County Manager Contract Is Approved

The Jasper County commissioners voted 4-1 at their meeting Monday evening to approve a two-year contract for county Manager Greg Wood.
Mr. Wood began work for Jasper County six months ago, a period designated as probationary. That period was up and the contract brought before the commissioners at the regular meeting on March 7.

Commissioners went into closed session to discuss the contract, and came out and took no action.

Monday, they discussed the contract in open session. The main issues in the 11-page contract that concerned commissioners was the severance pay, and the possibility of firing the manager for cause. After much discussion, commissioners agreed to 90 days severance pay if he is dismissed without cause.

If there is cause, certain, outlined reasons would be cause for immediate dismissal with no severance pay, and other reasons would entitle him to 30 days to fix the problem.

In the discussion, Commissioner Mary Patrick, who cast the dissenting vote, said that she saw numerous ways the contract protects Mr. Wood, but no way that the county is protected. Commissioner Patrick read the county’s personnel policy that goes to great length to describe county employees as being at-will employees, and says there are no contracts.

Commissioner Jack Bernard pointed out that the commission can make an exception to that at any time. At some point during the discussion, Mr. Wood reminded commissioners that he is the only employee that the commissioners, themselves, hire and fire. Other personnel changes are done by the county manager. The county attorney is also at the discretion of the commissioners, but is not really an employee.
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Another item on the agenda that created much discussion was a proposed ethics ordinance, which ultimately was tabled by the commissioners.
The proposed ordinance has clearly outlined rules by which the commissioners should live. One item, for example, says that a county commission should not state during the public portion of any meeting that a county employee has not done his or her job, or has not done his or her job properly.

Commissioner Patrick pointed out that Commissioner Bernard had done that in the previous month’s meeting. She also expressed concern that the ordinance would be selectively enforced.

Commissioner Bernard questioned if it included all communications by a commissioner or just communication in open meeting. Then it was pointed out that the commissioners have “sovereign immunity” while acting as a county commissioner at the meeting, but are not protected in that way outside the meeting, and therefore could get themselves into even more trouble outside the meeting.

County Attorney Jim Alexander said that by passing the ordinance, the commissioners show they are willing to respect one another and the public.

Commissioner Bernard suggested that the proposed ordinance be discussed in a future work session. Commissioners agreed to bring it back up after the 2012 budget is set.

The commissioners voted to name Elvis Gregory Singleton to the Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority. Applying for that position, in addition to Mr. Singleton, was H.J. “Skip” Nowetner.
Another item on the agenda was appointments to the recreation board. Six persons had expressed an interest, and three were at the meeting. The other three were at the ball field coaching, said Recreation Director Wes Chester. There are five openings, he said.

The commissioners agreed to name five individuals to the commission, and make one an alternate, since getting a quorum has been an issue in the past. The five regular members named are Mike Cavender, Don Jernigan, Cecil Hooper, Patrick Barton and Maylon Wages. Nancy Stafford was named as an alternate. That motion passed unanimously.

Also concerning recreation, Mr. Chester approached the commissioners about holding archery tournaments. He explained that the sponsoring agency would carry insurance so the county could not be held liable. He explained that the local group, Deer Capital, would do most of the legwork required, and that the sponsoring agency provides targets, insurance, advertising, etc.

He said the recreation department would sell concessions, so it could be a revenue producing event. He said he knew of three right now—a R-100 tournament to be held April 30-May 1, then a qualifying and final round for the state 12-point archery tournament. He indicated these could become regular events, as a nearby location has closed.

Mr. Chester said the people coming the to the tournament are looking for places to stay, and that they may be allowed to pitch tents at the recreation department. (See related story.)

The commissioners were set to discuss a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) during their work session and again at the meeting, but they made little headway. They agreed to write a letter to the cities—Monticello and Shady Dale—to see if they are interested in participating in a SPLOST. Bobby Jacobs, councilman for Monticello, was at the commission meeting and told commissioners the city is interested. However, Mr. Alexander told commissioners the first step is to write a letter to the cities.

Commissioners agreed to plan to discuss the SPLOST at the April 4 meeting, attempting to handle all other business from 9-10 a.m., and reserving the rest of the meeting time to discuss SPLOST projects.

One item on the agenda was bid openings. Commissioners advertised for bids for a weather siren and for a system that could be described as a “reverse 911” whereby the system can call residents and warn of impending danger. Mr. Wood said he did not believe any of the bids were for the siren, but he had six for the internet-based call system.

He began opening the bids, which was a somewhat tedious process, and commissioners discussed whether their meeting time should be spent that way. They agreed that the process was what they had voted for, but then decided to change the process. Now, when bids are advertised, the opening will be included in the advertisement, and the county manager, assistant county manager/CFO, and department head will open the bids.

Commissioners also reviewed the February financials and received a legislative update from Mr. Wood.

In a work session prior to the regular meeting, commissioners saw a presentation on “narrow banding” which will be required by 2013. Jasper County will incur some expense in the change, as radios and radio consoles will have to be upgraded.

Also on the agenda was coordination with water authorities, but the commissioners ran out of time before getting to that item and agreed it could wait.