Gene Trammell Is Commission Chair

District 3 Commissioner Gene Trammell was elected chairman of the Jasper County Commission during the regular meeting Monday evening, and District 2 Commissioner Bruce Henry was named vice-chair.

Both men were elected unanimously. In addition, the commission named Jim Alexander as county attorney and Sharon Robinson as county clerk.

The commission elects those positions during the first meeting each year. District 1 Commissioner Carl Pennamon made the motion for Mr. Trammell to serve as chair, and Distict 5 Commissioner Doug Luke seconded it. District 4 Commissioner Craig Salmon nominated Mr. Henry, and Mr. Luke seconded that nomination.

Before the regular meeting, the commissioners had a 30 minute work session on the Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority.

County Manager Karen Degges said the she doesn’t understand the issues well enough to make a recommendation. She said she doesn’t know the historical background. She did mention that the fire department’s tanker trucks are aging out, and the county needs to start replacing them.

“Trucks aren’t free or fast,” she said. She said she wants to analyze everything and understand it. She said that the county needs a utility partner for economic development.

Commissioner Trammell said that he wants to separate issues. He said you can look at yesterday or tomorrow, but we can only move ahead with good infrastructure. The first subject, he said, is economic development, and how does water and sewage play into that.

Ms. Degges said “we don’t have anything. It’s a big issue facing us.”

Commissioner Pennamon said there is a lot of fault on both sides. Can we fix it and move forward, he asked.

The issue being discussed stems from the Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority (JCSWA) coming before the board last month to ask for funds so the JCSWA doesn’t default on a U.S.D.A. loan. The attorney representing the JCSWA said the county committed to a certain amount of support for the JCSWA.

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The Taxpayer’s Watchdog Group (TWG) has argued that the JCWSA was never wanted by the people, and that the JCWSA always said it would not cost the taxpayers anything.

Members of the JCWSA, the TWG, and the commission have been at odds at times since the authority was formed by legislation in 2002.

People in the county who live along the area served by the JCSWA pay a “fire hydrant tax” each year to help fund the JCSWA. Those people get teh benefit of lower insurance premiums because they have fire protection. The JCWSA says the county owes it for 2009 when the county chose not to adopt the hydrant tax, and for discrepancies in the amounts for other years. The bulk of what the JCWSA says it is owned is from 2009.

After much discussion, Commissioner Luke said we’ve got to clean our house, and it’s going to take outside help.

Commissioner Pennamon said the biggest problem is there so much we need in the county. “We can’t do it all.” He said they need to bring minds together and decide what to do; where to start. We must look at the overall infrastructure, he said.

Finally, the commissioners asked the county manager to seek a solution, possibly go to the Regional Commission to get outside help to sort it out. Ms. Degges is supposed to come back to the commissioners with a recommendation, possibly next month.

The commissioners were then told the work at the landfill was in a holding pattern, awaiting EPD approval for a modification. She said the consultants had praised the work done by the county employees. She said that currently the Public Works Department (PWD) is working on roads, which they had ignored while working on the landfill.

During citizen comments, Mary Patrick said that there is enough blame for the JCWSA debacle to go around, and she said the citizens voted against this. She said the issue is about dumping debt on the taxpayer.

Karen Wright said she wants copies of the county attorney’s bills.

Gay Morrison said that the taxpayers voted down JCWSA, and that if the county wanted to support it they should see if the citizens want it by putting it to a vote again.

Mark Walton who serves on the JCWSA spoke briefly, saying he would like to refute what the others were saying but he would save it for another day. He gave the commissioners a copy of the flow chart for the hydrants, an annual requirement.

Charles Forsythe said that county commission, two boards ago, voted to pursue Jasper County’s growth as recreational and retirement, and asked “who is deciding for me that the future of this county is development?”

He then asked about the $150,000 approved in the 2005 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) to go towards an industrial park in the north part of the county, along Hwy. 142.

Ken McMichael encouraged the commissioners to look forward, not backwards, and said that the county can’t afford reservoirs. He said that Jasper County has a unique water supply, and doesn’t have to depend on reservoirs.

Topics discussed during the regular meeting included the recreation planning advisory committee. This committee will work with the regional commission on a future plan for the recreation department.

Committee members include Ms. Degges, Recreation Director Jay McMichael, Alice Evans, Joe K. Davis, Suzanne Lindsey, Bill Schilling, Michael Boykin, and Trina Hope.

Commissioners also approveed some part-time, temporary help for the recreation department as one employee is going to be out for a time.

The commissioners approved the meeting dates and times for 2014, agreeing to the first Monday in the month at 5:30 p.m. except for February and September when they will meet on the second Monday.

The commissioners heard from Russell Bennett who said Monticello Baptist Church is moving forward with the parking lot expansion project he had brought them months ago. The church has paid for all the engineering, and will move forward with the parking lot. The church is hoping the city and county will fix the road on Towee Street to be a right angle.

The church is adding 58 parking spaces, which will be available for the public to use when the church is not using it. Therefore, on court week, for example, much of the parking problem will be alleviated.

Commissioners clarified bidding processes for fire/EMS. They are interested in possibly being able to purchase a demo unit or wondered if they could piggy-back on someone else’s bids to get the best price. Commissioners said that they can have a called meeting, if needed, to approve the purchase of emergency vehicles, but that bids are important.

Commissioners approved moving forward with the expansion of fire station No. 3, in Monticello, to add some offices and a training room. The funding for the expansion was included in the 102 SPLOST.

Commissioners approved the 2014 holidays also at Monday’s meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the commissioners went into closed session to discuss threatened litigation.