County O.K.s Vaccine Grant

The Jasper County Commissioners, at their regular meeting Monday evening, again discussed the $10,000 grant from the National Council on Aging. The Jasper County Senior Center can receive a $10,000 grant if 100 seniors in the community get either a flu shot or Covid shot.

There is marketing material available to encourage seniors to get the shots, and either shot qualifies as a recipient for the grant. This is the third month the grant has been discussed, as some commissioners are concerned that 100 people won’t get the immunizations, and then they worry they would have to re-pay the grant. They approved accepting the grant Monday evening with the caveat that the money will be set aside until all paperwork is closed, to be sure that if it must be re-paid the money is still there.

Commissioner Chairman Don Jernigan, and Commissioners Sheila Jones and Steven Ledford voted in favor of collecting the grant. New District 4 Commissioner Asher Gray voted against accepting the grant, as did District 2 Commissioner Bruce Henry who was not present but was on speaker phone. Mr. Henry had expressed his displeasure last month, and Commissioner Gray said he agreed with Mr. Henry’s concerns. Basically, Mr. Henry said he was fed up with Covid. He was tired of it. Mr. Gray said people have been hurt by the vaccine. He said he thinks we’ll find out in the near future what is in the vaccine.

Senior Center Director Brenda Jacobs explained it can be a flu shot, it doesn’t have to be a Covid shot. She assured the commissioners she was not “pushing” anyone to get the immunizations. Mr. Gray replied there is marketing material included, that they are indeed encouraging people to get the immunizations. He also said he has not seen a written plan on how the $10,000 will be used. He also questioned if Mrs. Jacobs had lined up people to get the vaccines, as the grant was offered on July 11, and she’s had since then to get people lined up. She explained that until the grant is approved she couldn’t start promoting it. She feels certain she will have no problem getting 100 seniors to receive one of the immunizations.

She explained she came before the board in August to get approval, and was put off, as she was again in September. The county had sent additional wording to the contract to assure that the county gets to keep the grant monies even if there are not 100 inoculations. The agency rejected that wording. Commissioner Ledford had expressed some concerns at previous meetings, but with the money being banked he was comfortable with accepting the grant.

Commissioners also approved a new Emergency Management Agency (EMA) director for Jasper County. Kimberly LeCroy has been hired as the new 911 director by the 911 Authority. Traditionally the person in that position has also served as EMA director. So, the commission approved naming Ms. LeCroy at Monday’s meeting. She will receive a $5,000 annual part-time salary.

The commissioners heard a presentation from Rob Schulten with Barnsley Construction Group, the firm contracted to build the addition and renovation to the Jasper County Jail, about change orders. He explained that with the inflation, the price for the project had gone up considerably, and was continually going up. So last December, when plans for the building were about 50 percent complete, they issued the county a guaranteed maximum price. They encountered a few problems. The soil at the jail was not appropriate for the new septic tank, and there was soft soil where the addition of housing was to go.

He explained in detail all the changes which totaled $152,803, taking the entire project total up to $10,173,137. The commissioners were trying to keep the total to $10 million. County Manager Mike Benton explained that the project is being paid for by impact fees, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds, and revenue from the Four County Joint Development Authority (JDA) Stanton Springs funds. He said the additional funding is available from those sources.

Commissioners approved an additional 130 days moratorium on short term vacation rentals. There is a moratorium in place that expires November 10. The new one will continue the moratorium until after the commissioners meet in February, by which time they hope to approve appropriate ordinances. In addition, they extended the moratorium on accepting commercial and residential re-zoning applications for a period not to exceed 90 days. The county manager explained that the Comprehensive Plan needs to be adopted first.

County Attorney Barry Fleming explained that the commission needs to understand it is stepping on people’s property rights. However, the Planning & Zoning Director is the main person driving the policies, and since Judy Johnson has submitted her resignation from that post, the county has to hire someone and get back to work on it.

Commissioner Gray asked where were they in the process and inquired about public hearings. Mr. Fleming said that if you end up changing zoning ordinance hearings are needed, but otherwise not. Mr. Benton said that the county typically does hold public hearings on ordinance changes, whether they are required or not.

The commissioners approved three budget amendments to close out the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Public works was one of the departments, and Chief Accounting Officer Larissa Ruark, explained that some of those expenditures will be repaid with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) funds and some with Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) funds. Other departments that were over include recreation and the budget most impacted by the tornado, EMA. She said when the admin fees are figured, the county should get close to a 95 percent reimbursement for what it spent on tornado clean-up.

Commissioners agreed not to seek a 2024 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) . The process should have already been started, explained the county manager, but it is still doable. But, one requirement says that the previous CDBG must be 75 percent expended, and because bids have come in so high, work has not yet begun on the new Jasper County Community Food Bank which is being funded by a CDBG grant. The Food Bank officials are seeking an additional grant from a regional agency to be able to fulfill the plan.

In other action at Monday’s meeting, commissioners:

•Recognized Sharon Robinson for 22 years of service to the county. Mrs. Robinson has served as county clerk for some time, as well as Human Resources Director, and handling other duties as well. She is leaving the county’s employment this week.

•Approved a proclamation commending the Georgia Military Veteran’s Hall of Fame and declaring November 4, as GMV Hall of Fame day.

•Changed the work session scheduled for October 20 from a work session to a called meeting. That meeting is to discuss the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG) application that needs to be submitted soon. In addition, Commissioner Jones wants to also discuss what domestic non-profit organizations the county is funding, and discuss who’s getting what.

Interestingly, there were no public comments during that portion of the meeting. In commissioner comments, each of them welcomed Mr. Gray to the board.