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ZEBULON - The Pike County Board of Commissioners will met in the upper courtroom of the courthouse on August 29, 2025 at 9 a.m. for a special called meeting. The special called meeting was attended by Commissioners James Jenkins, Ken Pullin, Tim Guy, Tim Daniel, and Chairman Briar Johnson, County Clerk Angela Blount, Attorney Manager Rob Morton, members of the public, and both county newspaper representatives.

The meeting was broadcast live on Pike County Times' Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/pikecountytimes.

1. CALL TO ORDER ………… Chairman J. Briar Johnson

2. INVOCATION ………… Silent Invocation

3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ………… Chairman J. Briar Johnson

4. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. § 50-14-1 (e) (1))

Request from the Attorney Manager to amend for item B for reconsideration of the .25 millage to the Development Authority based on the written request that he received yesterday. Motion and 2nd for amended agenda. Approved.

5. NEW BUSINESS

a. Discussion of the receipt and transmittal of the Pike County Board of Education millage rates, and authorization for the Chairman to sign the related documents.

Morton. Provided info to the commissioners by email between the meetings. He specifically referenced the Georgia Constitution as well as case law interpretation including the Georgia Supreme Court case which interpreted that the county “shall annually levy” the BOE millages. Georgia Court of Appeals as well. Both said that we have no discretion on this. Asked to rescind no vote from Tuesday and receive and transmit what was received on from the BOE. Jenkins said that he voted to do this this other day and can own up to it. Jenkins made the motion to rescind the vote on Tuesday night and go forward being the levying body for the BOE with their millage rate including signing the forms for transmission. Approved 5-0.

[Note from the Editor: The letter from the Attorney Manager to the commissioners advised that he had been in communication with the Superintendent and their attorney related to this vote. Morton advised that he had reviewed the State Constitution, Georgia Law, and related case law. The Georgia Constitution says that the BOE “shall annually certify the mills to the BOC needed for the support and maintenance of education” and that the “taxing authority (the BOC) shall annually levy said tax upon the assessed value of property.” (Article 8, Section 6, Paragraph 1) He then laid out that the BOE makes their own millage rate for education and that the BOC, which is the taxing authority for the county, is responsible to levy the taxes because the Georgia Constitution say that the BOC “shall” levy the tax(es). He went on by citing court cases from 1947, 1971, 1946, and 1975 where the Georgia Supreme Court and the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled that the County Commission “has no discretion in levying the millage rate certified and submitted by the BOE.” He also laid out the consequences of refusing to turn in their millage rate. The county could be subject to a writ of mandamus, which is an order directing the BOC to levy the tax, and if the action was determined to be willful and intentional, then the BOE could be awarded attorney’s fees and the costs of litigation. (Gilbert v. Richardson, 265 Ga. 744 (1994) He added that in addition to facing possible legal action and liability, this failure could also lead to the almost $50,000 penalty related to the Consent Order that the county is currently operating under with the Georgia Department of Revenue, the inability for the county to collect taxes of its own until the BOE millage rate is certified, and it could jeopardize the county’s local qualified government status which is a requirement to receive funding on the CDBG funds for the work being done on Tanyard Road. He closed the letter to the commissioners by advising that they rescind Tuesday’s vote and approve the receipt of and authorize the signature and transmission of the BOE millage, M&O, and bond. (Thank you to Attorney Manager Morton for handing me a copy of the open records info so I could leave the meeting and get to work on my article without walking through an emailed request on a Friday before a holiday. Thank you to the County Clerk for providing an easy open records request document for me as well. I greatly appreciate that!)]

B. Discuss the reconsideration of the .25 mill for the Development Authority

Morton advised that he received a letter yesterday from Bryan Oglesby, Chairman of the Development Authority requesting that the board reconsider its stance on the Development Authority funding along with approving their requested millage rate. Their bank balance along with millage funding has been in reserve anticipating they would assume financing and development of the County Farm Road property. The majority of their bank balance is from recent sales of lots in the Zebulon Business Park. They will work out a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) next week reserving acreage for future county facilities and will remit request for qualifications (RFQ) for financing to banks for the County Farm Property. [Note from the Editor: This is the 238 acres with the $2 million balloon note that is currently due in November and owned by the BOC. It is noted in the actual letter that Morton read from that the Development Authority should be able to secure financing before the balloon note comes due in November.] Based on this, Morton asked commissioners to reconsider the .25 mill in the agreement for up to 1 mill each year that was authorized in 2023. Asked for a motion to rescind Tuesday’s vote and allocate .25 millage to the Development Authority. Motion to rescind the vote on Tuesday and reallocate .25 mill to the Development Authority. Jenkins thanked Pullin from his work over the past few days. Pullin said thank you to Morton for meeting with the guys and coming up with a plan. Approved 5-0.

[Note from the Editor: Along with the letter that Morton read from in the meeting, he sent letter to commissioners on Thursday afternoon advising that he had met with John Barker and then again with Barker and Oglesby. Morton said that the written confirmation from the Development Authority showed their commitment to purchase the 238 acres of Property on County Farm Road and that they would provide an MOU with the terms of the property including the price which is the amount of the payoff of the existing note, the reservation of 30-50 acres for the county for future public facilities, putting together a development plan that identifies the areas for future public facilities that will be mutually agreed upon by the Development Authority, the BOC, and the Public Facilities Authority (PFA), and then that agreed upon property for the county will be transferred to the PFA at no other cost than the cost of the deed transfer for planning, development, and financing the designated property for future public facilities. “The Development Authority will then handle the planning, development, and transactions related to the remaining 188 acres +/-.”]

6. EXECUTIVE SESSION - NONE

7. ADJOURNMENT

Motion to adjourn. 9:09 a.m.

Agenda subject to revision.

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