to the secure location for proper destruction, and then I asked for an investigation into the destruction of these records by the commissioners--and the county manager was WELL AWARE of that because he had the documents shredded on the day I was supposed to speak without involving the county clerk. Let me be clear that the county clerk was NOT ALLOWED to do her job when she is the one who is legally responsible for public records in our county. To read how I found out what County Manager Brandon Rogers did and how he did it, click here: http://pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSinvestigation5.20.24.html.
There is a disgusting level of arrogance here when the county manager put several of our employees at risk because they handled confidential documents when they weren't supposed to (they did what they were told because they did not know, and honestly, many employees in this county are job scared of our current county manager's actions against the past library manager, etc. which have resulted in more than one EEOC lawsuit but no consequences from the Board of Commissioners), and he put the county in a situation where it could be sued for not following proper protocol. That is serious and has happened before. I wasn't a part of the lawsuits before, but I learned that sometimes lawsuits are necesssary as I watched Judge Edwards deal with an arrogant Board of Commissioners that added items to the agenda without public advertisement and did other things that were not permissible by law. And they lost. Not once or twice but several times. I point this out because I have been looking for an attorney that will take on a case against the county for open records violations, and this would be included, but I haven't found one yet because the one who sued the county years ago is no longer doing this.
It shouldn't be this hard (or take a lawsuit) for the Pike County Board of Commissioners to make sure that our County Manager follows the rules and treats people like he wants to be treated. Our employees and our county deserve better than this, and I know that our County Manger is capable of better than this. But why should he do better than this if the commissioners are going to allow him to continue his actions with no consequences with a 3-2 vote with Chairman Briar Johnson and Commissioner James Jenkins in the minority against the majority of Commissioners Jason Proctor, Tim Daniel, and Tim Guy. This isn't comfortable, but y'all weren't elected to just do the fun stuff. Actions SHOULD have consequences. End of a 3 1/2 year long attempt to work behind the scenes to get stuff done first and foremost -- including first talking to the county manager in person by himself and then with a commissioner as my witness -- and finally throwing everything out for the public to see in meetings and online. I'm tired of the crap, y'all. Plain and simple.]
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION
a. County Attorney Rob Morton request Executive Session for 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 pending or potential litigation.
b. County Manager Brandon Rogers requests an Executive Session for discussion or deliberation on the appointment, employment, compensation, hiring, disciplinary action or dismissal, or periodic evaluation or rating of a public officer or employee or interviewing applicants for the position of the executive head of an agency, as provided in O.C.G.A. § 50-14-3(b)(2), germane to personnel.
c. County Manager Brandon Rogers requests an Executive Session to discuss the possible acquisition of real property pursuant to O.C.G.A. 50-14-3 (b)(1).
Motion to go into Executive Session. 10:26 a.m.
Back in session at 11:43 a.m.
Based on the discussion in Executive Session, I ask you to entertain a motion to terminate the department head of Public Works. Motion to allow the county manager to terminate the Todd Goolsby. Approved 4-0.
For more information about this termination, click here: http://www.pikecountytimes.com/secondary/BREAKINGNEWSterminations5.18.24.html.
12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn. 11:44 a.m.
Agenda subject to change.
[Note from the Editor: If you appreciate being able to read information from county meetings for free on Pike County Times, please make a donation to Pike County Times through the PayPal link at the bottom of the page or by check to Pike County Times at PO Box 843, Zebulon so I can justify the amount of time that I am spending away from family. It may not seem like much but sitting in a meeting and then typing it up takes a lot more time than you might imagine! Thanks for reading Pike County's only FREE newspaper.]