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Tuesday, February 24, 2015 – 6:30 p.m.
Courthouse Annex, 79 Jackson Street, Zebulon, Georgia
All five commissioners were present. County Clerk Jo Anne Wrye, County Manager (CM) John Hanson and County Attorneys Tom and Rob Morton were also present.
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))
a. Minutes of the January 27, 2015 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 March. Revenue/Expenditure Statement and Detail Check Register is included.
b. County Manager Report
▫ Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ............................................................................................ $4,015,760.41
Fire Dept. Donations........................................................................................ $1,200.82
Cash Reserve Account................................................................................. $419,772.90
Jail Fund ........................................................................................................ $28,720.51
E-911 Fund .................................................................................................... $80,291.09
DATE Fund ................................................................................................... $36,380.88
Juvenile Court Fund....................................................................................... $17,303.61
Residential Impact Fee ................................................................................ $289,184.87
Commercial Impact Fees ............................................................................... $11,430.42
C.A.I.P FUND............................................................................................... $20,000.46
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2011...................... $109,131.05
L.M.I. Grant (DOT)..................................................................................... $571,918.27
c. County Manager Comments.
The county is keeping an eye on the weather. Trash will be addressed later in the meeting.
d. Commissioner Reports.
Commissioner Tim Daniel said that he received a lot of complaint calls about trash after his number went on facebook.
Commissioner Guy said that he also received a couple of complaints. Howell Road needs the ditches to be pulled. The trash is a problem for the county and the citizens. We appreciate those who volunteer to clean up but says that they need to do something as a commission and maybe raising a fine a little higher is something that they should do.
Commissioner Powers said that he received a couple of road complaints. When it gets dry enough so the Road Department can work, it will be corrected. He said that the county also needs to address trash as well.
Commissioner Jenkins said that he and his family get out there and pick up trash along the roads and that all of the commissioners need to be an example to others.
Chairman Johnson said that he used to put gloves on and dig through a bag of trash when he was a deputy and take a ticket to people so they had to appear in Magistrate Court to answer for it.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners: None.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Approve/deny the Second reading and adoption of text amendment to Chapter 91, Animal Control Ordinance, to add Section 91.10, Confiscation of Classified Dogs, and Section 91.11, Impoundment Facility, plus the necessary correction of typographical errors and the clarification of certain provisions within the Ordinance.
Not much has changed from the last meeting. Planning and Development Director David Allen stressed that this is for dangerous and vicious dogs only. Motion to approve. Approve 5-0.
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Approve/deny, per County Code Section 155.03 (A), plat revisions to a subdivided residential lot off of Walker Road.
This concerns Lot 7 on this previously approved plat of land. It was created in 2003. A good portion was foreclosed on in 2010. The lot has been sold to a couple who would like to subdivide it one more time. It would be a 4 acre and 3.75 acre. It meets all of the county requirements for road footage, etc. This was originally platted as a subdivision and is simply adding lots. Current code requires the commission to approve this. Motion to approve. 5-0.
b. Approve/Deny the Pike County Hazard Mitigation Plan Update 2015-2020 and to authorize Chairman J. Briar Johnson to sign Resolution, Jimmy Totten to present the plan.
EMA Director Jimmy Totten and Lux Mitigation and Planning Corporation's CEO and owner, Katy Westbrook, were present to discuss this. This 5 year plan is required by FEMA. There were several meetings with citizens, cities, personnel etc. to discuss possible hazards that could impact the county over the next five years. The prevention of loss of property and life were discussed. There are things that we may be working on in the future. The reverse callback system for emergencies was on the prior plan. If we do not have this plan, we are not allowed to apply for certain grants like the grant that we are working on for tornado sirens. The cities will approve after the county approves and then FEMA. The goal is to have an annual meeting rather than doing a series of meeting every five years. We did in kind work on this so we did not have to pay anything and FEMA paid for Westbrook’s services.
Tom Morton said that there was a lot of work that went into this program and commended Jimmy and Katy for their work in presenting this to all of the cities. He and Rob were there at all of the meetings. Commissioner Guy commended them for their work as well.
Motion to approve it with the changes that were stipulated and to have Chairman Johnson to sign it. Approved 5-0.
c. Approve/deny request from Anna Evans and Beth Jones for a resolution to designate the month of April as Litter Prevention month.
. CM Hanson met with them this week about this. He said that everyone who is concerned about this is on the same page though there may be different approaches to how we deal with it. It is going to take the cities, churches, civic groups, citizens and everyone working together on this. We’re going to have to change the culture of what we do. Anna Evans is the President of the Concord Garden Club. This is a community-minded group of women concerned with how the environment effects our families. Economic, social, etc. effects of litter have been her focus over the past year. They sponsor Lunch and Learn every year and "reuse, repurpose, recycle" will be the topic this year. She said that good companies will not bring their business to a trashy county. Property values go down. It makes citizens angry and there is also a danger because of animals that go through that trash.
She asked that the county designate April 2015 for Pick Up Pike month. She asked the county to purchase, place, and maintain anti-litter signs that warn of fines for litter and also that commissioners ask the Sheriff to direct deputies to write tickets and ask the the courts issue fines for littering. She also asked the newspaper to write about the impact of litter on our county. [Note from the Editor: I will be happy to print letters to the editor that will help educate citizens about this topic. I have publicized Pick Up Pike's efforts to clean up around the county in the past as well.] She asked that our state reps be asked to write a bill to allow the Sheriff’s Office to issue citations for litter even if the citizens are from outside of that county. She also asked them to look into reactivating Pike Clean and Beautiful, advised commissioners about Pick Up Pike, and asked them to look into expanding recycling here in the county.
She said that they support the statewide campaign to use reusable bags instead of plastic bags and are sponsoring an anti-litter contest for 3, 4, and 5th grades here in Pike County. She also talked about Burma Shave signs and wants to make a similar campaign about littering using signs around the county where signs wouldn’t stay up for long and would only be used during the month of April. She is asking for old campaign signs that they will repaint and reuse. A Novel Experience Bookstore will be the place to bring these signs. She asked to hold a county wide clean up the week after Easter-April 11th and 12th--and they want to recognize those who clean up along the roadside. Catch them doing good! [Note from the Editor: Send a picture of litter clean up to editor@pikecountytimes.com and I'll be happy to upload it!] She asked the commissioners to help mobilize the citizens of our county and said that she thinks that prisoners picking up trash is helping to justify the bad behavior of litterbugs. She said that we need to work with everyone and create a sense of pride in our environment.
CM Hanson said that we are working with Ben Dunn to have people out here the entire week of April 6 to be the kick off week for this. These are not prisoners but are people who are fulfilling their community service hours in our community. Discussion that our ordinance says $250 is the top fine for littering and said that we probably need to add something to make offenders do community service to pick up litter and help change bad behavior. We as a county can help campaign for this. People who live here are helping make this a mess even though there may be some from out of town doing it from out of time. The county is doing the best it can to help with this.
Discussion whether the county is approving the use of signs or just the proclamation. Rob Morton said that the Board is simply approving the proclamation. [Note from the Editor: I don’t see how this would be any different from rules governing political signs during campaign season and don't see a problem with it.] Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
d. Approve/deny to amend Barnstormers Grill Liquor Pouring License to include distilled spirits.
The Commission passed an ordinance regulating the sale of liquor by the drink based on the vote of citizens in 2014. On this current application, there was a $350 application fee for beer and another $350 for wine. Discussion that there is no approved amount for distilled spirits/liquor by the drink at this point and that this was blank on the application but that Barnstormers would like to do this as well. Barnstormers paid $700 for this application so far. Commissioner Daniel said that in surrounding counties, the fee for liquor by the drink is higher than beer and wine. Jenkins said that we shouldn’t gouge our businesses by doing making the fee higher than the other two. Motion to approve this application. 4-0-1 with Commissioner Guy abstaining on this. Motion that the application fee for distilled spirits be $350. 4-0-1 with Guy abstaining. The County Clerk will contact Barnstormers about the remaining $350.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT- (Limited to 5 minutes per person) – None
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION - None
12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn. 7:18 p.m.
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