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Thursday, January 19, 2012 – 9:30 am
The Depot, Corner of Highway 18 East/Depot Street, Zebulon, Georgia
(Continental Breakfast Items w/Coffee Available Prior – 9:00 am)
This meeting was informative, well-planned, and considerate of the time of those attending. I appreciate that very much. The continental breakfast and Oink Joint lunch were great! This is going to be a long haul for those who have never attended one of these meetings. I will continue to upload until the meeting is complete as I transcribe 15 pages of notes into something that is manageable but informative to the public about our government.
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1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Doug Mangham
2. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. 50-14-1 (e) (1))
3. COUNTY MANAGER COMMENTS County Manager Bill Sawyer
Some of the highlights from last year include the addition of two new commissioners, new Fire Chief Mike Grant, and new EMA Director Jimmy Totten, first clean audit in years, calcium chloride on roads--and people calling to ask for it shows that it's successful, renegotiation with Mid GA Ambulance that saved $55,000, reduced millage rate, asked for and had 2 bridges repaired with GDOT paying for it.
The Year 2011 in Review
4. INVITED GUESTS (8-10 minutes each please) 10:00 am
Local Legislator - State House Representative Billy Maddox, District 127
This is his 5th year at the state capital. (The Legislature is not in session this week.) He said that the budget is one of the most important issues there and that Georgia has a balanced budget. He brought a copy of the amended budget since the state is halfway through its fiscal year which runs from July 1st to June 1st each year. "Revenues have been trending moderately upward," he said. The state portion of its budget has been: 2009-$17.8 billion, 2010-$16.2, 2011-$17.5, 2012-$18.5, and 2013 is projected for $19.2 billion. The total budget is about $40 billion with much of this tied to specific federal government programs. He said that the Governor is talking about pumping money into education again including extensions to teachers' pay and the Pre-K program. Governor recommendations go to the House and then to the Senate before being signed into law. The amended budget will be passed first and the legislators will move on to the 2013 budget. He said that it looks like we're moving forward instead of backward with regard to the money and cuts in the budget this year. He said that the Legislature had a Special Session in August of 2011 to balance voting districts according to the Voter Rights Act, that a lot of time was spent working on local bills last year, and that a current issue that he is proposing is an exemption for solar farming with regard to CUVA. This would be for individuals and not for a big company to come in and set up to make huge profits off of selling power back to the power grid. Currently it is a violation of CUVA to do this. He also said that District 127 currently consists of Pike, Upson except for 2 voting districts, and about 1/4 of the voting districts in Lamar. With the new voting maps, our district will be District 131 and will consist of all of Pike and Upson and about 1/2 of southern Lamar County. Rep. Maddox was happy to answer questions throughout the day as he stayed throughout the entire meeting.
Mark Hardison - Clifton, Lipford, Hardison & Parker, CPAs
Ken represented the company and gave his congratulations to Pike County for a clean audit. Said it was the first in a while for us and overall for counties, it is more of an exception than a rule to get a clean audit. “It’s not easy to achieve… something to be proud of,” he said. He went through some end of the year questions in preparations for taxes. He said that a county employee who is also a volunteer firefighter should only receive a W-2 because the law is clear that they cannot also get a 1099. He said that the burden of proof is on the county and on the individual now and that the IRS says it is taxable unless you can prove otherwise. Also said that there is a greater level of scrutiny with the IRS now and that it’s important to make sure to comply with the law.
Dr. Michael Duncan - Pike County School Superintendent
Dr. Duncan said that there are 3,375 students in Pike County, 431 employees, 249 certified teachers, and the FY 2012 budget was $22 million with $15 being state and federal funds and $7 million being local funds. Based on the 2011 budget, the school system spent $6,731 per student—the 2nd lowest county school system expenditure in the state of Georgia. Per pupil revenue was $6,702 which is the 2nd lowest in the state including city and county systems. “100% of our teachers and parapros are highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind provisions,” he said, “…we have a 98% retention rate.” He said that the greatest single cause of student achievement over the last 7 or 8 years is the consistency of the instructional staff. All of the schools in the district have made Adequate Yearly Progress and Pike County is one of less than 30 in the state that have all schools in the district making AYP according to No Child Left Behind. We have an 86% graduation rate which is the 2nd highest graduation rate in history with 88% last year being the record. Advanced placement courses in the high school has a 62% pass rate which exceeds state, national and international pass rates. The school had champions in sports and academic activities alike last year. The school system is looking to renew SPLOST 4 (5 year SPLOST ) in November with an emphasis on renovating current facilities like repairing roofs, tiles, carpet, asphalt, painting, etc. and information on this will be going out pretty soon. And the School Board is projecting next year's budget to be in line with this year's budget. Commissioner Collins asked if there are plans to move the Board of Education to another location. Yes but the School Board wants to renovate a place without cost to the taxpayers. They also want to move the Bus Barn. He answered a question about expansion needs by saying that the district is adequately serving with space now but there will need to be a renovation to tech labs int eh future because of the push from the state on this and said that they are hoping to do this with SPLOST renovation instead of building new space. Commissioner Bass thanked him for working with the county on the Courthouse renovation project and said that the citizens overall benefit from this so anytime the school and county can work together toward a common goal, it's good for everyone. Especially if there is a way to work together to save tax dollars. More discussion included that the School Board is looking to renovate the auditorium with SPLOST 4.
Warden Edd Sanders - West Central Pre-Release Center
Warden Sanders advised Commissioners that the West Central Pre-Release Center is moving toward becoming a sentencing alternative to prison. He said that the state of Georgia is spending a lot of money to put substance abuse offenders in prison but that a standard 3 year sentence often results in a drug addict with better connections when released. He gave an example that a female offender who is approximately 50 years of age with multiple drug related arrests who has no past treatment history. Current sentence is 5 years to serve. Current status with time served to date is 2 years, 10 months and 21 days with an approximate, estimated minimum cost of $44,472. Estimated cost of 6 month rehabilitation plan will cost $9,000. According to the handout provided to commissioners, the primary goal of the Correctional Recovery Academy is “for program participants to learn real-life ways to help them remain out of prison and live a life free of crime and drugs.” Female probationers will spend 6 months in a residential substance abuse program and serve the remainder on probation. There will be programs during the day and work details in the afternoon with regular activities such as church and GED programs in the evening. He said that we probably won’t notice a difference in operations with the exception of the blue stripe on the uniforms. This program will be conducted by a private system—Spectrum Health Systems, Inc—in a partnership with the Georgia Department of Corrections. There are 187 beds in the facility that can be filled. He said that there is the possibility of adding about 18 more jobs in the community. Also said that it is cheaper to convert a facility than to build one. [Note from the Editor: Thanks to Edd for giving me his notes to compare against my own as I began uploading this meeting.]
Update 1.21.12:
County Attorney - Rob Morton
Morton and Morton represents the Board of Commissioners as well as the County Manager, employees, officers, etc. from Pike County as long as there is not a conflict with the Board of Commissioners. They deal with the County Manager on a daily basis as well as working with the Board of Equalization or other departments and offices to attending meetings for various boards or entities to writing and reviewing ordinances, contracts, resolutions, and giving legal advice on pending and potential litigation. He said that an inmate lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office has been resolved in the favor of the county over the past year. The Rakestraw case has been resolved and are currently working with the Magistrate Judge on her case and that may be resolved by May. Morton and Morton is currently working with the county to make needed preparations to ratify county code. The intent is to incorporate all changes and ratify county code on a yearly basis so everyone in county government will have a current updated Code of Ordinance. This process to ratify the entire Pike County Code of Ordinance that begins at the Planning Commission Meeting on February 8, 2012 and will come before the Board of Commissioners on February 28, 2012 for a first hearing with a final hearing currently scheduled for the second week of March. The rezoning map for the county will be ratified during these same dates too. Also working on the development of a couple of county departments—Water and Sewer Authority and Parks & Recreation Authority—and will be presenting this information to the commissioners soon along with a quit claim deed on the old Hollonville Fire Department and the intergovernmental agreement for the old Williamson Fire Station. Commissioner Bass asked if codification will be done in house. It will be done in house and will be renumbered so it will be easier to make changes to in the future and easy to post it online. Commissioner Jarrett asked about how to pay for this. The only cost will be associated with cost of paper. Commissioner Bass asked if this could be paid out of the Law Library Fund. CM Sawyer said yes. Commissioner Collins asked about agreements with cities for code enforcement. There are intergovernmental agreements in place with Molena and Williamson that we provide assistance with building permits and inspections and the cities prosecute code enforcement violations with the help of our Director of Planning and Development and they prosecute violators in municipal courts rather than Magistrate in many cases.
5. PRESENTATIONS BY DEPARTMENT HEADS - (5-6 minutes each please) 10:45 am
Cindy Foster - Tax Assessors
Overview of this office is that there are now 3 employees who report to the Chief Appraiser. Contract Field Appraiser John Peavy resigned in August. Her office reports to the Board of Assessors. There is one position open on the Board of Assessors (BOA). The BOA and the Assessor’s Office are charged with conducting an annual evaluation of property in the county. The tax digests must conform to state guidelines so there will be uniformity and no bias. Our Sales Ratio Study last year was 39.72% and was within the proper range so the county was allowed to assess utility properties at 40%. This office does inspections on real and personal property value returns, accepts conservation use (CUVA) applications, forest land applications, maintain all tax records and sales from last year and do mapping. www.pikeassessor.com is their website and it contains a link to mapping called QPublic. This office does inspections on real and personal property value returns, accepts conservation use (CUVA) applications, forest land (FLPA) applications, maintain all tax records and sales from last year and do mapping. www.pikeassessor.com is their website and it contains a link to mapping called QPublic. If anyone wants to appeal their assessment, instructions on how to do this are on the website and available in their office. They received 280 homestead exemption applications, 248 returns, 272 CUVA applications, 3 FLPA (forest) applications, and 730 appeals. Around 40 appeals went to the Board of Equalization which is now under the Superior Court. The county won all of its appeals based on previous year sale values and the audit report. Goal this year is to produce the Tax Digest by August 1, 2012. "As of January 1, 2012 for the Board of Assessors, all accessories under $1,000 value are to be changed to $1 and all prebilled mobile home values changed to the NAD value..." Last year, House Bill 233 mandated that the county had to accept the lower of the sales price or our value for the sale year. After one year, the price changes back to our value. Her staff and the Board of Assessors will continue needed education to meet qualifications. Cindy passed her Appraiser 4 exam last year. Commissioner Collins asked how current we are in our evaluations. Cindy said that sales for this past year are going down and that we haven't done a reevaluation since 2004-2005. We didn't raise our values like other counties have done. Commissioner Collins asked if she had the staff that she needed in her office and she said no though the county's financial situation was mentioned right after that question and answer in a way that didn't sound like another employee was really an option right now.
Update 1.24.12:
David Allen - Planning & Development
This office issues building permits and business licenses, conducts inspections and code inspections in Pike County--and in Molena and Williamson through an intergovernmental agreement, does geographic mapping for parcels (GIS), works with the Planning Commission to process all text amendments and changes to the Code of Ordinance, collects Impact Fees for the county, with the Board of Appeals to process special exceptions and variances, works with the Tax Assessor's Office. He said that Impact Fee collection this past year brought about the resurfacing of Cook Road and Caldwell Bridge Road and repairs and improvements to the Pike County Library. They also worked with the the Tax Assessor Department to align 43 outdated and inactive commercial and industrial properties and return them to A-R (agricultural-residential) zoning. Also 30 current commercial and industrial properties were forwarded to the Tax Assessor to make sure that the properties were being taxed properly. “This resulted in significant tax revenue being returned to the county,” he said. David said that the county is in the process of codifying its code as was done in 2009 and 2010 to ensure that all code books are up to date and updating the county zoning map to reflect changes to the properties formerly mentioned. “We cautiously optimistic of the economy in 2012 with comparison in the status of permits from 2010 versus 2011.” County permit numbers have increased by 30%, business license number by 20%, impact fee numbers by 60%, and total revenue by 27%. Building of Dollar General in Williamson, extension of Johnson Battery in Zebulon, and renovation of the Courthouse promises a very busy year for his office. Commissioner Collins commented that since David has been the leader of that department, it has improved dramatically--the office and the job and the information that commissioners are getting now are improved. He commended David for working with less as far as personnel goes and getting the job done that wasn't done before. He asked a question about parcels and taxation. David said that he would get that list to the BOC. Commissioner Bass commented on 2009 to 2010 Impact Fees. David said that a current one will be presented for the past year.
Helen Carter - Cooperative Extension (County Agent) - (Was not at the meeting today-reason not given though I am sure there was a good reason for not being there)
Jimmy Totten - Emergency Management Agency (EMA)
EMA's job in Pike County is to help prepare the cities and the county and eventually even the departments for when a disaster hits. He said the Pike County dodged a major disaster last year but we know it’s coming. EMA worked with E-911 to do the first update since the system went live in 2003 or 2004. Said that an early warning system was needed after the disasters stuck last April and that sirens were not economically feasible so we are in the process of getting a call back system in place. We are looking at going live the first full week of February during Severe Weather Awareness Week. This system will call residents when there is a tornado warning, etc. There will also be a way for residents to register their cell phones online. The majority of the cost for the early warning system was paid for with one grant and a local donation which brought it down to $3,500. EMA opened a line of communication with the school system over the past year. The first live disaster drill is coming up in February with participation expected from multiple counties and organizations. EMA is also working to be proactive by bringing together faith-based organizations and the Red Cross in preparations for future disasters because faith-based organizations and volunteers were a basis for community help in Spalding and Lamar Counties after the local tornado disasters. EMA, Mike Grant, and Randy Snyder are also working with surrounding counties to pool resources to build a mulit-county rescue team. EMA is working to update disaster plans and disaster classes are coming up. Commissioners commended EMA Director Totten on the job he has been doing. It was said at the end of question and answer time that only one half of the county is in the database for 911 for this emergency call out warning system. There will be advertisements and mail outs sent to residents to let them know how to sign up for this program and sign up additional phones so people can be notified in case of tornado warnings as soon as this program goes live.
Kevin Teate - Parks and Recreation
The Pike County Parks & Recreation Authority is governed by a seven member volunteer board appointed by the Board of Commissioners. It meets on the 2nd Monday of each month at 7 pm in the BOC meeting room. Parks & Rec consists of a 95 acre park at 35 Twin Oaks Road which contains facilities for baseball, softball, football, and soccer as well as pavilions, restrooms, concessions, playgrounds, and a ½ mile lit walking track. There are 6 full-time (FT) staff consisting of three maintenance staff, Recreation Assistant, Athletic Coordinator and Director. There are also seasonal part-time (PT) staff during the season like concession workers, park security, gym supervisors and scorekeepers. It operates on an 8-5 hours schedule Monday through Friday. Parks & Rec operates like a small business and has separate membership with ACCG, carries its own insurance, has a separate annual audit, provides youth softball, football, and basketball programs, oversees associations for baseball, soccer, and cheerleading though Parks & Rec staff could administer these programs if it was necessary. All coaches and volunteers are required to pass a criminal background check and be certified through an approved program. Out of county participants are allowed to play but must pay a $25 out of county fee. Also have a good relationship with the school system and are sharing facilities for softball and basketball activities. He said that events have a positive impact on Pike's economy since money is spent at local restaurants and businesses around special events and special programs such as tournaments bring in additional funds from out of county visitors. Current events include the annual Easter Egg Hunt, Donuts with Santa, and Movies in the Park--which they hope to offer again next summer. They also celebrated Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October by painting pink ribbons on the field and donating 25% of the youth concession sales one Saturday. They hope to have a Daddy-Daughter Dance around St. Patrick's Day. He also said that they are in discussions about possibly offering Pride of Pike Independence Day Celebration this year. A decision will be made on whether to go forward with this in February. Improvements include 2 new playgrounds, a new ADA compliant football restroom building, ADA renovations and a new roof for the softball restrooms, new roof for the baseball concession building, 4 AED units have been purchased or donated and available if needed--and all FT staff and most of concession staff is CPR and AED certified, new fencing and scoreboards have been installed, handicap access to upper soccer fields, and so much more. Goals include acquiring more land and expanding services to include all ages, not just the youth. Want to expand facilities to include instructional classes and activities such as ceramics, fitness, karate, etc. that could be held in an indoor facility through the enclosing of the soccer pavilion that can be rented out in order to bring in additional revenue. [Note from the Editor: Thanks to Kevin for giving me notes to compare against my own as I began uploading this meeting.]
Mike Grant - Fire Department
Pike County Emergency Services (PCES) is an all volunteer fire department that provides fire suppression and prevention, emergency personnel, and rescue services to our county. We have seven stations located throughout the county staffed by approximately 100 volunteers. About 50 of those volunteer firefighters are crosstrained as EMTs, paramedics, and first responders. There were 1,437 fire calls in 2011 which equals out to about 4 calls per day for firefighters. There were no fire-related civilian injuries or fatalities, but there were three minor fire-related firefighter injuries. There were 32 public education events with firefighters teaching how important prevention is. The Fire Department is now computerized with reports, etc. rather than on paper and there are written personnel rules and regulations now so there is a standard for all seven departments to follow. They have applied for FEMA grants for equipment and vehicle acquisition. The City of Molena will soon begin working on its new fire station through the help of the Mobile Construction Inmate Detail from the Department of Corrections (through the help of Warden Edd Sanders from the West Georgia Pre-Release Center). This will save them a lot of money. Held, in cooperation with Mid Georgia Ambulance, a National Registry Emergency Medical Responder Course which graduated 13 first responders at no cost to taxpayers. An Advanced 14 month EMT course is ongoing that attendees are taking on their own time and paying for with their own money. In April of 2011, personnel responded to Upson, Lamar, and Meriwether counties to assist with tornado damage as well as other weather-related incidents this past year. Firefighters completed storm damage assessments, searched for civilian casualties, and helped clear storm debris. Our firefighters worked in conjuction with Public Works and Director Todd Goolsby to open up roads in disaster situations. In August, Captain Brian Michel was awarded the American Legion Firefighter of the Year at the American Legion’s national convention after being nominated by Pike Post 197. There have been 3 precious lives saved this year PCES personnel. 6 personnel were presented with life-saving awards in December. PCES updated the level of service to the county by putting a rescue truck (donated by Mid GA Ambulance and painted by Supreme Corporation) into service. It will not transport but personnel are cross-trained to use it to save lives. Molena will be getting their ISO rating in February. Chief Grant then laid out plans and goals for the department. He said that volunteer is not free and pointed out that PCES volunteers have saved the county a ton of money. He made a plea for making sure that the firefighters are properly equipped to fight fires because old gear isn't safe. He ended by thanking CM Sawyer and the BOC for supporting PCES. [Note from the Editor: Thanks to PCES for giving me notes to compare against my own as I began uploading this meeting.]
Update 1.27.12:
Sandi Chamblin - Registrar
This is going to be a busy upcoming year with elections. There are 10,158 active voters in Pike County. There are 1,181 inactive voters who would become active simply by voting in one of the upcoming elections. There will be 4-5 elections next year. March 6th is the Presidential Primary. July 31st is the General Primary. T-SPLOST is non-partisan and will be on the July 31st General Primary. August 21st is the Run Off for the July Election if it is needed. November 6th is the General Election and December 4th is the Run Off if it is needed. There are new voting maps for the state because of the 2010 Census. Her office is in the process of sending out new precinct cards to everyone and the state will be paying for this instead of the county. "I enjoy my position and am proud to proud to serve the citizens of Pike County," she said. Citizens can come by her office any time.
Todd Goolsby - Public Works
May 1st will mark Todd's five year anniversary with Pike County Public Works. He said that responsibilities and duties for this department have changed drastically over the past five years. Building and Maintenance was put under Public Works last year with only one employee after two positions were eliminated. He commended all departments for helping with the trash over the past year. There are 17 employees in Public Works along with 5 unfilled positions. They work 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday with someone on call for Fridays and the weekends. He outlined the routine maintenance for Pike County roads. There are 3 rounds of mowing every year on paved roads from March through October. When he came to Public Works, they were mowing year round and never caught up. This is a savings on fuel and frees up 4 employees to work on other tasks during the off months. There are only two personnel who can work on mowing dirt roads so they make one round every year keeping the roads cut back for safety issues and taking care of calls when they come in. Public Works is working with the Sheriff's Office on theft of road signs. "Every day we are replacing road signs," he said. If you see a sign gone, let Public Works know so they can get it put up to help with 911 and finding the roads. If you see someone pushing a sign over with their vehicle to take the sign, let the Sheriff's Office know so they can catch them. All the maintenance and repairs on county vehicles are done at Public Works now. This is a substantial savings to the county. Some of the special projects that they have done this year include spending about six hours helping Spalding County clear trees on Kings Bridge Road and Hwy 362 after the tornado came through. "It was a traffic nightmare [with all the trees down]," he said. Inmate crews from the West Central Pre-Release Center also formed a chainsaw crew and helped out. Public Works graded the horse arena at Chesnut Oaks for the Ag Authority, graded the ground for the Molena Fire Station to go up, and graded the Shackleford Road well site for the Water and Sewer Authority. Todd currently serves Pike County on the Area Transportation Committee and said that the county can get some paving done if the T-SPLOST goes through. Completed projects include working with the state to repair Caldwell Bridge Road bridge and 3.7 miles was resurfaced through state funds--Beeks Road and Powder Creek Road. Projects have been put through GADOT for this year but they haven't heard back from them yet. Todd said that Public Works stayed within or underbudget on all line items this past year by pinching pennies and employees even sometimes bringing tools from home to work on county vehicles. Commissioner Collins mentioned other places that they have been mowing around like watersheds, the Library, and Williamson City Hall as well. He asked if they had gotten the compactor that they asked for two years ago and was told no. He said that maybe that could be a consideration with money coming in better now and money saved. Commissioner Bass commended Todd for saving the county money and pointed out that the turnover rate is non-existent now. "What you have done is phenomenal."
6. PRESENTATIONS BY CONSTITUTIONAL/ELECTED OFFICERS 11:45 am
Sheriff Jimmy Thomas Sheriff’s Office, Jail, Inmate Care, E911 with Majors Jason Smith, Tracy Vincent, Doug Morris, David Neal
Carolyn Williams - Superior Clerk of Court
County Commission District 2 Tamra Jarrett (She had to leave the meeting early and asked to be able to speak before she left.)
7. Lunch Break (Lite lunch will be provided) 12:30 pm
8. PRESENTATIONS BY CONSTITUTIONAL/ELECTED OFFICERS, Continued 1:15 pm
Judge Lynn Brandenburg - Probate Court
Donna Wynn - Tax Commissioner
Judge Marcia Callaway-Ingram - Magistrate Court
9. PRESENTATIONS (5-6 minutes each please) 2:00 p.m.
Commissioners Office County Clerk - Teresa Watson
Development Authority of Pike Update/Projections - Matt Wood
Pike Community Resource Network Update/Projections - Michael Powell
Status of 2011 SPLOST Projects - County Manager Bill Sawyer
Finance and Long-Range Planning Outlook - County Manager Bill Sawyer
10. OTHER BUSINESS
11. PUBLIC COMMENT- (Limited to 5 minutes per person) 2:30 pm
12. COMMISSIONERS’ COMMENTS Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, At-Large
13. FINAL COMMENTS County Manager Bill Sawyer
14. ADJOURNMENT 3:30 pm