Volunteers Are Needed for Boards

The Jasper County Commissioners had numerous appointments on their agenda to be made at Monday’s regular meeting, but no citizens had expressed any interest in serving on most of the boards that have vacancies. They did agree to appoint Martha Digby to the Department of Family and Children Services Board, to fill the position previously held by Juanita Thompson. Mrs. Thompson said she was ready to step down after serving for some time. Commissioner Carl Pennamon said he approached Ms. Digby about serving and she was agreeable.

The county advertised in this newspaper for people willing to serve on the various boards, and got little response. Therefore, the commissioners will seek volunteers in their districts to serve. Vacancies exist on the Jasper County Water & Sewerage Authority, Planning and Zoning Board, and the Board of Appeals. Interim County Manager Mike Benton said there are appeals to be heard, so it is important that the county find people to serve on that board.

They did re-appoint Billy Whitten to the JCSWA board, but there are still openings, and re-appointed Justin Owens to the P&Z Board.

Commissioners also discussed the Bethel Church Road, Hwy. 212 west intersection and learned from Mr. Benton that the state may put down rumble strips on the county road if it was asked to first thing Tuesday. Mr. Benton Tuesday afternoon said the district engineer said it would be done. A four-way stop is being installed at the intersection, and plans called for rumble strips on Hwy. 212. However, the county also wants them on Bethel Church Road, as there have been numerous accidents there.

Commissioners had much discussion on the Post Road resurfacing project. They bid the project to just resurface the existing road, and to do a full-depth reclamation and add a foot to each side of the pavement. According to bids, the resurfacing can be done for $522, 618, and the other option would cost about $735,000. Commissioners appeared to be leaning to the higher bid, but tabled any decision. Mark Whitley, who serves as the county’s engineer, said it’s possible they could put together this year and next year’s project, and save a lot of money. The bid is for 2.5 miles, based on funds the state provides through its LMIG program.

If they combine the two, there could be some savings, and five miles could be done next spring, rather than 2.5 miles this fall and 2.5 miles sometime next year. Mr. Whitley is supposed to meet with the bidders—Pittman Construction and Blount Construction—and determine an approximate cost savings by combining the two projects. He is also to check on the timeline of when the companies can do the project if it is approved right way. Commissioners plan to have a called meeting, probably next week, to vote on that and other items.

{{more}}

Commissioners also spent considerable time discussing allowing the public works department (PWD) to put down a double surface treatment on McElheney Crossroads. The cost of that project is not anticipated to exceed $20,000. Commission Chairman Gene Trammell proposed it, and was in favor of it.

Commissioner Bruce Henry expressed grave reservations on doing anything before more staff is hired. He said he couldn’t see pulling everyone off the regular maintenance to take on that project. The county had budgeted to hire six to eight laborers for that department to work temporarily from July to October to help get work done. Those people have not been hired. There is also an opening at PWD for a CDL driver.

Commissioners agreed to move forward with the project when appropriate staff is on board.

Commissioners discussed a grant application for $500,000 to be used for the Older Americans Council and recreation. Chairman Trammell said that because of the uniqueness of the project, that there would also be other grants available. The cost to the county to apply is $20,000, which can be paid from the grant. However, if the county does not get the grant, it will still have to pay the grant-writer $8,000. There was much discussion about that as the service of grant writing was not put out to bid. The county’s purchasing policy says anything over $5,000 must be put out to bid. Several departments get quotes, not bids, and that has been a contentious matter for some.

Mr. Benton said he would get out a memo this week to all departments to remind them of the policy, as he doesn’t think most of them are aware of it. After discussion, commissioners agreed to apply for the grant.

One of the items that was not bid was brought before the commission by Chief Appraiser Lynn Bentley. Mrs. Bentley explained the process of hiring a firm to review 1,500 parcel a year, which would mean the whole county would be completed in a six-year period. Mrs. Bentley talked with several firms and got quotes, and brought the low offer to the commissioners to approve.

As it was not actually bid, commissioners agreed to ask those agencies to submit sealed bids, and hopefully they would get the same deal, if not better. The cost is $30,000 annually, and Mrs. Bentley has it in her budget. She indicated there was not a problem putting it off, but felt like she had done the right thing by contacting companies that do the work and getting quotes.

In other action at Monday’s meeting, commissioners:

•Approved putting the bid, or request for proposals (RFP) for fiber removal out.

•Tabled purchasing fire rescue pumper until they could see how much money is in the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax account to purchase it. They had looked at a model several months ago, but commissioners felt like it should be bid. The new equipment came in substantially higher than the demo model. Commissioners had reservations about spending the money, and voted to table the purchase.

•Agreed to continue to pay the Board of Assessors $75 per meeting, rather than $100 per meeting that the chief appraiser requested.

•Heard from Tiffany Salembier about a problem she was having with a pack of dogs on County Line Road. Commissioners agreed to look into it, but it appears the owner puts the dogs up when animal control comes around, and lets them run at other times.

•Heard from Mary Patrick about it being time for a change in attitude in Planning & Zoning. She discussed the problems that have plagued that department for the last few years, and suggested that the P&Z director should have an attitude of partnering with the citizens.

Commissioner Doug Luke also expressed the need for citizens to work with the county and within the confines of the law to take care of the county. He told of a bag of garbage being dumped in a yard, and ultimately it was the neighbor who did nit. He asked the public to help keep Jasper County clean.

Commissioner Pennamon said he rode Avant Road and the pavement is cracking already. He also said he had complaints about people speeding on Hwy. 83 south, particularly between the old Feldspar plant and Monticello. He addressed those concerns to the sheriff, who made a note of it.

Commissioner Henry thanked the sheriff for his and his officers’ service.

Chairman Trammell said he sure appreciated the trash pick-up done on Hwy. 16 by community service workers or inmates supervised by the sheriff’s office.