County Approves ADS Contract
The Jasper County Commission Monday approved a revised contract with Advanced Disposal Service (ADS) for household garbage pick-up throughout the county, excluding the city of Monticello.
The issue has been hotly debated for nearly a year, when the city of Monticello decided it no longer wanted to be part of the county’s contract, and pulled out. Monticello has its own contract with ADS. Once the county determined it had no control over Monticello, and accepted that the city was no longer a part of the contract, county officials began to work on a viable contract.
County commissioners wanted to add a “cure clause” to the contract with ADS, which runs through 2008. As currently written, the county has no recourse if ADS does not perform to the county’s satisfaction. ADS, while saying service has improved, would only consider adding guarantees to the contract if the county would agree to extend the contract.
Commission Chairman Jack Bernard has said emphatically that he would not extend the contract, and wanted a 30-day out clause included, whereby either party could give 30 days notice and get out of the contract.
The agreement signed Monday merely removes Monticello from the contract with no other changes.
Also at Monday’s meeting, commissioners agreed to accept the bid from Covington Ford in Monti-cello for three police interceptors at a total price of $31,502.50 each. That price is $84 higher per car than the lowest bidder, Riverside of Cedartown, but commissioners agreed it was worth the difference to trade locally. Discussion at a work session Thursday centered around service available locally rather than driving to another location.
Commissioners did not approve the minutes of the January 17 board meeting when they met Monday, because Commissioner Carl Pennamon questioned how they were transcribed. He said his motion concerning pay raises was to give a two percent across the board pay raise.
The minutes say the motion was “to approve salary increase of two percent for all county employees as of January 1, 2006; employees not under the county [personnel policy], their department heads will decide percentage raises.” He said his motion was two percent across the board.
Commissioners agreed to postpone approval of the minutes until that could be verified.
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Tom Brazil with the Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority (JCWSA) made a presentation to the commissioners saying that the funding cut from the JCWSA was part of a binding agreement. He said the JCWSA received federal funding and installed fire hydrants partly because of a resolution passed by the county commission.
He says the county does not have the right to renege on its responsibility. The commissioners disagreed, and apparently turned it over to legal counsel to make a ruling. Mr. Brazil said the JCWSA would like to have an answer within a month.
Tracy Trovillo, executive director of the Development Authority of Jasper County, gave a presentation on the DAJC accomplishments for 2005. She said there is a good chance of an industry employing 200+ people locating here this year. She said the industry would be located in the county, and infrastructure would be the challenge.
The DAJC is one of the agencies that took a 20 percent funding cut from the county when the county commissioners arbitrarily made cuts last November when they feared there would not be enough money for everything budgeted.
Since the millage rate was set before the budget was set, the only option was to cut spending…as revenues could not be increased.
The commission cut nine adjunct agencies, including DAJC and JCWSA, while keeping intact money for a commission salary increase, new deputy positions, adding a chief financial officer— basically not revisiting the entire budget, just the auxiliary agencies.
Sage Edwards, representing the Better Hometown Program and the Chamber of Commerce told commissioners next year—2007—is the 200th birthday of Jasper County, and she hopes they will participate, and hope they can earmark some funds next year to help with the celebration.
Commissioners tabled action on the Service Delivery Strategy (SDS) after comment from several members of the public about how out of date the current document is.
The agreement defines what services the county provides, and outlines partnerships with the local municipalities.
One item, for example, is the plan allows for seven members of the Economic Development Authority which is now the DAJC; the enabling legislation calls for five members, and there currently are nine members. Mrs. Mary Patrick brought that item and others to the attention of the commissioners during agenda comments. She urged them to update the agreement, and sit down with Monticello officials to negotiate certain items.
Jim Brown told commissioners that there is no provision for curbside pick-up in the agree-ment…it says the county still has dumpsters.
Commissioners need to act on the SDS because the new Comprehensive Land Use Plan cannot be officially adopted until that action is taken, according to officials at the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Council (NERDC).
During discussion before postponing action on the SDS, Mr. Bernard said we need to get the city of Monticello to share the burden. Commissioner Bob Yarbrough said Monticello is not going to openly negotiate. Mr. Pennamon said that the plan needs to be up-to-date at least to current services.
Commissioner Pennamon expressed concern to Mr. Bernard about his representing the commission outside of the meeting room, and his comments not representing the board as a whole (see related story).
Tommye Smith told commissioners they did a good job. She said she disagrees with the proposed pay raise. She told the commissioners they knew the rate of pay and that the job included insurance when they sought election. She said it was wrong to compare Jasper to other counties in the area because they have more than Jasper does.
