Pike County Times
The Pike County Times, PO Box 843, Zebulon, Georgia 30295. Click here to donate through PayPal. Becky Watts: Phone # 770-468-7583 editor@pikecountytimes.com
 
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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.

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REGULAR BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MONTHLY MEETING
Wednesday, September 14, 2016 – 9:00 a.m.
Courthouse Annex, 79 Jackson Street, Zebulon, Georgia

All five commissioners were present along with County Manager(CM) Hanson, County Clerk Jo Ann Wrye, and County Attorneys Rob and Tom Morton.

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 - (O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1(e) (2))

a. Minutes of the August 30, 2016 Special Call Meeting.

b. Minutes of the August 30, 2016 Regular Monthly Meeting.

6. INVITED GUESTS

a. Employees to be recognized for their service to Pike County.
Associate Magistrate Judge Daphne Martin from Magistrate Court received recognition for five years of working for Pike County. Magistrate Judge Marcia Callaway-Ingram said that Daphne had been working for the federal courts for years and that she is blessing to the courts and to Pike County.

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.

The only discussion was whether there was there a Planning Board meeting in August? There wasn't so there are no minutes from them.

b. County Manager Report

Update on County finances for the following funds/accounts:
General Fund ............................................................................................... $488,037.14
Fire Dept. Donations ........................................................................................ $3,944.54
BOC – Jury Account………………………………………………………………$0.00
Cash Reserve Account ..................................................................................... $3,646.58
Pike County CD Special Revenue funds…………………………………..$750,000.00
Jail Fund ........................................................................................................ $13,550.32
E-911 Fund .................................................................................................... $34,537.33
DATE Fund ................................................................................................... $41,190.75
Juvenile Court Fund ....................................................................................... $14,622.63
Residential Impact Fee ................................................................................ $351,941.45
Commercial Impact Fees ............................................................................... $19,359.40
C.A.I.P FUND ................................................................................................. $5,094.92
General Obligation SPLOST Tax Bond Sinking Fund, 2011 ...................... $139,612.42
L.M.I. Grant (DOT) ..................................................................................... $396,837.96

c. County Manager Comment

We are working on the patchwork on Kings Bridge. That will end today. All of roads are now patched. Public Works is work on Old Zebulon now. Two remaining are New Hope and Kings Bridge. We will be widening Kings Bridge 4 feet. CW Mathews will be going to New Hope Road before Kings Bridge Road. Striping will be after that. Shoulder work will follow as well. Initial stripe and then shoulder work. Been getting great response from the public. City of Meansville is waiting for a culvert on Old Meansville Road. We’re not doing that, but this will be done. He wants everything done by the time change so citizens will be traveling on well marked and well paved roads.

Jenkins said that the roads are looking good but asked What can we do to fix the rough sections of McKinley Road. John said that we knew that there were some issues. We dug down and packed it down and knew that there were still some problems. We are going to overlay this road again. Hoping to get this done before the time changes too. We just finished Cook Road. Shepherd has already been patched and it will get more work come spring. He praised Public Works for their hard work.

We are going to do the work on Jonathan’s Roost Road ourselves. The permit has been delivered from the state. Signage, power, etc. will move back to 24 feet. 22 feet for the widening of the road. We will do everything on this. DOT is not recommending a turn lane, but they are studying this intersection for us along with others in the county. Commissioner Jenkins asked that the DOT look at Chapel Bridge Road too because it is in Spalding County, but people often think that it’s Pike County.

Chairman Johnson asked about widening Kings Bridge Road. CW Matthews will do this.

Commissioner Powers about more work on Shepherd Road. CM Hanson said that the work done it should be sufficient until spring.

Commissioner Guy asked about paving plans for Shortcut Road. There are a couple of trouble spots that were patched. It’s another example of a road that doesn’t have a regular width. Maybe it can be overlaid entirely with LMIG money later. He got a call about East Milner Road with overhang of trees in the road. CM Hanson will address this through Public Works.

The Digest was approved last week. He said thank you for everyone’s hard work on this.

d. Commissioner Reports

Most concerns were handled above. Chairman Johnson said that the American Legion tops themselves every year with the 9.11.01 Ceremony, and they did a great job. Thanked John for the county seal on the back wall. It was pretty inexpensive and that is even better!

e. County Attorney Report to Commissioners.

No specifics.

8. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

9. NEW BUSINESS

a. PUBLIC HEARING: To receive public input regarding Capital Improvements Element (CIE) Annual Update, pursuant to the Georgia Development Impact Fee Act and the Development Impact Fee Compliance Requirements of the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.
Action: Discuss/Approve/Deny

David Allen said that we do this every year. He provided a breakdown of last year and upcoming projects for Impact Fee funds. This is approving the transmittal resolution that will have to be approved by other entities by October 31.

The question was asked if we are looking to reallocate Impact Fees? CM Hanson said that this has to be done in a particular time period. Rob Morton said that there is a specific methodology that has to be followed to come up with these percentages for each department. It cost $40,000 to do before but may not cost that much now. CM Hanson said that we need to look at this.

Commissioner Jenkins started a discussion about a return on fireworks versus money spent on Impact Fees and concession dollars. Discussion: They have used their concession dollars for things for the county. This money is being tracked now when it wasn’t before. They are doing a much better job with concessions and making more money with it. It was a private event, then the Chamber, and then Recreation took it over. This year's event cost $18,000 for fireworks with $7,000 coming in from concessions so there was an $11,000 deficit. The previous event was either 2009 or 2010. They provided a report and $1,000 back to the county that year. There were a lot of vendors out there so it is growing. CM Hanson said that this will pay for itself in the long run depending on how they are pushing it.

Motion to approve. 2nd. Motion approved 5-0.

Motion to amend the agenda to include a discussion of upcoming meeting.

b. Discussion of the October 12, 2016 9 a.m. Meeting

CM Hanson asked to add discussion of how to handle the next meeting because there are some scheduling conflicts for the next meeting. [Note from the Editor: There was no September night meeting this month because of an out of town conference.] The following meeting—the morning meeting in October--the Chairman and Vice-Chairman will both be absent. There are several public hearings on that day, and there will only be three commissioners available that day.

Discussion: There are over 100 letters that have been sent out about this meeting. This includes some that have been held over already. Consider having the Public Hearings that night and a regular meeting later. This will be for the Wednesday, October 12th regular meeting. Consensus that they need to hear the people but don’t need to make a decision with just 3 commissioners. Those who are absent will be able to review what they missed before the next meeting.

Motion to hold the meeting and the hearings on the regular scheduled meeting day. Further discussion: That the people there will be notified about how this will work at the meeting that day. Tim Guy will chair the meeting. Provide at least 24 hours notice about any special meeting on the following week or the regular meeting.

Approved 5-0.

10. PUBLIC COMMENT- (Limited to 5 minutes per person) None

11. EXECUTIVE SESSION - None

12. ADJOURNMENT: 9:36 a.m.

[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.]

10.3.16
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