Commission Hears from Public

A number of people showed up at the Jasper County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday which had been moved to the small courtroom to accommodate recognizing nearly 20 4-H’ers.

Many of the people were from Alcovy Shores, and were concerned about appointments to the Alcovy Shores Water & Sewage Authority.

Several spoke during the public comments portion, with Mary Ann Hyde saying the board appointments were not due until September 11, 2015. She gave out copies of the legislation that formed the ASWSA.

She said the commissioners don’t know who would be good on their board…they don’t know the people in the area. “We know who would be good on the board, and the commissioners don’t need to select our board members.”

The county had initiated calls to many boards last month to build a comprehensive list of the boards and committees throughout the county. At that time, the response was that the ASWSA appointment was due this June. In addition, the Development Authority of Jasper County normally appoints members in May, and the Jasper County Water & Sewerage Authority appoints members in June. So board appointments were on the agenda.

Commissioner Craig Salmon said he was going to suggest that a member of the Alcovy Board and the Turtle Cove board sit on the Jasper County board so there would be communication between the water authorities.

Juanita Gazaway, the employee for ASWSA, said that she didn’t agree with the June date, that their appointments go out next year in September. She said there are no water issues, that they are doing what is right. She went on to say, “We asked for help one time and only one time.”

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Rosemary Thompson said, “Leave our water system alone, it’s not broke and doesn’t need to be fixed.” She suggested they have good water and a good office, but bad roads, why didn’t the commissioners work on their roads.

Mary Patrick gave some history of the county’s landfill issues, and said the EPD (Environment Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources) was as much to blame as the county was and they should help remediate the problem. She went on to say the landfill operator is making too much money, and suggested some of those funds be used in animal control where the employees make $8 an hour.

Gay Morrison complained about pipes that have been installed improperly on PalAlto Road, and suggested there be more training in Public Works. And she said, “ as for the JCWSA, we don’t want it.”

Cissy Benton invited everyone to the Market on the Square that opens this Saturday and continues each Saturday through September.

After the public comments, there were three sets of presentations.

Commissioner Doug Luke presented a proclamation to Jimmy Taylor for his efforts in assisting his neighbors when a fire threatened their property in late March. Taking no account for his own safety, he went house to house to alert his neighbors, said Mr. Luke.

Kasey Hall told a little about the activities that the 4-H’ers in the county have been involved in, then introduced 19 of the students who had gathered for the recognition.

Skip Nowetner talked to the group about Veteran’s Appreciation Day coming up on June 14, and said he hoped all commissioners showed up this year.

The commissioners ended up tabling board appointments.

Commissioner Salmon made a motion to order an independent investigation of the county water authorities, but the motion died for lack of a second. Commissioner Luke said that he thought they should wait until Chairman Gene Trammell was present to discuss that. Commissioner Trammell missed Monday’s meeting for medical reasons.

Commissioners agreed for the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) director to go out for bids on a remount of an ambulance.

Although the landfill update was tabled, County Manager Karen Degges responded to Mary Patrick about the landfill operator, defending his pay and saying that he was brought into help find creative ways to increase the revenue stream of the landfill which is supposed to be self-supporting. The fiscal year 2015 figures show the general fund will have to offset the landfill by about a half million dollars.

Commissioners learned that the sheriff’s department auction will be an online auction beginning May 12 and continuing until May 22