www.venmo.com/u/pikecountytimes, $pikecountytimes, and PayPal.Me/PikeCountyTimesLLC.
Editor Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor(@)pikecountytimes.com
Consider buying an advertisement for your business or sending a donation to Pike County Times to support the only free online newspaper in Pike County. Donations can be sent to: The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. You can also donate through www.venmo.com/u/pikecountytimes, $pikecountytimes, and PayPal.Me/PikeCountyTimesLLC.
Thanks for supporting Pike County's only free online newspaper!
August 7, 2024
ZEBULON - The Development Authority met on August 7, 2024 at 8 a.m. in the Pike County Chamber of Commerce. Members present were School Superintendent Shane Williamson, John Barker, Bryan Oglesby, Cal Brannon, Kyle Fletcher, Stuart Essary, Sonny Gwyn, John Edwards, Zebulon Mayor Joe Walter were in attendance along with Mark Whitley, County Manager Brandon Rogers, Tim Ingram, Becky Watts from Pike County Times.
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of the Agenda.
Motion to approve the agenda. Approved.
3. Invited Guest. Mark Whitley with Whitley Engineering.
A discussion of his engineering agreement will take place a little later in the meeting.
4. Approval of the Minutes
Motion to approve the minutes. Approved.
5. Approval of the Financials
Walked through the May and June finances including income and expenditures.
Bought the lot from Treadway and sold to the medical business.
$745,000 in the bank.
The audit is in the works now.
Total revenue from the millage is about $180,000 or so. Rogers. We are at about 95% now with collection.
Motion to approve May and June financials. Approved.
Old Business
a. Martin and Company closing, Metal Fabricators Closing
Lot 10. $195,900. Already clearing his lot. Received design review from the City of Zebulon.
Metal Fabricators on Lot 3. Coming down from the Beltline in Atlanta. Make small metal parts.
New business owners sign a covenant agreement and receive a packet when they join.
Thomaston Milk Company hasn’t come to the City of Zebulon yet, but Fletcher will check on this.
b. Engineering agreement with Mark Whitley.
Annual contract that renews annually. Both parties have the ability to void the contract. Rate schedule remains the same unless Whitley brings it back to the board to change the rates. He will give an estimate on future projects to avoid surprises. Proposing not to charge for meetings, phone calls, emails (things that actually produce a product). Always looking out for the Development Authority and provides a low rate for local. But the commitment is a local engineer looking out for the Authority. Any documents made under his company remain his work, but he keeps the original documents while giving a copy to the Authority.
Oglesby. Need to discuss the contract in Executive Session. Are we bound to get bids on something like this? What have other authorities done? Fletcher. It’s been done both ways. Oglesby. Does it need to be a bidding process? Not personal. Just making sure that we are doing what we need to do. Walter. Didn’t see this as an issue because we can do a new procurement for state requirements. Do we have a procurement process for the Authority? Thinks it’s fine. We can always do a procurement on future projects and have Whitley for on demand projects. Oglesby. Do we need to put in a ceiling before we do an RFP for multiple firm bids? Walter. Could have an amount for the year or for a specific project. We can do it either way, but there is a delay for an RFP. Barker. Intent was that we needed someone more knowledgeable with site designs, etc. with an in-house consultant. If we have a big project, we can bid it out. Said it’s good to have someone in house to make sure that tenants are abiding by our rules. Motion to approve. Whitley. Modified contract from the Upson County Development Authority. It has been used for similar purposes. Estimates will be given for tasks to ensure that there are no surprises. Approved.
6. New Business
a. County Farm Road Conceptual Presentation
190 acres to develop on. Conceptual done about 2 months ago. Wetlands were surveyed. The concept is not completed at this time. Fletcher. Been serving on the master plan committee working with Falcon. Feels like it’s important to keep the Authority in the loop. Ultimately the county will want the Authority to review the proposal and give an ok on this. She thanked Rogers from coming to the meeting to answer questions.
Brannon. Timeline on this? Rogers. Before we got the wetlands study back, the far side of wetlands was mostly economic development with the other side being county government and admin. But the wetland stream went through the Sheriff’s Office facility. We asked the architect, can this be worked around or should it be moved? Maybe a month or two months before we get this back. Falcon also gave us some stuff that I don’t think that the Authority was looking for so they are redoing this. Fletcher. Falcon originally wrote 3 buildings on 190 acres. We are smaller than that, and that is not Pike County.
Barker. If we are going to be developing the property, we need to look at how we are developing it. The county should only worry about the county part and leave the rest to us. Also has a problem with the math. County is funded by the taxpayer, and we are too. With this math, we are going to be paying interest on interest that we’ve already accrued. Paying for a lot of things that we are going to end up paying for twice, and that is not in the best interest of the taxpayer. This board should be more heavily involved in this process. Thinks that 140 acres rather than 190 because of the wetlands. We already paid for the wetlands survey.
We are paying more per acre than the county paid.
There has to be a 3 way funding mechanism for this between the county, city, and the Authority. The Zebulon Business Park has taken up until for infrastructure, etc. to get it filled out. This project needs to be on the tax base to augment the tax base. Funding mechanism has to be in place. $2.5 million property will likely take another $4 million to develop. We can’t fund the interest service on this debt. This needs to be separate from our present income.
Oglesby. The county commissioners have the ability to increase our millage rate. Rogers. Millage rate for 2025 hasn’t been set yet. Oglesby. Think we have a way to sign it. Barker. This has to be a multi-year contract. Brannon. We need something on paper. Rogers. The BOC is not trying to force anything down the Authority’s throat. We’re offering ideas to y’all. Fletcher and Brannon are on this Board. We need some specifics. 193 acres is going to be different. If Sheriff’s Office is moved, it will change everything. Intergovernmental agreement was discussed 6-8 months ago, but it was not completed. Too many attorneys were involved before. Oglesby. The same attorneys will be involved. Rogers. Hoping that the Authority would be the purchaser and sell to the county, but it got flipped because we thought we were going to lose this. Barker. How many usable acres are there out of the 238 acres that can be developed? Rogers. We went over that but he and Fletcher can’t remember the exact amount. Most of the issue with wetlands is not on the current property. The bad section is where we were hoping to put the Sheriff’s Office on.
Gwyn. Has Falcon actually been hired on this? $6,500 environmental and $20,000 for the Master Plan. We need to tell the attorneys what we want so we don’t end up with another $14,000 bill and no contract. Discussion on the stream on the property. Oglesby. It was suggested by our contractor to leave this open as greenspace/park for public use.
Walter. Did Falcon give a time line? Rogers. Waiting on Sheriff’s architect to design around the wetland or possibly move it. Can get the amount of usable land. Combined everything as one piece of property now. Walter. We have utilities running through this. Information has already been given to Falcon. This will have to be rezoned at some point. Future road issues should be discussed. Said that he shares Barker’s concerns. The City has a concern with a buffer around what they have now.
Rogers. What is the Authority looking to do besides complaining to him? Oglesby and Brannon. We have some concerns that need to be addressed. Barker. You find out what you need and let us know what we will have left to be the most efficient for the project. Oglesby. We need to outline what we want and tell our attorneys what we want. Brannon. Before was a waste. Gwyn. What do the commissioners want from us? Rogers. Told Authority members that they needed to be involved and tell what you want. Gwyn. The commissioners took this away from us. We want to do this in an efficient manner. Brannon. Need to get this three-way conversation started now so we can start together.
Oglesby. What are we going to do with county buildings in other places? Rogers. Possibly sell those to help pay for this debt. It can’t be a taxpayer funded thing. Brannon. Zebulon Business Park is almost full with less desirable lots all that is left.
Rogers. We want you guys to be a part of this. I know that you feel like the commissioners are driving this, but you guys are a big part of this. Barker. Act like it. Fletcher. Next step. Intergovernmental agreement. Walter. Need a picture of the land use. What about Adams Street? It will be much easier when we can see it. Fire station will be out that way too. Fletcher. We are still working on the Master Plan and will bring the visual of the Master Plan to the Authority. Who writes the Intergovernmental Agreement? Rogers. You and I draft it and present it to the Boards and then give to the attorneys to finalize. Brannon. Both groups have to be willing to say no. Rogers. As long as the Authority understands that this is a conceptual project that is changing, we don’t have a problem sharing that picture. Brannon. Let’s get that sent out. Barker. It all comes down to the funding mechanism. That was the issue before.
Motion to adjourn. 9 a.m.
Past Meetings that Pike County Times has attended
March 13, 2024 and April 3, 2024 IDA Meeting
August 21, 2023 New Development Authority Director Named
July 26, 2023 Special Called IDA Meeting
June 7, 2023 IDA Meeting and History and Background of the IDA
February 20, 2023 Joint Commission and IDA Special Called Meeting