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This is our future animal control facility building.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014 – 6:30 p.m.
Courthouse Annex, 79 Jackson Street, Zebulon, Georgia
All five commissioners are in the meeting along with County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye, County Manager (CM) John Hanson, and County Attorney Rob Morton.
1. CALL TO ORDER....................................................................................Chairman J. Briar Johnson
2. INVOCATION……………………………………………………………………………Ben Maxedon
3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE...................................................................Chairman J. Briar Johnson
4. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. § 50-14-1 (e) (1))
5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - (O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e) (2))
Minutes of the June 11, 2014 Regular Monthly Meeting.
Minutes of the June 11, 2014 Special Called Meeting.
6. INVITED GUESTS - 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.
Motion to approve with no discussion. Approved 5-0.
b. County Manager Report
▫ Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ............................................................................................ $2,282,052.19
Fire Dept. Donations........................................................................................ $1,200.42
Cash Reserve Account................................................................................. $176,520.69
Jail Fund ........................................................................................................ $33,689.80
E-911 Fund .................................................................................................... $21,893.24
DATE Fund ................................................................................................... $29,060.00
Juvenile Court Fund....................................................................................... $18,004.43
Residential Impact Fee ................................................................................ $256,047.55
Commercial Impact Fees ............................................................................... $11,426.59
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2011...................... $210,395.44
L.M.I. Grant (DOT)..................................................................................... $569,144.42
c. County Manager Comments.
CM Hanson asked about updating the incoming commissioners about the budget so they will be knowledgeable about our finances when they come into office in January. They would not be involved in executive session decisions, but said that this is about getting them up to speed as far as our finances go. Commissioner Jarrett said that financial information is open records information so there wasn’t a problem with her. Consensus for the new commissioners to be informed about financial matters of the county.
David Pitts donated the time and services by putting in electrical to the animal control office here in Pike County. The county sent a letter of thanks to him for this. CM Hanson said that there are needs that we do not have in the budget, but we can work toward long-term goals for this facility.
CM Hanson went out to Shortcut Road after the last meeting. He has talked to several citizens out there. He said that there are a number of roads that have potholes like Shortcut Road and that Public Works is beginning work on these roads.
Southern Crescent has donated some items to the county including office chairs, a shelf, some stacking chairs and some other items from where they are closing an office in Zebulon. He said that these are really nice items and the county is grateful. A letter of thanks will go out to them as well.
d. Commissioner Reports.
Commissioner Bass asked about financials earlier and CM Hanson answered her questions. She also put together a spreadsheet on the various departments in response to rumblings about departments getting cut and found that the fire stations ($24,063.00), the recreation department ($14,075.00), and the library ($5,624.00) all got an increase over last year’s budget. She pointed this out because she had heard some grumbling that there
Commissioner Powers thanked Public Works Director Goolsby for taking care of a complaint about trash.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners.
County Attorney Morton said that his office is assisting on policies and contracts, etc., but most items needed to be addressed are already on the agenda and will be addressed in Executive Session.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input on SE-14-07 – Alva W. Anthony, property owner and applicant, is requesting a special exception in an A-R zoned district to allow for a camper for recreational use on his property. The subject property, located on Highway 109 East, has approximately 1438 total feet of frontage along the south side of Highway 109 East. The property is located in Land Lot 104 of the 8th District of Pike County, Georgia. The entire property consists of 53.23 acres and is further identified as Tax Map Parcel #094 010.
Action: Discuss/Approve/Deny
David Allen advised that this was heard in June and the recommendation was to allow this. He said that the applicants know the regulations and have agreed to abide by them.
No one spoke on this. Public hearing was closed.
Discussion: Commissioner Powers said that he has seen this and has no problem with it and pointed out that this was in his district. Commissioner Bass said that our ordinance allows for this and gave the second. Approved 5-0.
b. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input on the proposed text amendment to the Pike County Code of Ordinances, to add Chapter 166, Solar Farm Ordinance, relative to standards and restrictions for the location of solar farms.
Action: Discuss/Approve/Deny of 1st reading
David Allen said that we received this model ordinance and worked on it for Pike County. He said that this was heard on June 12 before the Planning Commission and they tweaked it further to make it specific for our county. The Planning Commission thought that this should be a stand alone ordinance. There is a recommendation that this be a special exception. Commissioner Bass asked about the required acreage. This will be 50 acres. Commissioner Jarrett asked why not 20 acres. He said that buffers are required and it needs to be a decent size and that larger acreage will make it more worthwhile as earning money. Commissioner Jarrett asked about the hum. It is a maximum of 65 decibels and the board took that into account when they heard this and required a planted 50 foot buffer along with a 100 foot setback and 500 feet from existing residences. David is going to see one in Thomaston behind Home Depot tomorrow. Commissioner Jarrett said that she wants to go see it too. Social Circle has one too. It was noted that Planning Board member Bonnie Byrd Gardner said that she had been out there and did not hear a hum like she was expecting. An ordinance from Carroll County was passed along to CM Hanson and he was asked if he could incorporate some of the things in our ordinance. County Attorney Morton recommended having the public hearing and then have further discussion and the vote.
In favor:
Robert E. Adams, Jr. said that he is in favor of it. He pointed out that if we go on the grid with this, other applications like Vogle coming online are way behind schedule and there is a question about emissions. If we let this happen in Pike County, he even suggested that people in the county could maybe take advantage of this in their own homes too. This could help people with their own bills and he asked if the county would consider allowing options like this that could help people.
I said that I was in favor of this and haven’t done as much research as I needed to on this but that I have had some people contact me the possibility of runoff from Roundup ending up in our streams and erosion. I said that if we can take care of the environmental stuff and not kill our fish or poison our water, I’m all for this because this could be good for Pike County. I urged commissioners to have a plan in place for this so no one can take advantage of us because it is so new.
No one spoke against. The public hearing was closed and more discussion ensued.
Commissioner Jarrett did a comparison with Carroll County’s requirements. She wants to be sure that noise is addressed. She wants application requirements to be included for our county. County Attorney Morton said that the county does have ordinances in effect already that address wetlands, etc. and there are state regulations as well. There was discussion about 6 versus 12 months with abandonment or cessation from the Carroll County ordinance. She was concerned about this equipment sitting for a year and wants to see it for 6 months instead because she would not want to see the equipment sitting for a year possibly dripping on the land. She likes the bond of $5,000 per acre. She wants contact information to be placed with our Code Enforcement Office in case of any issues.
Commissioner Bass asked about 500 feet from an existing residence. She was told that this would help possibly mitigate noise. With our cell tower ordinance, it is 1,000 feet. Commission Powers asked if this was local or state standards involved. There would be land use standards to be considered. Discussion about noise levels included a comparison of the maximum decibels of standing by a heating and air unit at your house about 10 to 15 feet. Discussion of going to see the local solar farms. Commissioner Jenkins wants to go to Social Circle to see this farm because it is bigger. There was a lot of interest in going to see examples of this before approving our ordinance. More discussion of 100 foot setback from the property lines is what we are requiring from all sides in this ordinance which includes a 50 foot planted or natural vegetation. Discussion about whether 100 feet on all sides is enough or too much and how hard this is to judge this without seeing it.
Motion to allow a citizen to speak. 5-0.
Robert E. Adams, Jr. said that there was a 20 year agreement on this along with a default built into the agreement. He also talked about a cost overrun, etc. and asked how that would be addressed. He asked if who would be putting this in and how corporate oversight would affect this: sole proprietor or a corporation. Commissioner Jarrett said that the county always needs to know who owns this including if it changes hands. Individual pilot agreement would be with a specific owner according to CM Hanson. The tax abatement agreement
County Attorney Morton said that the developer who spoke with the board said that he was setting this up and probably would not be here for the long haul, but he said that it doesn’t matter how many times this project changes hands, it will have to abide by our ordinances.
Commissioner Bass asked whether this ordinance would even apply to this applicant because it is not in place now. County Attorney Morton said that approval could be tied to this ordinance and the items in this ordinance because the application has not been approved yet. [Note from the Editor: The county has had problems in the past when it tried to pass an ordinance and then force those applications already in the process of being approved to abide by the ordinance. Kudos to Commissioner Bass for thinking about this. We could ask them to abide by specific recommendations like it sounds like we are doing already, but how wise is it so say that we are going to expect them to follow something that isn’t even in place as they are going through the process of approval?]
Discussion that the 6 month or 12 month cessation would allow for an extension of time in case of a force of nature or act of God. Commissioner Jarrett was very concerned with the possibility of abandonment. County Attorney advised that this can be an ongoing investigation and changes can be made between the 1st and 2nd readings and changes can even be made after the ordinance is enacted.
Commissioner Bass said that she would like to see the 500 feet struck. Commissioner Jarrett said that she would like to see it stay for now and the commissioners listen to the possible hum from the equipment. Commissioner Jenkins asked about how long it would take to put this together. It may need to be a year instead of 6 months with a provision for bad weather.
Motion to approve the first reading with the suggested changes of the possibility of adding application requirements, current contact info, excluding bad weather on the year requirement and buffer issues. Jarrett, Powers. Approved 5-0.
c. Approve/deny Clifton, Lipford, Hardison & Parker agreement.
CM Hanson asked for approval. The price is about the same as last year. He said that they have done a good job for the county in the past and they are accessible by phone when he needs them. This is what is budgeted. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
d. Approve/deny contract for the 2015 Public Transportation Program with the Department of Transportation.
This is the same as last year except for the amount for the bus. [Note from the Editor: This is the bus that people can call and travel one way for a flat fee because we do not have public transportation in Pike and the surrounding counties.] CM Hanson praised Director Lanier Boatwright for being accessible as well. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
e. Approve/deny contract for Indigent Defense Services.
This is basically the same as last year for indigent defense and public defender. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
f. Consider one appointment to the Pike County Family and Children Services Board to fill a five-year term, set to expire June 30, 2019. Applicant has met criteria.
There was one applicant. Motion to approve Patricia Beckham to the board. Approved 5-0.
g. Approve/deny sealed bids for Culvert on Old Zebulon Road.
Steel culvert versus a concrete culvert. Our staff would prepare the site and another company would put in the concrete culvert and our staff would do the finishing. The concrete is what the state has recommended. We put this out to bid and received 2 bids. This does not include the repaving—just the concrete culvert—that are to be done according to DOT specs.
Southern Concrete Construction Inc. $98,067
ER Snell $108,320
Both companies have done work with the county. CM Hanson said that we are requesting LMIG dollars for this. Prior to this, we could hope that this would be reimbursed about 70% of the cost to put this in. Public Works Director estimated that this would cost about $100,000 prior to the meeting tonight.
Motion to approve the contract Southern Concrete Construction if both bids are comparable. Approve 5-0. County Attorney Morton said that this will likely need a resolution and asked for a second motion if this is the case. Motion to approve authorization to a resolution on this to be executed by the County Manager. 5-0. [Note from the Editor: Kudos to the county for looking at the long term instead of trying to save a few bucks in the short term]
h. Commitment of fund balance for road project on Old Zebulon Road.
CM Hanson asked that the county designate $150,000 in the upcoming budget toward future road repair on Old Zebulon Road. Our fund balance will not change, but this will show as committed to this project from one year to the next. If the funds are not used this year, it will roll over to next year. Motion to allow the CM to do a resolution to designate $150,000 for this purpose. This resolution has already been approved by the auditor. Approved 5-0.
i. Request for funds for animal control from Contingency.
CM Hanson said that he is not trying to spend a lot of money, but he is trying to manage what we have. We now have power out there. Water will be turned on soon with the City of Zebulon. 2 decks are now on the building. Turner Brothers LLC has put in a bid for $9,125 to complete the sewer hookup. Contingency has about $51,000 now and would have just under $42,000. Motion to move $9,125 from contingency for animal control.
j. Consider and approve County Manager contract.
County Attorney Morton passed out the county manager contract to commissioners. He has gone over this with CM Hanson and he has approved this. There was a time period to see if he was a good fit for the county.
He has performed over and above what was anticipated by the board. He said that he hasn’t heard anyone criticize what John has done for the county. The balance of the contract was for two years and John is ok with this running along with the budget year. Commissioner Jarrett asked about the annual review provision and whether there should be something written that specifies when this should be done. If this goes in, it will have to be done exactly as it is written or it will violate the contract. Commissioner Bass asked if this would be better as a policy. County Attorney suggested saying prior to the end of the fiscal year which starts July 1. Commissioner Bass also pointed out that under compensation, this will bind the next board with an automatic renewal and asked if that would be a problem. County Attorney Morton said that the contract is the contract and that he doesn’t think that is a problem because it is how he accepted the position. Motion to approve the contract with changes discussed including the typo fixed and the addition of the requirement of an annual review being conducted before the end of each fiscal year. 5-0.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT- (Limited to 5 minutes per person): None.
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION: 7:47 p.m.
a. County Attorney requests consultation 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.
Back in session. 8:05 p.m.
12. ADJOURNMENT: 8:05 p.m.
Agenda subject to revision.
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