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Wednesday, June 10, 2020 – 9:00 a.m.
Courthouse, Main Courtroom, 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, Georgia
Social Distancing will be enforced.
www.pikecoga.com/novusagenda has an online agenda and accompanying information for this meeting. Monthly information from Animal Control, Coroner, Fire Department, Grady, Library, Magistrate Court, McIntosh Trail CSB, Planning & Development, Registrar, Superior - Juvenile Court, Tax Assessor, and the Water Authority are included as well during the morning meeting only.
All five commissioners present, County Clerk Angela Blount, County Manager Ron Alexander, and County Attorney Rob Morton. The room was filled to capacity with speaking before the meeting about the tax assessments which are NOT a tax bill because the current budget has NOT been set yet. Later in the meeting, the budget will be discussed along with a 2 mill rollback from 14 to 12.
1. CALL TO ORDER .................................................................................... Chairman J. Briar Johnson
2. INVOCATION…………………………………………………………………………….…Bart Brock
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ................................................................... Chairman J. Briar Johnson
4. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. § 50-14-1 (e) (1))
CM Ron Alexander asked to add items to the agenda. Item I New Business Approve/Deny Liability Insurance Contract and Item J Approve/Deny Fire Station Lease with City of Zebulon
5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - (O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e) (2))
a. Minutes of the May 26, 2020, Regular Monthly Meeting.
Motion to approve.
6. INVITED GUEST - NONE
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
b. County Manager Report
Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ........................................................................................ …$3,100,540.93
Fire Dept. Donations ........................................................................................ $6,168.63
BOC – Jury Account………………………………………………………………$0.00
Cash Reserve Account ........................................................................ ….....$107,547.56
Pike County CD Special Revenue funds………………………………………….$0.00
Jail Fund ........................................................................................................ $29,231.00
E-911 Fund .................................................................................................. $245,503.16
DATE Fund ................................................................................................... $53,149.14
Juvenile Court Fund ....................................................................................... $11,082.40
Residential Impact Fee ................................................................................ $687,918.44
Commercial Impact Fees ............................................................................... $89,829.39
C.A.I.P FUND ............................................................................................. $180,952.45
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2016 ................. ..$1,222,278.08
L.M.IG. Grant (DOT)………………………………….…………………..$422,549.40
c. County Manager Comment
Pavement improvements. Seal coats in two subdivisions. Identified the money for this but have not been able to get three bids for the project. This will be ready at the next meeting.
The IDA requested past contingency monies. He has looked at the history. Started around 2013. It looks like there is some credit due back to the IDA. He has one more set of monies to review but will review and bring back to the county. It won’t affect the budget but will come from contingency.
d. Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Jason Proctor said thank you to District 3 voters. He also said thank you to Todd and his guys (Public Works) for their work on the roads. Residents are saying that this is the best that the roads have looked in 25 years.
Commissioner James Jenkins said thanks to the citizens for supporting him.
Chairman Briar Johnson said congratulations to all the elected officials who won last night. It was an unusual campaign season.
He also said thanks to all who has worked on the budget: CM Ron Alexander, Kay Landers, and Tara Winstead. He said that we have a public hearing on the budget that is set for the 18th and the county attorney will be on a vacation that has been planned a long time ago. He said that he would really appreciate the county attorney being there for this hearing. Can we wait until the 23rd? We have to have 7 days between the hearing and the meeting on the 30th. Consensus to move the public hearing from the 18th to the 23rd and the final meeting will be on the 30th. Motion to move the public hearing from the 18th to the 23rd and the final hearing on the 30th. Approved 5-0.
Briar then said that there has been policy change with the hiring of a county employee. He specifically said that there no issues with the employee. CM Alexander Ron said that it appeared that we have done this in the past and mentioned that he needed to talk to the county attorney on this. He said that it appeared that the ordinance allowed him to make those changes. Briar said that he had talked to Rob and that salary and hiring is up to him, but vacation, etc. is a policy change and has to come to the commissioners. Briar asked Ron when will you make this (talking to the county attorney) happen? Ron continued to say that he has pulled previous records and going under the assumption that he was authorized. Briar told him to get with Rob on this, and that it needs to be done properly.
[Note from the Editor: I am going to describe the situation without saying who the employee is because the issue doesn't seem to be the employee but with the contract that was given to the employee with no notification to commissioners. According to the Personnel Policy that can be read in full by clicking here, Section 36.15 says: "...(B) Vacation pay.(1) Each full-time employee of Pike County after completing the first 12 months of continuous employment shall accrue one week's paid vacation on the day which commences the thirteenth month of such continuous full-time employment. This date shall thereafter become the employee's anniversary date for determining vacation pay. In succeeding years, the employee shall accrue one week's vacation on the anniversary date in the same manner as in the first year, provided the employee has remained in continuous full-time employment. The one week's vacation pay shall be computed at one-half of normal bi-weekly pay based on the normal work schedule of the department in which the employee works.(2) After a full-time employee has been continuously employed for three (3) full years, that employee shall be eligible for two (2) weeks of vacation pay on their employment anniversary date.(3) After a full-time employee has been continuously employed for five (5) full years, that employee will be eligible for three (3) weeks of vacation pay on their employment anniversary date.(4) After a full-time employee has been continuously employed for ten (10) full years,that employee will be eligible for four (4) weeks of vacation pay on their employment anniversary date..." The County Manager has hire and fire power of everyone except department heads (which require a vote from commissioners) and Constitutional officers (who are not under the County Manager). However, in this case, an employee was hired with immediate benefits including two weeks of paid vacation per year on the employee's anniversary date until that employee reached five years. After that the employee would be eligible for 3 weeks of vacation after 5 full years of employment and four weeks after 10 full years of employment. Briar seemed to be concerned about one employee being treated differently than others who are hired for the county and more importantly, that this had been done without commissioner approval. And it appeared to me that Briar was upset that this had been brought to Ron's attention prior to the meeting, and it wasn't on the agenda or on the County Manager Report which is supposed to tell commissioners what business had been conducted on the behalf of the commissioners. Bobby Bickley and John Hanson did reports on a regular basis. County Attorney Rob Morton did weekly reports when he was acting as the Interim County Manager as well. My biggest concern is that commissioners aren't being notified in a timely manner about what is being done on their behalf. And if this is being done without commissioner approval, were there other things too? The county manager was hired by commissioners and is accountable for what is done on their behalf.]
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners
None.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - NONE
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Approve/deny one appointment to the Pike County Board of Assessors to fill an unexpired six-year term, set to expire June 30, 2021. Applicant has met criteria.
Jessica Rowell and Stuart Gregg were the two candidates. [Note from the Editor: Commissioners had to read the names of applicants from their tablets during this part of the meeting. It did not look like the county manager had his tablet or a paper copy of items needed for this part of the meeting.] A question was asked about Stuart's application because it looked like it was for another board. County Clerk Angela Blount advised that applications are held for a year so they can apply for future boards if they choose. Ron said that he met with the candidate and she is here today. Motion to approve Jessica. Approved 5-0.
b. Consider use of Courthouse Grounds from Edward Alexander with Concerned Citizens for Pike County on Sunday, June 14, 2020 from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. for Protest for Justice and Peace.
Recommend approval. This will be on the courthouse grounds only and not in the streets. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
c. Approve/deny 1999 Ford Crown Vic car to be sold on GovDeals.
Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
d. Consider request for tax refund for David Ronald Blum in the amount of $8,182.90.
Ron is a disabled veteran. All of the proper documentation has been received. He is eligible for refund back through 2017. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
e. Approve/deny exterior painting bid for the J. Joel Edwards Library.
It’s been a long time since it has been painted. We need to protect our investment. It was put out to bid. County Manager Ron Alexander didn’t have the numbers in his packet, but County Attorney Rob Morton had the numbers and gave them to him to read. Then Commissioner Jason Proctor read the numbers aloud.
Martin and Company Painting LLC, Concord - $9,760
McDaniel Painting, Thomaston - $7,500
Middle Georgia Painting, Barnesville - $8,250
Chairman Briar Johnson said that the commissioners like to use local companies. Building and Grounds Director Brandon Rogers recommended McDaniel to paint the library. This company painted the courthouse and did a great job. Approved 5-0.
f. Approve/deny bid for flooring in the Extension Office.
Ron doesn’t have those numbers with him either. He and Brandon spoke on this and the numbers sounded reasonable. He went with those recommendations. Briar had to read those numbers aloud.
According to documents uploaded and sent to commissioners in their packets, Building and Grounds Director Brandon Rogers sent an email to County Clerk Angela Blount for the commissioners to review when they voted on these bids. It was a breakdown of the ACCG insurance coverage and payments for this office. He advised that this could be an out of pocket expense fo 5-6K depending on who they chose to complete the install. The final payment from insurance comes to $18,379.58. [Note from the Editor: Readers can see all of this information from the NovusAgenda link noted at the top of the page.]
Zebulon Floor Covering, Zebulon - $10,965.94
SBC Construction, Fayetteville - $18,900
Cleveland Carpets and Floors, Griffin - $11,105.25
Brandon recommended Zebulon Flooring. ACCG would pay us $18,000 in insurance to cover this. Motion to approve Zebulon Flooring. Approved 5-0.
g. Approve/deny bid for generator at the EMA Facility.
EMA Director Jimmy Totten, Building and Grounds Director Brandon Rogers, and the County Manager have discussed this back up emergency power. Jimmy had three that he looked at, and there is a cost to cover the installation of this generator. He chose the E2 for $22,249.50. Jimmy was commended for this work with EMA and getting grants for items like this. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
E2, Griffin - $22,249.50
Cummins Inc., Atlanta, $39,387.07
Perkins Generator Sales and Service, Sharpsburg - $24,228.81
h. County Manager to present the FY 2020-2021 Budget to the Pike County Board of Commissioners.
CM Alexander said that this has been a long road. He said that he was introduced to the budget process immediately when he came in and that we are rolling back the millage rate. Insurance increase for 18%. He wanted to find money to absorb this increase. He said that employees haven’t had a raise in 5 years. [Note from the Editor: This is incorrect and was corrected by a commissioner later in the meeting.] He said that there were several items that needed adjusting. [Note from the Editor: He wanted to give a pay raise to one person in the commission office and one department head as well as giving himself a $5,000 pay raise. He called these "proposed salary adjustments" on the sheet that has "Based on this 2% increase the Millage Rate will be at the Roll back rate 12.243 on it.] Ron specified that these employees who were slated for "proposed salary adjustments" are not supposed to get the 2% raise AND the adjustments. He advised that he was adding a supplemental to the budget. This supplemental listed the 2% raise at a cost of $27,479.61. [Note from the Editor: I am in support of paying our employees the 2% cost of living raise and not asking them to make up the 18% increase on insurance if we can possibly swing this as a county. Many of our employees have stuck with us here despite the fact that they did not get a raise in many of the years past, and we need to take good care of them if longevity is important to us. I think we can swing it again this year.] He said that the overall budget was increased from 11.47 mills.
Ron then presented a proposal where took out a $5,000 raise to himself that had been included in the previous budget that he presented. He also showed a line items that read, "REMOVE OTHER PROPOSED SALARY ADJUSTMENTS" with the amount of $87,485.58 beside it. [The county manager advised in the June 4 budget meeting that he wanted to give Planning and Zoning Director Brad Vaughan a raise because of increased responsibility with moving driveway mapping from E911 to Planning and Zoning. This not an issue in itself because other counties are working like this. However, the problem arises when you want to give someone 10% raise for a job with new responsibilities that the county manager had not even advised commissioners that he was working to make happen. This goes directly back to my comment in the beginning as follows: "My biggest concern is that commissioners aren't being notified in a timely manner about what is being done on their behalf. And if this is being done without commissioner approval, were there other things too? The county manager was hired by commissioners and is accountable for what is done on their behalf."] Also on this sheet, Ron advised that the fire department had requested some bunker gear and he removed $4,000 from this request.
The 2% across the board included brings the budget to 12.243. Currently at 14.262 millage rate. This would be a 2 point rollback. Commissioner Tim Guy advised Ron that there was a 2% raise for employees last year.
Jason Proctor said that he appreciated the work on this and hoped we could roll back a little bit more.
The commissioners thanked Ron and Kay for their work on this and need some time to look this over. Rob Morton said that we need to make a motion to receive this. Motion to receive the budget. Approved 5-0.
[Note from the Editor: The summary draft first reason has a millage rate of 12.22759.]
Click here to read the summary draft. 12.22759 mills.
Click here to read the summary draft with the 2% raise. 12.24659 mills.
Click here to read the summary draft with removal of salary adjustments and removal of county manager's scheduled increase of $5,000. 12.243 mills.
Click here to read a the first draft of the budget.
i. Approve/Deny Liability Insurance Contract.
This has been on an annual basis. The ACCG proposal awarded a $28,000 dividend that will bring our premium down to $165,254. Request approval or denial of this request. Rob took the information to Tim Daniel so he could read it. This is interest gained from their numbers that resulted in a credit to our insurance. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
j. Lease agreement with the City of Zebulon and the county.
This is the contract from 2007 for the fire station in Zebulon. This resulted in no increase in the monthly lease but did bring to light utility costs which resulted in a cap on the utilities. Grady is moving in there so we are going to do some metering in this space to find out the utility cost. It was an unmanned station before so the utility bill will go up when Grady moves in full-time. We are going to monitor for 3 months to find out utilities for the lease. There was no designated plan for parking. The contract remains basically the same. $800 per month plus about $12,000 for utilities for the year. Chairman Briar Johnson said that we were only paying $700 a month plus utilities so this did go up.
The county manager asked for parking for the county for fire, Grady, and outside parking for ambulances. There is reserved parking now. 2 bays are left inside the building. The fire chief advised that there is a truck that still needs to be moved. Signs are up and there is inside parking. Grady has 2 bays and the ladder truck is inside. There is one more outside. Motion to approve the facility lease. Jason gave a 2nd and said that he would like to look at intergovernmental agreements from now on. This has been rolling since May and was finalized last night. Jason advised that he wanted to look at ALL intergovernmental agreements.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT
a. Randall Moss to address the Board regarding Hudok 2020 Bill of Peace.
[Note from the Editor: The acoustics in the courtroom are horrible. I didn't hear everything that was said, but here is the gist of it.] Randall Moss was present with a camera man who recorded the meeting. He came before commissioners "asking, recommending, and demanding" the resignation of Ben Miller Jr., Sheriff Jimmy Thomas, and County Attorney Rob Morton saying that they were involved in the collusion of his granddaughter being taken from him. He wants this to go before the grand jury and was asking Chairman Briar Johnson to make this happen. He said that if they want a way out, it will be up to the Grand Jury to decide. He has been waiting for 8 years.
When Randall finished up his time, Briar called him back to the podium and advised that he is not the commissioners' boss, and he cannot tell the others what to do. Randall said that he was trying to follow the chain of command and thought he was in charge of that. Briar said that he signs on behalf of the board but he does not direct anyone as he was instructed, but they are aware. The camera man left with Randall Moss.
[Note from the Editor: I followed Randall's case for the return of his granddaughter for quite a while. Scroll down to the end of the May 26, 2020 meeting to read more about what happened from various meetings, courtroom activity, and court cases by clicking here.]
b. Michael Powell to address the Board regarding the Census 2020 update.
Mike Powell got everyone's attention in the room when he said that if we have a population of 20,000 it will affect our internet. He was there to encourage everyone to fill out their census. If we go over 20,000, we will be applying for grants, etc. based on population. 20,000 people is critical for broadband, and we are showing at 19,000 from 2019 numbers. We are doing well at 62.8%, and we aren’t going door to door knocking yet.
Here are the current response rates including internet, phone, and hard copy: Concord-61.8%, Meansville-36.6%, Molena-56.1%, Williamson-48.2%, and Zebulon-47.6%.
We are ahead of our 2010 rate as a whole by 4%. State rankings we are tied at 19 out of 159 counties. He read the response rates one by one. He asked the commissioners to help get the word out. The library has been shut down because of COVID-19 and it was supposed to be a hub for the census. Mike commended County Clerk Angela Blount for her work helping in this process. There was applause for Angela.
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION
Chairman J. Briar Johnson requests Executive Session for discussion or deliberation on the appointment, employment, compensation, hiring, disciplinary action or dismissal, or periodic evaluation or rating of a county officer or employee as provided in O.C.G.A. § 50-14-3(b)(2); Germane to Personnel in the Administration Office.
Motion to go into Executive Session. 10:05 a.m. Approved 5-0.
Back in session at 12:47 p.m.
Rob said that the county manager has tendered an oral resignation. Do commissioners want to accept his resignation? [Note from the Editor: There was no discussion and no reason was given.] Motion to accept the resignation. Motion approved 3-2. Jenkins and Proctor opposed.
12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn. 12:49 p.m.
Agenda subject to revision.
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