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Tuesday, May 31, 2016 - 6:30 PM
Courthouse Annex, 79 Jackson Street, Zebulon, Georgia
All five commissioners are present along with County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye to take the minutes, County Manager (CM) John Hanson and County Attorneys Rob and Tom Morton. The room as standing room only within a few minutes of the meeting starting.
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
a. Minutes of the May 11, 2016 Regular Monthly Meeting.
b. Minutes of the May 11, 2016 Special Call Meeting.
c. Minutes of the May 26, 2016 Special Call 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 June. Revenue/Expenditure Statements and Detail Check Register is included. Financials
b. County Manager Report
Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund $1,847,426.65
Fire Dept. Donations $3,944.05
Cash Reserve Account $3,645.93
Jail Fund $22,020.26
E-911 Fund $79,214.77
DATE Fund $38,178.27
Juvenile Court Fund $14,235.83
Residential Impact Fee $341,226.36
Commercial Impact Fees $19,356.99
C.A.I.P Fund $22,373.88
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2011 $650,458.19
L.M.I. Grant (DOT) $404,286.63
BOC - Jury Account $0.00
Pike County CD Special Revenue $1,000,000.00
c. County Manager Comments.
In a letter dated May 30, 2016 and presented to the Pike County Commission in last night’s county commission meeting, commissioners were advised that Pike County’s rating was lowered to a 5/10 for 95% of the county with most of the county going from a 6 to a 5. Qualifications for a 5 require being within a 5 mile radius of a fire station however so there are a few places in the county that do not qualify. Click here to read about Pike County's ISO rating in depth in this breaking news article.
County Manager John Hanson praised Chief O’Barr for his hard work on the ISO rating because he headed up the project on his own personal time (he is a volunteer as well). He pointed out that the water shuttle test made a difference in the ISO rating and noted that there is still room for improvements with the Board of Commissioners and the Fire Department as well.
d. Commissioner Reports.
Commissioner Tim Guy commended the Fire Chief on a job well done at the expense for himself with all of the volunteer hours that he has put into this.
Chairman Johnson attended the Memorial Day service and praised Pike Post 197 for a job well done.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners.
County Attorney reported that there is no report except that they worked with Chief O'Barr to put together mutual aid agreements with surrounding entities that assisted with with the lowered ISO rating. He also commended the Fire Chief on a job well done.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Consider two appointments to West Georgia Region 4 EMS Council to fill a two-year term, set to expire June 30, 2018. Applicants have met criteria.
Jimmy Totten and Malia Daniel from Grady EMS. EMA Director Jimmy Totten is a renewal. Motion to approve both. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
b. Consider one appointment to Pike County Family and Children Services Board to fill a fiveyear term, set to expire June 30, 2021. Applicant has met criteria
Michael Powell. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
c. Consider two appointments to Pike County Recreation Authority to fill a three-year term, set to expire June 30, 2019. Applicant has met criteria
David Reeves. Howard Busby III. Motion to approve both. Approved 5-0.
d. Consider one appointment to the Pike County Tax Assessor Board to fill a six-year term, set to expire April 14, 2022. Applicant has met criteria.
Daniel Kelly. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
Prior to beginning this portion of the meeting, Chairman Johnson explained that there will be 20 minutes for those in favor and 20 minutes for those in opposition. Then the public hearing will be closed so commissioners can discuss each option.
e. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input in regards to SE-16-04 - Toye H. Garner,
property owner and executor for Betty Louise Hanson, and Robbie Garner, applicant, are
requesting a special exception in an A-R zoned district to allow for the operation of a General
Home Occupation (repair shop) on the subject property. The subject property, located at
2670 Vega Road, has approximately 840 feet of frontage along the southern side of Vega
Road. The property is located in Land Lot 141 of the 8th District of Pike County, Georgia.
The property consists of 14.47 acres and is further identified as Tax Map Parcel #096 008.
Action: Discuss/Approve/Deny
Planning and Development Director David Allen addressed the Board first. He said that the recommendation is for this business to get a business license, go by the sign ordinance, repair items not visible, no cars, etc. not belonging there shall be repaired there.
In favor:
Several spoke in favor of this Special Exception. One neighbor said that Robbie is a man who does his job well, that she doesn’t want to see a junky business on her road and doesn’t think that will be the case with Robbie. Another said that he feels fortunate to have Robbie fix items for him and that he also knows Robbie from church. He said that they would love for them to have their business there across from his church. Another said that any time a father quits his job to spend more time with family is a good thing. He says that he calls Robbie whenever he needs help and that if Robbie says that he will do something, he will. The pastor from Mountain Gap also praised Robbie for spending more time at home and said that he is an asset to the community and his business will be as well because he is a man of his word. Another said that Robbie would be the person that someone could call and he could make any corrections that are needed as far as the business goes. He said that Robbie is just trying to be at home with his family and he supports him in this.
No opposition. Public hearing closed.
Commissioner Tommy Powers asked about the noise level and said that it would be a good idea to set a time like 8 to 8 for business hours. Motion to approve with conditions above was well as the 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours and a limitation of working only Monday through Saturday. Approved 5-0.
f. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input in regards to SE-16-05 – Stephen W. Mullins,
property owner, and Stephen W. Mullins and Alisa Mullins, applicants, are requesting a special
exception in an A-R zoned district to continue a dog breeding business on the subject property
with more than 10 adult dogs. The subject property, located at 3803 Turner Road, has
approximately 248 feet of frontage along the western side of Turner Road. The property is
located in Land Lot 185 of the 1st District of Pike County, Georgia. The property consists of
7.87 acres and is further identified as Tax Map Parcel #038 006 E.
Action: Discuss/Approve/Deny
Conditions: limited to 20 max, business license, copies of all state inspection reports delivered annually, Pike County Animal Control will check it out and can revoke license if our Animal Control Ordinance gets continued violations.
The Board of Appeals recommended that any over 20 be removed within 2 months and look into better animal waste control removal.
No one spoke on this.
Commissioner discussion included Chairman Johnson asked about concrete and paving it later. This was a requirement for Animal Control and Director Allen said that it was the appropriate thing to do. Chairman Johnson asked if this should be a county requirement. The Zoning Director said that he wasn’t comfortable with the waste being spread on a pasture with a pond close by. Commissioner Daniel said that he was more concerned about the concrete than the manure. County Attorney Morton said that the commissioners can add to the list of conditions if needed. He suggested asking about the concrete to the property owner and possibly add a stipulation with time on this if needed. He said that there is a difference between the county and a business.
The business owner was asked to come forward and commissioners asked some questions like: How long operated? Only done it a couple of years and it is so small that they had 6-8 months in that 3 year period when did nothing. They have discussed concrete and concrete blocks. Concrete is expensive. Commissioner Guy asked if the county can go back on this according to our regulations if there are complaints and was advised that Pike County Animal Control's periodic inspections will cover a lot of this. They plan to do 4 small breeds with another that is a little bigger, but the biggest is 35 pounds. The state will also be doing annual inspections as well.
Motion to approve with conditions. Approved 5-0.
g. PUBLIC HEARING; To receive public input in regards to SE-16-06 – Inman J. Burford, Jr.
and Patricia C. Janicak, property owners, and Paul Forgey, applicant, are requesting a special
exception in an A-R zoned district to allow for firearms training classes, CPR and first aid
courses, and land navigation courses on the subject property. The subject property, located
off of Wood Creek Road, has approximately 40 feet of frontage along the southwest side of
Wood Creek Road. The property is located in Land Lot 197 of the 1st District of Pike
County, Georgia. The property consists of 52.31 acres and is further identified as Tax Map
Parcel #052 004.
Action: Discuss/Approve/Deny
BOA recommended denial and staff recommends denial. Director Allen advised that he received a petition against the shooting range this morning and gave a copy to each of the commissioners.
In favor: Patricia Janicak spoke and said that she went out there a week ago to the back of the property. She said that the berms are not going to be close to the creek. She said that there will noise, but it will be muffled by the woods. Police officers, military, security, etc. will be trained there. She said that people need to be trained properly and that the man who will be doing the training should be allowed to train those who are protecting our country, etc.
Paul Forgey said that he has been doing this for 31 years and specifically picked the property because they can be safe there. They exceed the EPA’s government guidelines. The berms will be 25 feet high and lined with plastic. He said that it is not a shooting range. This will be a private training endeavor with a lot of training before people are even allowed to shoot a gun on the property. 3 to 1 teacher ratio. He teaches state mandate classes and helps put people to work. He said that he is there to help people and that this is 3 to 4 hour classes and not consistent shooting. They also do CPR classes. He believes that this is his ministry and asked for a special exception so he can collect money for his work. He stressed that it is not a shooting range and that people from all over the world come to train with him.
Paul’s wife said that the government paid him to learn through the Marines and that he wants to take what the military taught him and teach it to everyday people like us to defend themselves and it is needed. She said that he has done his homework on this property to be sure that it will be a safe facility, and that if he says something, he will do it. He teaches First Aid, CPR, and land navigation as well as self defense.
Steve Weston (it may have been Wesson) said that Paul is his son in law and that people need to know the classes that he can teach. He also praised the commissioners for opening the meeting with prayer.
Pam Weston said that Paul is dependable and will do whatever he says he will do. One of her sons was almost fatally injured a couple of years ago as a police officer and because of the training that he received, he survived.
Opposition.
Nancy Bradshaw said that she appreciates what Mr. Forgey can do and says that she doesn’t want a gun range next to her property. She said that the hours have changed from 9 to 5 and now 9 to 7 and that will be most of their weekend gone so it directly affects their quality of life.
Troy Bradshaw. Lives next to the property and is opposed to it because of the noise. He said that his intentions are good, but that this is not the place to be doing this. He mentioned wetlands and horses being scared by shooting from hunting and that this will bring more traffic to the road as well.
A lady named Brandy spoke who lives behind this property. She said that she appreciates him wanting to teach people, but doesn’t want shooting going on right there next to her house.
Cody Tucker lives on a piece of property that touches the property. He has been a competitive shooting and attended classes for shooting, but opposes it for safety reasons and that bullets get out of berms even with competitive shooters. Any direction within 2 miles is populated and accidents can happen with a bullet getting over a berm.
John Tucker owns adjacent property and said that they will have disruption to their peace and quiet on Saturdays if this place is allowed to open because the noise will travel even with suppressors on the AR15’s. He said that a dozen shooters with 200 rounds at a time on a Saturday afternoon is a lot and that about everyone but 2 residents on the road have signed the petition against this. He said that he has shot competitively nationwide and knows the noise from this and is in favor of proper training but that this is not the proper place for it. Noise, traffic, safety considerations were his concerns.
Loretta Tucker, related to the Tuckers above, said that info about the training makes it sound like there is no other place to get training for firearms but that her husband has sponsored training at the Griffin Gun Club and that there are better, safer places for this besides Pike County. She said that this may be his dream, but that her family has worked hard for their dream there now with raising children and some animals and wants that to be considered.
Public hearing closed.
No discussion. Commissioner Guy made a motion to deny based on the safety issues that have been presented tonight. He said that this has come across the table for them in the past with the same issues including a stray bullet possibly killing someone. He praised Mr. Forgey for the training that he does but said that it needs to be in an indoor facility. Commissioner Powers 2nd. Board members suggested that an indoor range would be something that they would be willing to look at because they have turned down outdoor ranges in the past.
This facility is denied. 5-0.
h. Approve/deny award of bid regarding the resurfacing of Pike County roads and streets.
Sealed bids were examined after they were opened in a previous meeting. The low bidder is CW Mathews out of Marietta. CM Hanson has talked to the cities and looked at the roads. Now that each city knows how much money they have to work with, they have recommended what roads they want to be stricken from the list for now.
CM Hanson asked for approval on this with stipulations that include: If we can obtain the financing and if they will confirm holding this 10-15 days for us while we obtain the financing. He said that we can only borrow against 80 percent against the SPLOST.
These are the streets the cities struck from the list because they cannot afford to do these streets at this time: Cuthbert Street in Zebulon. Adams Street in Meansville. Milner Street. The Concord portion of College Street. And Sands Road. Projects were listed prior to bidding and now they can figure out what they can afford based on allotment with a loan. CM Hanson said that costs will likely increase if there is a wait on this.
Motion to go with CW Matthews along with the stipulations made as well as the striking of the roads as recommended by the cities and the County Manger. Approved 5-0.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT - None
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION: Executive Session. 7:43 p.m.
a. County Attorney requests consultation to discuss pending or potential litigation, settlement, claims, administrative proceedings or other judicial actions brought or to be brought by or against the county or any officer or employee or in which the county or any officer of employee may be directly involved, as provided by O.C.G.A. §50-14-21(1), germane to the Animal Control Prosecutions.
Back in session. 7:50 p.m.
12. ADJOURNMENT: Motion to adjourn 7:51 p.m.
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