Commission Hears about Recreation

The Jasper County Commissioners Monday heard from Recreation Director Wes Chester about accomplishments and needs at the Recreation Department.

Mr. Chester said that there are three vacancies on the Recreation Commission currently. Mike Cavender serves as chairman and active members include Greg Robinson, Maylon Wages, Patrick Barton, Cecil Hooper, and Don Jernigan. The group meets monthly.

Mr. Chester said that the scoreboards had been upgraded and are in good shape. He said the scorekeeper can sit behind the umpire on field level and control the scoreboard. New batting cages are almost complete, also, he said.

New bleachers have been put up at the four main fields, and a new equipment shed securely stores lawn equipment. In addition, the four main fields have new dugouts. Lastly, the said a speaker system upgrade is complete.

He said the multi-use field project had been put on hold, but will move forward shortly with help from the Department of Corrections.

Mr. Chester told how inmates with the DOC constructed the bleachers, and thanked Rep. Susan Holmes for making that labor available to the recreation department.

Items still needing upgrades include the field lighting, the bathrooms and the fencing, he said.

Mr. Chester said that Central Georgia Electric Membership Corporation came out and changed the bulbs in some of the lights, but that there is still a whole bank of lights out in the center of the park, and some bulbs out in other fixtures.

The bathrooms are substandard, he said, and truly need replacing. Commissioners suggested using inmate labor and Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) proceeds to construct new bathrooms. They also encouraged Mr. Chester to explore options on fixing the lighting.

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Mr. Chester said the recreation department budget from the county is $80,000, less than one percent of the county budget, he said. He said Don Jernigan has done some research and that most counties spend three to five percent of their budget on recreation. He said he knew what he was getting into when he took the job, but he did not realize there would be no increase in budget over time.

The county budget basically pays his salary and the salary of his part-time help, and $1,000 a month. The department is on its own for the rest. Registration fees and concessions have to cover the cost of uniforms, balls, catchers gear, umpires and field maintenance, he said.

A football helmet is only goof for three years, he said, and after that must be refurbished or replaced. One helmet costs nearly $100, he said. In addition, pads for one player run $70.

Mr. Chester also mentioned that no where is it written who’s responsibility it is for maintenance and repairs to the park equipment.

Commissioner Mary Patrick said Greene County uses school facilities, and if the schools here would cooperate it could cut down on costs. Mr.. Chester said that recreation basketball was played at the schools last year, and the school system waived the facility fee. However, the rec dept. still had to pay for a custodian to be on hand while they were there, and they had to pay the individual time and a half.

Mr. Chester told commissioners that the youth played Little League baseball last year, which costs more, and switched this year to Georgia Parks & Recreation league play.

He said the football teams would be playing Putnam and Greene Counties this year, as opposed to having to go to Griffin the last few years.

Commissioner Alan Cox suggested that Mr. Chester look at what can be done this year, next year, and the following year using SPLOST funds and impact fees.

Regular Meeting

The agenda for the regular meeting included about two dozen items, so commissioners put off discussing some of them so the meeting would not be so long.

During citizen comments former Emergency medical Service (EMS) Director Jeff Bratcher spoke, saying the person the county was considering hiring was not qualified. He said that he was put out of his job prematurely, and that he’d like to return. (When Mr. Bratcher was initially hired, his salary was listed at $50,000.) He said that he would like to come back at $25,000 a year, and have the other $25,000 be divided among the 12 full time medics working for EMS.

Charles Forsythe told the commissioners that their agenda was not on the county website as of midafternoon on Monday. He also wanted to know the status of the ethics commission.

Skip Nowetner suggested that the county do more with recreation as that brings people in. He talked about his volunteerism, and suggested several recreational possibilities, saying there is money available for them.

Russell Bennett spoke to commissioners about the plan developed by Monticello Baptist Church to add a parking area that would provide public parking as well as church parking. In addition, the expansion would allow for more than one entrance/exit to the church’s parking lot.

The church will bear the expense of the parking lot, but is asking for the city of Monticello and Jasper County’s cooperation in fixing the road to make it practical. Towhee Street would cease to have a large curve, and would instead be two streets that meet, forming a right angle.

Commissioners gave their blessing to the plan. Mr. Bennett presented a drawing, saying it is a conceptual drawing, not an engineered plan.

Basically the church wants to be sure, before moving forward with the project, that the city and county are on board to take care of the public streets.

Commissioners agreed to hire Doug Eaves to be their Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) consultant. The city of Monticello and Jasper County have been in negotiations for the division of the LOST proceeds, and have not been able to come together. Mr.. Eaves would be employed to represent the county to the city and to a judge if arbitration is required.

After a good bit of discussion, commissioners approved the low bid of $109,750 from Spur Environmental Services for methane mitigation at the landfill. The county is under a consent order with the Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to mitigate the methane.

Commissioner Carl Pennamon asked where the funds would come from, as the cost is three times what was budgeted. Chief Financial Officer and interim County Manager Lorri Smith said that money would have to come out of contingency. Mr.. Pennamon questioned the expenditure at this time. Chairman Alan Cox said, “We don’t have an option on this.”

Commissioner Jack Bernard said, “We’re in violation….we absolutely need to identify where the funds will come from, but we don’t need sanctions from the EPD.”

Public Works Director Will Brown requested permission to purchase a pressure washer. Mr. Brown explained how badly it was needed, and said the money was available in his budget. He said he had gotten three quotes, and one was below $5,000 so he didn’t think he needed to seek bids.

However, commissioners said that bids would be in order and that he should get official bids, and then they would vote on it. Mr.. Brown had found a pressure washer for $4,875. His other two quotes were pages from the Grainger catalog.

Commissioners did not make many comments on the monthly human resources report which showed that the employees in the Tax Maintenance office all received eight percent raises. Those funds were apparently included in the budget, so commissioners were familiar with the figures.

Commissioner Patrick questioned Kerri Norris working in the registrar’s office, and said the commissioners had previously addressed this and said she could not work there. Ms. Patrick said it is a clear case of nepotism. She also questioned the hiring of a temporary building inspector.

Ms. Smith told commissioners that Ms. Braley said she needed someone to do the work, and former County Manager Greg Wood told her to call the surrounding counties and see if she could find someone capable that would be willing to work here part time.

Commissioners discussed road maintenance, with several commissioners expressing concern about patching being done properly.

Commissioners discussed establishing an ordinance for off-road vehicles on county roads, but took no action.

Commissioner Patrick again expressed her concern about Jasper County getting involved with the Bear Creek Reservoir that Newton County plans to build.

She also presented a resolution concerning the hiring an firing of department heads. After much discussion, they agreed the proposed resolution would not work, but that they can adopt a policy that allows the commissioners to have input before a department head is hired or fired.

Ms. Patrick also said she thought it was time to stop pretending certain things were being investigated, such as the county manager/EMS director problem, building inspector issues, and the investigation about Julia Haar being at Animal Control.

Furthermore, she said she wanted the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) called in to investigate criminal cruelty to animals charges against former animal control director Kelley Bowen. That motion passed unanimously.

After a 30 minute closed meeting, commissioners came out and voted to re-advertise the EMS director position and start the process over.

In other action at Monday’s meeting, commissioners:

•Accepted the low bid for an air conditioning unit at the 911 center.

•Approved the month to month contract for ATC, the firm overseeing the landfill situation.

•Agreed to forego their regular first of the month meeting in September, and just meet for the mid-month meeting on September 17.

The first meeting of the month is usually held on the first Monday which in September is Labor Day, a holiday.