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Wednesday, February 8, 2017 – 9:00 a.m.
Courthouse, Main Courtroom, 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, Georgia
We have a quorum of four commissioners today with Commissioner Tim Guy not present. County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye is present to take down the minutes, County Manager (CM) Hanson is present, and County Attorneys Rob and Tom Morton are present. [Note from the Editor: The County Manager and Commissioners are working very hard to help the public hear what is going on despite the acoustics in the Courtroom. It is appreciated!]
1. CALL TO ORDER .................................................................................... Chairman J. Briar Johnson
2. INVOCATION……………………………………………………………………………….Bart Brock
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 31, 2017 Regular Monthly Meeting.
Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
6. INVITED GUESTS
a. Employees to be recognized for their service to Pike County.
Donna Chapman has been with the county for 20 years. CM Hanson said that she runs an efficient office and has made her office available to the public. As a citizen, he said that he has had nothing but great service out of this office. Chairman Johnson commended Donna for working with his son for an hour to fix a tag issue. [Note from the Editor: I walked into the courthouse for a 6 p.m. meeting on a Thursday night and the office was still open.]
Judge Lynn Brandenburg has been with the county for 20 years. CM Hanson said that he runs his office well, does a good job with elections, and is one of the most frugal with county funds.
b. Mark Hardison from the accounting firm of Clifton, Lipford, Hardison & Parker, LLC to present the annual audit of the financial statements of Pike County for the year ending June 30, 2016.
Mark Hardison spoke on the report today. $1.6 million in the bank at the end of the year. Total assets of $3.1 million. $2.5 million in fund balance. It is split up into unassigned, assigned, non-expendable and committed projects. He commended us for our fund balance. Property taxes make up 57% of the taxes that are collected in our county. Expenditures are $9 million. Public Safety is 33% and Public Works at 20%.
[Note from the Editor: Mr. Hardison gave commissioners a copy of the budget and walked though it on the big screen though won’t be available yet to the public because they need to take up those copies and make one change. After that, if you would like to see a copy of the entire budget, it will be available to the public.]
The Health Department, J. Joel Edwards Library, Water and Sewer Authority, Agribusiness, Development Authority and the Recreation Authority are also audited by the same entity. One minor finding was found on the SPLOST and LMIG that had something to do with usage of line items. He commended Comissioners for a very clean report. Motion to receive the report. Approved 4-0.
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.
b. County Manager Report
Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ............................................................................................ $3,359,529.24
Fire Dept. Donations ........................................................................................ $4,595.25
BOC – Jury Account………………………………………………………………$0.00
Cash Reserve Account ........................................................................ ….....$506,093.10
Pike County CD Special Revenue funds………………………………………….$0.00
Jail Fund .......................................................................................................... $8,601.68
E-911 Fund .................................................................................................. $121,529.04
DATE Fund ................................................................................................... $41,304.20
Juvenile Court Fund ....................................................................................... $14,360.07
Residential Impact Fee ................................................................................ $381,297.36
Commercial Impact Fees ............................................................................... $19,362.64
C.A.I.P FUND ............................................................................................... $23,009.65
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2011 ...................... $541,093.24
L.M.I. Grant (DOT) ..................................................................................... $322,524.89
c. County Manager Comment
He said that he appreciates Mark and his staff working with him and the county staff on this audit. He said that the feedback from the various authorities, etc has been good.
There was a problem with hearing commissioners at the last meeting. They are continuing to work on this so citizens can hear what is going on. The monitor was an added feature for the audit presentation and we can use this in the future.
The relocations: Magistrate has moved in. Buildings and Grounds has done a great job. He thanked department heads for working with the county on this.
Tax Commissioner is the next move. The state phone line is an issue. We have coordinate with the state and the state coordinates with AT&T. The only time that it can be moved is the 17th. They have 5 days to check the phone line. March 1 is looking more like the move date for this office. Notifications will go out as this move occurs. Other moves will be easier than this because we won’t have any items out of our control like the phone line.
James Jenkins asked about specifics on the Sale of Assets. There were some items on the fall but CM Hanson said that he will verify that and get a firm number for that. He asked about Miscellaneous Revenue for $101,000. CM Hanson said that the City of Williamson paid into that for road work and that he can get the numbers for the rest of that. Jenkins also said that TAVT is still having a problem with True Up on this. CM Hanson said that this True Up is going to go away at some point and that our small counties like ours could be affected negatively by this but we don’t know for sure yet. Jenkins also asked about property taxes collection. CM Hanson said that the county is being more aggressive about collecting taxes and County Attorney Rob Morton said that the Tax Commissioner has sent out letters to those who have an outstanding balance for taxes.
Chairman Johnson said that he received some info by mail from the Census Bureau that he will share with the County Manager.
d. Commissioner Reports
Commissioner Daniel said that he is proud of our financial condition as a whole. He said that he heard of another county just this week that was told to up their fund balance.
Commissioner Powers said that our county has come a long way from four years ago and that we can thank John for working on this.
Commissioner Jenkins asked about the solar farm that came out in the news yesterday. Click here to read this breaking news article. CM Hanson said that they made an application and there is a constant feed of people watching for those items. He said that it has been discussed a couple of months ago but no application for it. They filed an application a couple of days ago, but that he normally lets the commissioners know about it. Hanson said that his intentions are to give info to commissioners when the application is submitted and that he can do this on a daily basis if they would like. CM Hanson knew that the company had inquired about the land, but they filed the application pretty quickly.
County Attorney Rob Morton said that we have to be careful as the prime decision maker on these applications to allow the process to work through but that ample information will be given to commissioners on this topic. There are many steps that have to be taken before it comes to the commissioners.
CM Hanson apologized to commissioners for them not having that information up front. He said that they will be apprised of this information as the application goes through the process over the next couple of weeks.
Commissioner Powers continued this discussion. Commissioners were advised that this company is looking at 3 or 4 different sites so this is not the only site. It still doesn’t mean that they will get the Georgia Power bid on this. The last one didn’t get the bid so it didn’t happen. Click here to read about the project from the 2014 meeting in which it was approved.
Chairman Johnson commended staff on the audit report.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners: None.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
a. Approve/deny Hazardous Inventory Site Resolution.
In 2012 and 2013, the county was added to the inventory list with the former county manager so we can get reimbursed or advanced money from a hazardous waste fund for the closure of the landfill if we have eligible expenses. County Attorneys Rob and Tom Morton actually got this started during their time as the interim county manager and has worked since then to make sure this happens. This resolution allows us to apply for these funds though we have no idea when or how much we might receive. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Consider one appointment to the Pike County Agribusiness Authority to fill an unexpired three-year term, set to expire March 31, 2019. Applicant has met criteria.
Mark Camp is the applicant and is present at the meeting. CM Hanson said that he would be a great addition to the Board and that the Board recommends him as well.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT- (Limited to 5 minutes per person) None
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION - None
12. ADJOURNMENT: 9:58 a.m.
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