County Manager Takes ‘Medical Leave’

The Jasper County Commissioners voted 4-1 Monday evening to give County Manager Karen Degges, a 90-day medical leave of absence after which time she would have to go on COBRA, indicating she would no longer be employed with Jasper County. She will be paid during the medical leave. Commissioner Bruce Henry cast the dissenting vote.

The commissioners then voted, 4-1, to name Mike Benton, chief financial officer, as interim county manager. Commissioner Carl Pennamon cast the dissenting vote.

The action came after a 45-minute closed session at Monday’s regular meeting, after the public hearing on the budget was held.

Several people spoke at the budget hearing, citing the burden it puts on individuals to pay higher taxes. One man said that there were four widows on his road on fixed income, and they cannot afford higher taxes. One lady said the commissioners have raised taxes 15 percent over the past two years, and said people can’t afford it.

Mary Patrick said that the commissioners need to look more closely at their revenue sources, and said there was a lot of padding in last year’s budget and indicated this year’s was likely the same.

Charles Forsythe spoke about their “kitty,” the money they make off curbside, above what people pay and what is passed on to Advanced Disposal Company.

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The vote on the budget was not until some time later in the meeting. At that time the commissioners expressed their views. Commissioner Doug Luke said that he believes in what the commission is trying to do. He said he thought there was public support, but had recently received phone calls and e-mails saying otherwise.

Commissioner Henry said he does not like the fact that taxes are going up. But, he mentioned the sheriff’s department and the public works department and said we have to get some industry in here to offset some taxes. He said he doesn’t feel good about it, but he doesn’t feel bad because they are doing what they need to do.

Commissioner Pennamon agreed that they need to get a better handle on revenues, and said being a year behind on getting the audit doesn’t help. He said we will have to live with it this year, but hopefully we can have a substantial roll back next year.

Commissioner Craig Salmon began to talk about where cuts could be made, starting with animal control, but was cut off by the chair before he finished.

The commissioners voted 4-1 to adopt the budget and tax levy with Commissioner Doug Luke dissenting.

Also at Monday’s meeting, the commissioners received a report from the landfill committee, as reported in the June 25 Monticello News. The report recommends that curbside and landfill be combined as a solid waste fund, and that the landfill remain open. Mediation of the fiber at the landfill is under way, with an engineering firm currently working on a Request for Proposals (RFP) for companies that would like to get the business. The commission took no action on the report. (The solid waste committee met briefly before the commission meeting Monday.)

In addition, Skip Nowetner introduced his dog, Trooper, who is a member of the Color Guard for the American Legion. Trooper was invited to Washington D.C. this year for the Memorial Day parade, but was unable to attend because of short notice. Mr. Nowetner said that Trooper would be representing not just the Legion but, Monticello, Jasper County, and the state of Georgia. He asked for the commissioners’ support in getting Trooper to Washington next year.

The commissioners heard from several people during the citizen comments portion of the meeting. Juanita Gazaway of the Alcovy Shores Water and Sewerage Authority detailed actions taken by herself and her agency after a customer was found to be using water illegally. Code enforcement was called in, but a case was ever made. She said they never got responses to personal visits, e-mails or calls to the code enforcement officer or the county manager. Because of that, she said the authority feels the county should reimburse it a little more than $3,000 because of negligence. The commissioners did not respond.

Ross Hays said he was disappointed in the commissioners. He said that they failed to execute oversight…and asked how did $15,000 disappear and wasn’t caught. He also said that the commission should not use curbside funds to balance the budget—that’s bad business.

Mary Patrick reminded commissioners that it is necessary, per their policy, to get bids on items that they continually just get quotes for. She also negated some allegations made by the county manager in some e-mails.

In other action at Monday’s meeting, commissioners:

•Accepted the only bid, from Wildfire Services, for cleaning of the courthouse and other county facilities.

•Adopted the Capital Improvement Element of the comprehensive plan.

•Adopted the same curbside fee of $167 a year for the county.

•Adopted the fire hydrant district fee.

•Agreed to go out to bid for a new computer aided dispatch (CAD) for 911.

•Heard from Mark Whitley about the Post Road bid document, and learned that Pittman Construction was supposed to be on Hodges Farm Road Monday, but was not there.