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September 24, 2019 – 6:30 p.m.
Courthouse, Main Courtroom, 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, Georgia
Courthouse Doors on East/South Sides open at 6:00 p.m.
Town Hall Meeting at 6:15 p.m.
www.pikecoga.com/novusagenda has a download of the 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.
Commissioners Tim Guy, Tim Daniel, James Jenkins, and Chairman Briar Johnson attended along with County Attorney/Interim County Manager Rob Morton, and County Clerk Angela Blount to take the minutes.
1. CALL TO ORDER………………………………………………………..Chairman J. Briar Johnson
2. INVOCATION………………………………………………………………………Karen Brentlinger
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))
a. Minutes of the September 11, 2019 Regular Monthly 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. There are no Department reports as they will be provided during the first Board meeting of October. Revenue/Expenditure Statement and Detail Check Register is included.
b. County Manager Report
Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund $482,337.98
Fire Dept. Donations $6,043.81
BOC – Jury Account……………………………………………………………...$0.00
Cash Reserve Account ….....$107,454.21
Pike County CD Special Revenue funds………………………………………….$0.00
Jail Fund $32,340.16
E-911 Fund $300,465.60
DATE Fund $51,618.06
Juvenile Court Fund $10,835.89
Residential Impact Fee $720,936.90
Commercial Impact Fees $83,342.90
C.A.I.P FUND $180,808.65
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2016……………..$149,211.23
L.M.I. Grant (DOT) $570,424.08
c. County Manager Comment
Int. CM Rob Morton's report is shown below in full, but these items are the one that were emphasized in the meeting.
McKinley Road North of Highway 18 and South of Glover Road is a 72 inch cross drain that is completely rusted out. It could compromise the road with a lot of rain. It will be about $13,000 to fix with Impact Fees. There is about $42,211.99 is that account so more than enough to cover this. Rob apologized that it wasn’t in the agenda, but he just got the info today on this. Motion to approve funds to replace this culvert. Approved 4-0.
At the June 12 meeting, there was discussion about a 2007 Chevy 3500 for Public Works. There were some additional needs and costs that were discussed for about $5,000 to $6,0000. We’ve had an outstanding invoice for $4380 that was not part of the original purchase price. Rob said that there was some misunderstanding on this and asked that the invoice be paid.
Commissioner Tim Guy said that he did not recall any discussion about additional costs. Int. CM Morton said that that minutes from the June 12 meeting mentioned the truck already has a work body that is worth $5000 to $6000. He said that the invoice includes a topsider toolbox and the things that go in it. The cost is just shy of the $5000 to $6000 from the minutes. Commissioner Jenkins asked if we were paying retail for the truck, and Rob said that even with the additional $4380 we were still below retail. More questions about whether this was adding a body to the truck or was it on there already. Rob said that it was he understood that when the board approved this that the work was alreaddy done and that when the invoice was received, it was for more than was allocated from Impact Fees so it needed to be approved by the commissioners. Commissioner Tim Guy then said that the work has already been done and the invoice needs to be paid, but he doesn't recall any discussion about additional work on the truck--just the $8500 purchase price and that it was a good deal. He said that he did not believe that the additional costs came before the commissioners for approval.
Motion to pay the invoice. Approved 4-0.
[Note from the Editor: I didn’t remember this being ok’ed by commissioners either so I did some digging. I made an open records request so I have the original bill of sale and check from June 12, 2019 for $8,500 that was approved by the commissioners in the June 12, 2019 meeting. The August 7, 2019 invoice for work done and shipped on July 10, 2019 specifically states “Impact Fees,” and it was a Net 10 invoice that should have been paid 10 days after it arrived in county offices in August. I obtained a copy of the official minutes and a copy of the June 12, 2019 BOC meeting so I could listen and hear exactly what was said in that meeting. (Thank you to Rob and Angela for ensuring that I received this quickly!) The minutes note that the truck already had a work body on it worth $5000 to $6000 and the retail value for the truck was around $15,000. Public Works Director Todd Goolsby and then County Manager Bobby Bickley recommended buying the truck for $8500. I listened to the meeting, and there is no mention of doing any work on that truck with Impact Fees during that meeting. I spoke with former County Manager Bobby Bickley and he advised that, “The only thing I was aware of was the $8500 for the truck that went before the commissioners for a vote.” I spoke with Interim County Manager/County Attorney Rob Morton after the September 30, 2019 Special Called Meeting and voiced my concerns about this expenditure. Bottom line is that work was done on a county vehicle to be paid out of Impact Fees before it was actually approved by commissioners. Rob advised, “It seems that this was a matter that should have been handled differently. When it came across my desk to be paid, I put it before the commissioners to ask how to pay it.” The civil activist in me agreed that it wasn’t handled as it should have been, and I sincerely hope that this never happens again. It’s not a huge amount of money in a multimillion dollar budget, but if we cut corners and don’t follow the rules on something small, the next thing might not be small.]
The meeting on October 17 at the White House is still open to commissioners if they want to go. This would be going to listen and garner information for the Commission. James Jenkins is signed up to attend.
This Monday the 30th at 5:30 p.m. will be the Millage Rate meeting.
A Fire Tax District Proposal has been given to commissioners. Rob asked for their direction on this. Consensus to look at this and there will be a workshop at a later date to discuss this. [Note from the Editor: We had fire fees once upon a time, but they were eliminated by the commission during the time that Bill Sawyer was County Manager back in 2010. And my understanding is that this is going to be less than it was back then. I hope to attend the meeting and report on this.]
Leadership Conference in Athens for Tim Daniel is coming up. ACCG is wanting commissioners to vote on a platform. Rob asked everyone to look this over and let Tim know if they have any issues with anything since he will be there and voting.
[Note from the Editor: The following is from the County Manager Report. Thanks to Interim County Manager Rob Morton for sending this information quickly and efficiently to fill my Open Records Request.]Old Business:
Item 8 a is intended to discuss whether to accept the proposed animal shelter donation of approximately $225,000.00. As you know, Tanya Perkins, Brandon Rogers, Briar Johnson and myself toured the Lamar and Upson County Animal Shelter facilities yesterday and obtained some good information and insight. The cost of operations for animal control and shelter varied on the low end from $100,000 in the City of Barnesville, to $260,000.00 in Upson County with Meriwether County following in the middle around $165,000.00 per yer. The City of Barnesville as one employee with an additional employee serving Lamar County in a similar capacity and Upson County has five employees. Based on the information that has been obtained and considering that our current budget is already $64,000.00 per year, it appears that the proposed donation should be accepted even with the related stipulations required for the donation. At the present, we would need to consider at least a part-time employee for Animal Control and that at some point in the future we will need to consider having 2 full-time employees and one part-time employee. We can discuss the information that we have obtained during our research and tour at Tuesday's meeting, including information concerning an incinerator.
Regarding Item 8 b, Virgil Brown Tax Refund, the VA has determined that Virgil is 100% disabled dating back to the middle of 2017. Accordingly, Virgil would be entitled to the proposed refund going back to 2018, but not for 2017 since the disability determination was made after the first of the year.
New Business:
Item 9 a is in connection with the $28,884.64 that we received as reimbursement from the State Hazardous Waste Trust Fund for expenditures that Pike County has already incurred in connection with the post-closure requirements for the landfill. The funds have to be spent in connection with the post-closure landfill activities, therefore, it is being requested that you so designate these revenues by motion.
Regarding Item 9 b, the Holiday Schedule for 2020 is being presented for approval.
Regarding Item 9c, the Public Hearing and related transmittal resolution is related to the CIE annual update that we have discussed previously. After conducting the public hearing, the transmittal resolution will need approval so that the draft update can be sent for state review. We will have the final approval of the CIE Update at the end of October after the state has the opportunity to provide its comments/suggestions.
Executive Session:
Please remember to be prepared to discuss your preferred candidates for the position of county manager as we continue the process.
Other matters for your consideration:
Tomorrow is the Murder in Coweta event at the Courthouse.
Next Friday, the City of Zebulon is hosting a luncheon from 10 am to 2 pm in appreciation of United Bank's donation of equipment for the City's playground in the park. The appreciation event will be at the City Park and they will start serving the free lunch around 11 am.
Remember there will be a called meeting at 5 pm on September 30, 2019 to set the millage rate.
Based on the responses to the information, Chairman Johnson and I will be attending the CDBG Award presentation for the $1,000,000.00 in connection with the Hilltop project, which will be Wednesday October 16, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. in LaGrange.
Also, you received information about the Leadership Day invitation from The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. The event is Thursday, October 17, 2019 from 12 pm to 5 pm. If you are interesting in attending we must submit the necessary information by 1 pm on October 11, 2019 so please let us know as soon as possible. Commissioner Jenkins has already made his travel arrangements to attend. Please keep in mind that unless the Board votes to authorize a Commissioner to represent the Board as a whole in order to express an opinion or present a particular platform, participation should be for the purposes of obtaining information and networking.
Regarding the Concord Fire Station, I have been working with Brandon and Chief O'Barr to finalize the specifications for the Station in order to get the final figures for the building materials and erection costs. We will plan to discuss these figures further at the meeting on Tuesday so that we can get the materials ordered. I am attaching a sketch of what the building will be modeled after. The attached sketch, however, shows four (4) bays and we will only have three (3). Also, the gable side of the office part that will be facing Highway 18 will be fully bricked.
Building and Grounds:
Library Expansion: The insulation has been installed and they will be doing the stucco next week. They have also addressed the ants that were in the wall (s) and believe that issue has been resolved. We are investigating a possible A/C issue at the library in general and the need for new signage.
Parking Drainage at Commission Office: I have been discussing this problem with Brandon and he will be providing me with some figures to put in a drainage system to move the water to the parking lot to the east of the office where there is storm water drainage.
Planning and Development:
Brad will return to the office from his medical leave this coming week.
Telecommunications Tower Special Exception and Variance Application (Nixon Road/Molena): Brad notified me about a telecommunications tower application for special exception and variance that was received today for a property on Nixon Road. I am attaching a copy of the application.
Public Works:
LMIG Projects: Rocky Way, Hutchinson Road and Lifsey Springs Road resurfacing projects are complete except for striping. There was a questions about Rocky Way, but the portion of Rocky Way that was identified on the LMIG submission has been completed. Striping related to the Ranchland Subdivision resurfacing work has been completed.
Melville Brown: ditching will begin Tuesday morning.
Other Public Works matters: the crews are on the regular mowing and paving schedules.
Because of the length of this email report, I will defer from providing any further information related to other matters. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. [End of County Manager Report.]
d. Commissioner Reports
Commissioner James Jenkins named several places where roadwork has been done and looks great. Our inhouse work is awesome. He asked for numbers on short pavings on dirt roads for the county compared to the state. Rob said that the roads plan goes through 2032 was focusing on existing roads. There weren’t any specs on dirt roads. Rob said that he can get some specs if he wants it. James wants a general costs analysis for the county to pave a road. James said that some of these roads are in great shape and could be paved.
Tim Daniel said that in Lamar County, some of those roads have triple surfacing and it has held up pretty well. He would also like to see an analysis on this.
Tim Guy said that it was $700,000+ to pave a dirt road. Briar said that his info was about a million dollars a mile. And some roads will be more expensive than others.
James said that he’s heard things but not seen anything. Rob said that he will get this information.
Briar said that he attended Murder in Coweta County about 80 on the first showing and about 100 for the second. Rosemary, Friends of the Library, and the borrowed the screen from the school system were all part of everyone working together on this. Briar said that Rosemary gave her appreciation on the community coming together on this. Click here to read about it.
Candidates for 3rd District Commission Jason Proctor and Misty Meeks are here tonight.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners.
Opioid litigation update is going on. Animal control prosecutions have led to one animal having to be put down today because the homeowner could not afford to do what was needed to bring the animal back home.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Discuss Animal Shelter Donation.
Toured Upson and Lamar County. Ms. Perkins has also been to Spalding County facility. We could come close to building the facility with the funds that are being proposed as a donation. The incinerator will be a part of this at a later date. We got cost from the Upson but ours will need to be smaller than theirs. We are coming up on the October deadline. #1 criteria is the need for a board for this facility. Based on the tours of facilities, it seems like a viable option for us. The ongoing operation of the facility will be the next step. About $100,000 to $125,000 with Lamar County, $253,000 for Upson County, and Meriwether County is about $163,000 annually. We’re about $60,000 now with one employee. We need 1 full-time and one part-time and will go from there.
Tim Guy said that we have the funds with this donation, and he thinks that we need to go ahead with building this facility. This will be examined more deeply in February when we discuss our budget.
Tim Daniel said that people move in here and they expect certain services. At some point we are going to have to provide this service so why not go ahead and get started on this.
Motion to accept the donation and move forward with the prerequisites that go along with building an animal control facility with this donation including putting together an Animal Control Board. Click here to read about this donation.
Discussion: Going to remove the donated building that is there now and build including the concrete that is already out there. This donation may be supplemented in the future, but we are planning for the future whether that happens or not. We provide a comprehensive plan for the facility operations, put together a board, adoptions will be facilitated at this facility, and it must be built in Pike County.
Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
b. Consider Tax Refund Application from Virgil Brown in the amount of $2,593.50.
This came forward in May and was postponed because of the need for further research. Rob said that that research showed that there is a need for approval of this request. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Approve/Deny designating the $28,884.64 reimbursed to Pike County from the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund for Land Fill related Expenditures.
Rob said $28,000+ related to the Hazardous Waste Trust Fund and this is from our request for reimbursement. Rob asked to designate that this reimbursement be allocated for future landfill closure related expenditures. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
b. Approve/Deny 2020 Holiday Schedule.
Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
2020 HOLIDAY SCHEDULE
January 1, 2020 ............................................................................. New Year’s Day
January 20, 2020 ........................................................ Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
April 10, 2020 ..................................................................................... Good Friday
May 25, 2020 ................................................................................... Memorial Day
July 3, 2020 ................................................................................ Independence Day
September 7, 2020 ...................................................................................Labor Day
November 11, 2020 ............................................................................ Veterans Day
November 26, 2020 .................................................................... Thanksgiving Day
November 27, 2020 ............................................................ Day after Thanksgiving
December 24, 2020 ............................................................ Christmas Eve Holiday
December 25, 2020 .................................................................... Christmas Holiday
c. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input regarding Capital Improvements Element (CIE) Annual Update, pursuant to the Georgia Development Impact Fee Act and the Development Impact Fee Compliance Requirements of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
ACTION: Discuss/Approve/Deny transmittal resolution for CIE update.
Packet of info and info from Brad Vaughan. This is required as part of the Comprehensive Plan. It also includes future Impact Fee Expenditures. We prepare the update, we transmit to the State for their review, then there will be a final adoption in late October. CIE to Three Rivers per state law.
No one to speak for or against.
Thanks were expressed to Brad for his work on this. Motion to approve the transmittal. Approved 4-0.
Rob noted that Animal Control can be included in Impact Fees at a later date as we are updating in phases so updates to the facility can be made.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT – None
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION
a. Interim County Manager 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(6) germane to County Manager in the Administration Office.
Executive Session at 7:13 p.m.
Back in session at 7:54 p.m.
12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn 7:55
[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.]