This online news website is owned and operated by Becky Watts. The Editor can be reached at 770-468-7583 or at editor(at)PikeCountyTimes(dot)com. Pike County Times is a website for citizens to keep up with local events and stay informed about Pike County government. It began on November 13, 2006 as a watchdog on county government and has turned into an online newspaper.
If you enjoy reading Pike County Times, consider buying an advertisement for your business or sending a donation 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. Click here to donate through PayPal. Thanks for supporting Pike County Times.com!
Wednesday, July 14, 2021 – 9:00 a.m.
Courthouse, Main Courtroom, 16001 Barnesville Street, Zebulon, Georgia
Town Hall Meeting at 8:45 a.m.
www.pikecoga.com/novusagenda has an online agenda and accompanying information for this meeting. Monthly information from Animal Control, Coroner, Fire Department, Grady, Library, Magistrate Court, McIntosh Trail CSB, Planning & Development, Registrar, Superior - Juvenile Court, Tax Assessor, and the Water Authority are included as well during the morning meeting only.
Commissioners James Jenkins, Jason Proctor, and Tim Guy were present along with Chairman Briar Johnson, County Clerk Angela Blount, County Manager Bradon Rogers, and County Attorney Rob Morton. Commissioner Tim Daniel could not be present at the meeting.
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))
Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
5. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - (O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e) (2))
a. Minutes of the June 29, 2021, Regular Monthly Meeting.
b. Minutes of the June 29, 2021, Executive Session.
Motion to approve both. Approved 4-0.
6. INVITED GUEST - 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.
Discuss/Approve/Deny
b. County Manager Report
Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ........................................................................................ …$3,803,138.46
Fire Dept. Donations ........................................................................................ $6,420.00
Cash Reserve Account ........................................................................ ….....$307,589.51
Jail Fund ........................................................................................................ $31,547.89
E-911 Fund .................................................................................................... $89,847.06
DATE Fund ................................................................................................... $53,644.55
Juvenile Court Fund ....................................................................................... $12,223.03
Residential Impact Fee ............................................................................. $1,050,651.81
Commercial Impact Fees ............................................................................. $179,953.77
C.A.I.P FUND ............................................................................................... $39,479.64
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2016 .................. ..$1801,491.92
L.M.IG. Grant (DOT)………………………………….……………….…..$448,909.78
c. County Manager Comment
County Manager Brandon Rogers.
Kevin Teate has given resignation. Last day is Friday. They have submitted his job posting. Thank you to Kevin for all that he has done in our county.
IDA meeting. Transition to Steven Brentlinger. IDA requested to move forward with sign for Business Park. They were unable to do that last year and asking to commit some of last year’s funds to this budget. About $15,000 to be pushed forward and may not use that much. Motion to approve. Approved 4-0.
Clay Lewis. 2017. Special Exception for a wedding venue on Hwy 19 North. He began construction then. In 2019, he got first inspection. He called for a second inspection in 2020, but his permit was expired. He will be required now to get a new permit for $1262.50 unless the Board reduces the fee. Rogers suggested cutting in half and said that hopefully Lewis will finish within the next year. COVID has delayed this project for him as well as him doing the work himself, and Lewis was asking for a 100% waiver. Rogers and the Planning Commission did not agree with 100% but suggested 50%. Lewis paid $1,112.50 for the first permit and permits last for 2 yeras. Motion to approve a reduction of one-half of $1262.50. Approved 4-0.
Job posting for Rec Dept and Fire Chief and Senior Center Director on the website.
3 Rivers Agency on Aging. This is an annual contract for the Senior Center. The County Attorney has reviewed it. Delivery of meals, programs, etc. Motion to approve and sign. Approved 4-0.
d. Commissioner Reports
Chairman Johnson said that we only had 13 out of 18 reports this month. Please remind everyone that we need information.
As the county grows, we are experiencing growing pains in several offices like Probate, Jail, Tax Assessor. There has been a discussion for years about it, but he asked for a needs assessment to prepare for the future on a Municipal Center/Justice Center including office space, jail, etc. Rogers said that citizens are seeing this need and the offices are seeing this. With the county growing, all of our offices are growing too. We did a fix a couple of years ago and had a plan to move to another building that we were going to move, but the school system is taking longer than expected. We need to address the need. Many of our buildings are old. The late 1990’s was the last renovation on the jail. The Tax Assessor Building has roof issues. It was built in 1970. We had discussed building and then remodeling, but this is not feasible. We need to discuss this now and plan which direction we want to go. We can’t wait on the School Board any longer. Consensus to go with the Chairman’s recommendation. Commissioners were asked to give Brandon their suggestions. Consensus that we have patched as long as we can.
e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners
There were 20-40 upcoming written appeals. All were resolved but 2. He said that Tax Assessor Greg Hobbs has done an outstanding job. Commercial reevaluation notices are going out. This is part of a 3 year ongoing plan. Anticipate some appeals.
There was a hearing with a pending litigation case heard on July 6 in which there was a motion to dismiss. Thought went well.
We are starting to see more ordinance violation cases. 2 trials on Thursday. Anticipate with growth that this will grow as well.
8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - NONE
9. NEW BUSINESS
a. Discussion of Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Budget revision.
When closing out the fiscal year, we realized that we forgot to carry over one of our revenues. It showed an imbalance in our budget. The balance was actually balanced but we forgot to show where it balanced out. LMIG – Drew Allen to Twin Oaks Place. It has been added, but we missed adding it as an expense line, and everything worked out well. This is just being transparent.
County Attorney recommended that a vote is taken to ratify. While already approved, there was a correction made so this needs to be done so it is obvious that the Commissioners approved it. Motion to approve the budget revision. Approved 4-0.
b. Discussion of American Rescue Plan Funds.
Rogers advised that the county has received ½ of funding. $1,841,573. The other half will come in next year. Consider some projects and start to think about future projects. Maybe extending waterlines from McKinley Road to the new subdivision at Drew Allen and Reidsboro. The city wants to extend from Apple Lane. Possibly even to Williamson and maybe even to Reidsboro Road.
Stormwater issues in Hilltop. $11,000 to handle all three of these problems. We are almost ready to pave out there. One is on the right of way and two are just off the right of way so not included in the CDBG grant but ARPF allows stormwater projects. He recommended to examine and move forward on this project.
Rogers said that we have long deadlines including a 2025 for the second funding of the funding.
He also asked for other projects for lost revenues and infrastructure. Broadband and water are two improvements. Southern Rivers will help with the broadband but not cover everyone. Want to help those citizens who won’t be helped. These are general idea of things to start looking for.
The only thing that they won’t cover is inside of the cities and a horseshoe in the south part of the county from Vega over to Molena. Upson EMC is not looking at Broadband. It doesn’t have to be like Williamson or Concord. We have a lot of options including working with others. The cities are also getting ARPF too.
Meansville has an aging water system. Can we help them? They did get some grants and are upgrading. They are getting some of these funds and probably have the means to help themselves, but we want to look into this. We could buy some water from them to help service customers out there. Rogers will look into this.
c. Discussion of Whistleblower Policy.
During our discussion with the auditors last year, they brought up that we did not have a whistleblower policy. The state has one and ours is almost word for word. It’s buried in the ordinances so maybe we can talk about it and maybe change the name from Anti-Fraud Policy to Anti-Fraud and Whistleblower Policy. This is protection for our employees. He recommended the name change and leave the chapter the same. Chapter 37. Need it for search purposes. It explains who to go to.
It will require 2 readings and meetings before it can be changed. Today can be the 1st reading. Motion to approve the 1st reading and add Whistleblower to the title. Proctor said that this needs to be given to new hires and emphasized with current employees. Morton said that there is no problem adding the title. This is already available to employees through state and federal law but needs to be added to new hire documentation per the auditor. Approved 4-0.
d. Discussion of Bereavement Leave Policy.
6 months of employment needed according to our policy. Rogers’ suggestion is the date of hire or no more than 30 days. Our employees are not going on vacation with this; it is a need. We should support our employees regardless of how long they have been employees. Motion to approve 30 days. This is a 1st Reading and will require a second meeting. Approved 3-1 with the Chairman in opposition because he thinks that it should be the day of hire.
10. PUBLIC COMMENT - NONE
11. EXECUTIVE SESSION - NONE
12. ADJOURNMENT
Motion to adjourn. Approved 4-0.
9:42 a.m.
Agenda subject to revision.
[Note from the Editor: If you appreciate being able to read information from county meetings for free on Pike County Times, please make a donation to Pike County Times through the PayPal link at the bottom of the page or by check to Pike County Times at PO Box 843, Zebulon so I can justify the amount of time that I am spending away from family. It may not seem like much but sitting in a meeting and then typing it up takes a lot more time than you might imagine! Thanks for reading Pike County's only FREE newspaper.]