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Wednesday, August 10, 2011 – 9:00 a.m.
By Editor Becky Watts
This meeting was attended by all five commissioners, County Clerk Teresa Watson, County Manager (CM) Bill Sawyer, and County Attorneys Rob and Tom Morton.
1. CALL TO ORDER .................................................................................... Chairman Doug Mangham
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ................................................................... Chairman Doug Mangham
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. 50-14-1 (e) (1))
4. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES - (O.C.G.A.§ 50-14-1(e) (2))
Minutes from the following: July 26, 2011 Regular Monthly Meeting.
5. INVITED GUESTS - None
6. REPORTS – From Commissions, Departments, Committees, County Manager, Attorney
a. Monthly Reports submitted from County Departments and County Authorities, including a
Revenue/Expenditure Statement for all departments, and a summary check register.
Commissioner Carol Bass asked about the recent Board of Assessor's meeting where the developer discount was discussed as to whether the 5 year 50% developer discount would transfer from one owner to another within the 5 year period. Commissioner Bass asked if the Board was looking to implement a new policy. This will be examined and discussed at a later meeting. * Commissioner Tamra Jarrett pointed out that the Agribusiness Authority has changed its meeting time from 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on the same day and that the Pike IDA has changed its meeting time from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the same day. * Commissioner Bass also commended the Coroner's Office for its move which is helping the county during this budget crunch.
b. County Manager Report
• County Manager Comments: None except for update on financials below.
• Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
•General Fund - $19,379.32 (previous report $257,178.33) *Transferred $100,000 from Cash Reserves yesterday. There have been no draws on the TAN (Tax Anticipation Note) at this time.
•Jury Account - $0.00
•Cash Reserve Account - $332,604.30 (previous report $432,604.30)
•Jail Fund - $28,996.32 (previous report $27,698.26)
•E-911 Fund - $7,549.92 (previous report $61,228.77)
•DATE Fund - $10,790.31 (previous report - $10,008.25)
•Fire Fund - $0.00 (This is no longer in existence.)
•Juvenile Court Fund - $28,951.82 (previous report $28,367.13)
•Residential Impact Fees - $265,744.59 (previous report $309,932.08)
•Commercial Impact Fees - $12,116.35 (previous report $12,115.33)
•General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund -
•2006 SPLOST - $20,237.42 (previous report - $20,237.42) *CM Sawyer said that the past SPLOST ended on June 30th (From an earlier meeting: Funds from 2006 SPLOST will be split up and sent to the cities.)
•Current SPLOST - $0 *CM Sawyer said that the new SPLOST began on July 1, 2011 and that the county will get its first check at the end of this month.
* Grand Total in all Pike County accounts: $726,393.46 (previous report $1,165,969.41) [Note from the Editor: This grand total includes all accounts including some that are encumbered--accounts such as the Jail Fund, Commercial Impact Fees, etc. where the money must be spent according to specific purposes.]
c. Commissioner Reports:
District 1 Carol Bass: Said that she had spoken to Executive Director Lanier Boatwright from the Three Rivers Regional Commission about her redistricting concerns. He said that they could send a representative to speak with the county about this if needed. County Attorney Rob Morton advised that both he and the County Manager followed up on this after the previous meeting. Said that the county has received a letter from ACCG on this and that the BOC acted on this matter in September of 2010 by contacting ACCG and state representatives. County Attorney Rob Morton said that a separate state committee is dealing with this process but that the board could call someone to speak on this if needed. Said at this time that the redistricting doesn't seem to be affect us, but that the state may be calling a special session to look at this. * Said that the Board of Education is having an E-SPLOST (education) next year and that she thought the BOC had budgeted for them to have an election, but that she would like to see the BOE reimburse the county for this election because it is the right thing to do. CM Sawyer has spoken to Dr. Duncan about this and will follow up on it.
District 2 Tamra Jarrett: Asked about the Use of Courthouse Grounds policy that was discussed at a previous meeting. CM Sawyer advised that he and County Attorney Rob Morton reviewed this policy and it will be on the September 30th agenda.
District 3 Tommy Powers: Said that he went out on a few roads last week and saw that the weeds were getting high so he put in a work order for Public Works on cutting the right of ways. [Note from the Editor: New Hope Road and surrounding areas look good where the crew has been working on it.]
District 4 Don Collins: Asked about the follow up on the Water and Sewer Authority appointment from the past meeting. County Attorney Rob Morton said that he has not received information on this but it will be followed up on.
Chairman Doug Mangham: None.
d. County Attorney Report to Commissioners: None.
7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None
8. NEW BUSINESS
a. Approval/denial of request from Clerk of Court for a new copier, in the amount of $7,644 to be taken from Contingency and authorize the transfer of the outdated copier to Probate Court of Pike County. The County Manager recommends approval.
Commissioner Carol Bass said that she would like to see the funds for this copier come out of this department instead of coming out of contingency. This will make it easier to track these funds. She said that she didn't think it would throw her over budget but that if it does, it can be addressed and taken out of contingency at a later time. Motion to authorize the $7,644 to come out of Superior Court's budget for the copier and it can be addressed at a later time to come out contingency at a later point if needed. Approved 5-0.
b. Approval/denial of a Resolution to Adopt the Pike County and Cities of Concord, Meansville, Molena, Williamson and Zebulon Multi-Jurisdictional Solid Waste Management Plan, Short Term Work Program Update, which was properly advertised and approved by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA). The County Manager and Planning and Development staff recommend approval.
Simply approving this reolution that has been approved by the DCA. The cities are handling their portion of it. Motion to approve. Approved 5-0.
9. PUBLIC COMMENT (Limited to 5 minutes per person) - None
10. EXECUTIVE SESSION
County Manager requests consultation with the county attorney, or other legal counsel, 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 or
employee may be directly involved, as provided in O.C.G.A. §50-14-2(1), germane to Magistrate Court.
Went into Executive Session at 9:17 a.m. and came back into Regular Session at 11:15 a.m. No decision was made during Executive Session since the motion to adjourn was made at 11:16 a.m. [Note from the Editor: Scroll down to the 8.8.11 article entitled "Salary Cuts Spark Lawsuit In Pike County" to read more about the current lawsuit, the past lawsuit, and budget hearings that contributed to the current lawsuit.
11. ADJOURNMENT: Motion to adjourn at 11:16 a.m.