County Commission Does Little in First 2006 Meeting
The Jasper County Commission made short work of its first meeting of the new year, taking most of the items off the agenda.
The commission did name, by a 3-2 vote, the same officers as last year—Jack Bernard chairman and Bob Yarbrough vice-chairman. They named John Nix county attorney.
The original motion by Greg Johnson named Mr. Bernard, Mr. Yarbrough and Mr. Nix to their respective positions. Commissioner Carl Pennamon asked if they should all be done together. Mr. Bernard said “If there’s going to be discussion, we can separate.”
He then had the vote for chairman and vice-chairman, with a motion, second and vote with no opportunity for discussion.
Commissioner Pennamon suggested that legal services should be put out to bid again this year, but there was no response to his remark, and the vote was taken. Commissioners Bernard, Yar-brough and Greg Johnson were the affirmative votes on those three actions, with Commissioners Pennamon and Charles Hill voting against the motions.
During agenda comments, Mrs. Mary Patrick said the minutes from the December 19 meeting were lacking. She said there were amendments needed, and that handouts provided to the commission at the meeting should be attached.
County Manager Greg Williams said that they are in the process of “reformatting the minutes,” and advised the commission to postpone approval of the minutes.
She further sad that she thought the quality of the agenda was going downhill, and it doesn’t need to get worse.
Charles Forsythe also complained about the quality of the agenda. He said its getting less and less informative.
Ken McMichael spoke on the text amendment to the Jasper County Development Ordinance, saying the well setbacks are not enough. He also questioned the road requirement in the amendment, explaining how a developer can get around certain requirements by developing a little at a time.
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The commissioners deleted all the old business items on the agenda. Mr. Williams was not ready with the new Advanced Disposal contract. County Attorney John Nix was not at the meeting, instead one of his associates was there. Mr. Williams recommended the commission take no action on the items related to the Board of Assessors, and remove them from the agenda.
Commissioners approved a resolution encouraging state legislators to be sure that funding of the hazardous and solid waste trust fund is properly handled. Apparently some of those funds have been used for questionable ventures, and commissioners statewide are encouraging their leaders to be sure the funds are used only as intended.
Commissioners had a “first reading” of the Jasper County Development Ordinance Text Amendment, and presumably will be prepared to vote on it at the next regular meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 17. That allows the public two weeks to review the amendment and make comments.
Francis Cason spoke on the text amendment and suggested that if the commission approves it they may get into a legal problem. It’s a pretty important document, he said.
The county manager reported Susan Raynor has been hired as chief financial officer. She is from North Carolina and is moving to the area. She has background in local government and auditing, said Mr. Williams. She will work two days next week, he said, and start full time the week of January 17.
During the public comment segment of the meeting, Cheryl Nowetner questioned the settlement between the county and its long-time employee Betty Moon.
Mrs. Moon left the employ of the county under duress several years ago, and filed suit against the county. She was re-hired, and the suit has lingered ever since. Mrs. Nowetner said she heard it was settled.
Mr. Williams said he did not know if the board would have to take any action if an agreement were worked out between the insurance company and Mrs. Moon. Charles Hill suggested the question be deferred to Mr. Nix.
Commissioner Pennamon said our insurance company and Ms. Moon’s attorney have come to an agreement, and that it should be made known that an agreement had been reached.
During the general comment segment of the meeting Mr. McMichael said it was a good time to look to the future and also to review the past. He said he wanted to review the accomplishments of the board over the past year.
Accomplishments he listed included:
•Change in legal counsel, saying the county has had inadequate legal counsel for years.
•Took action to close the landfill.
•Controlled growth, which is the biggest threat to the county.
•Hired new auditors.
•Passed SPLOST (which incidentally did not start January 1 as anticipated because of inadequacies in the paperwork filed).
•Did not operate in secret.
•Did not rezone own property and property of friends.
Halfway through the remarks Commissioner Hill asked had Mr. McMichael run over the three minute time limit. Mr. Bernard said he wanted to hear what Mr. McMichael had to say. Commissioner Pennamon asked if he was going to be consistent, allowing everyone on the list unlimited time to speak.
(At the last meeting, Mr. Bernard sat an egg timer in front of him where the speaker could see it to be sure the speaker did not run over the allotted time.)
After Mr. McMichael completed his remarks, Charles Forsythe spoke. He asked why handouts weren’t available to the audience. He said the ACCG book that is the “bible” for county commissioners suggests copies of important documents should be made available.
He said the minutes are a disservice to the county, explaining what should be included in minutes. Mr. Forsythe said how does the public know you’ve never had a secret meeting?
He closed his remarks by saying, “You believe in greater public trust through less public information.”
Mrs. Patrick asked what does reformatting the minutes mean. She said to sanitize the minutes does a disservice to everybody. She made it clear that she felt all official actions of the board should be recorded in the minutes.
