County Hears Audit Report
The Jasper County Commissioners got good news on the county budget when Mark Hardison presented the 2005 audit to the county. He described the county’s condition as “much improved.”
However, there was still one “reportable condition” and that was the fact that the county again has no Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Hardison remarked positively on the county writing off more than $2 million in debt at the Jasper County Landfill, but said there is another $400,000+ that needs to be taken care of also.
He also commented on the county cashing in a long-held CD for nearly $250,000 of offset the deficit in the SPLOST program for the Courthouse.
Mr. Hardison said that the county continues to maintain a strong financial position in spite of a somewhat depressed economy.
The Jasper County Commissioners heard two proposals on redoing the county’s zoning ordinance at their mid-month work session Monday.
The first presentation was from Bill Ross who the county has already contracted with to do an impact fee study. The county will pay him nearly $50,000 for that. Mr Ross made a 15-minute presentation about what his company could do for the county. His cost, including legal fees, is close to $79,000.
After Mr. Ross’ presentation, Louis L. Downer with ALDH Associates made a brief presentation as to why his company should get the job. He said his firm takes a proactive approach to community growth. The fee Mr. Downer quoted was $75,000.
County Manager Greg Williams told commissioners they had a new copy of the master road list, and several corrections had been made. He said currently Public Works is working the roads in the county in a logical manner, in an attempt to get all around the county and do maintenance rather than just running from one repair to the next.
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Mr. Williams said the quarantine at the animal shelter had been lifted, and praised animal control officer Elizabeth Rolfe for doing a good job.
In a response to a question from Charles Forsythe, commissioners agreed to include on the agenda for the regular meeting on August 7 the issue of meetings. They have held a mid-month work session all this year, and some of them feel the work sessions are not productive.
Mr. Williams said that the charter calls for one meeting a month, so he does not know how to address the issue on the agenda. The commissioners discussed setting a “regular called meeting” each month. The county’s enabling legislation does require one meeting per month. It also sets out the particular day for that meeting, and the commission has not adhered to that day in years.
Commissioners will also discuss at the next meeting the issue of hiring a stenographer to keep records of each meeting. Several citizens have expressed concern about what is in the minutes and what is not in the minutes. Hiring someone to transcribe all of the meeting would relieve that issue.
The audit presentation at the meeting took nearly an hour, and copies of the audit and management letter are available at the Commission office in the Courthouse. That preceded the two planning ordinance presentations.
Commissioners expressed their desire to look at budget requests and start firming up the budget (see related story).
