County Delays Highway Project

The Jasper County Commissioners Monday voted to re-bid the Hwy. 11 north project—a road widening to create a turn lane at the new high school—as both bids that were received reflected costs substantially higher than anticipated.

The two bids varied by more than $10,000 with Cummings Grading the lower of the two at $765,684. The school is not scheduled to open until the beginning of the 2007 school year, so commissioners felt they had time to re-bid.

Gasoline and asphalt prices have likely come down since the project was advertised.

County attorney Kevin Brown asked, “Are we going to be accused of delaying them [school opening]?” The commissioners discussed whether the project would be completed now or in the spring, with their being some talk of road projects taking a hiatus in the winter, but concurred that there was ample time to re-bid.

Commissioners also discussed what amount the state was paying on the road. County Manager Greg Williams said originally the Department of Transportation (DOT) officials said $200,000, but when the bids came in so high, he received a verbal commitment of $350,000.

Before Jasper County voters approved the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) that will fund the county’s portion, DOT commissioner Harold Linnenkohl assured the county the state would match 75 cents of every dollar the county spent on roads. Commissioners asked Mr. Williams to remind the DOT of that, and try to acquire more state funding.

During the discussion, Commission Chairman Jack Bernard asked how much had been collected so far in SPLOST funds, and Mr. Williams answered about $175,000. That figure now is $250,000 as last month’s money has now been deposited. The commissioners decided to re-bid, hoping for better results.

Mr. Bernard abstained from the vote saying he didn’t think the project should be a county project at all, that the school board should be paying for the road widening.

Also on the subject of roads, commissioners were presented a copy of the county road list with each road being rated for need for resurfacing.
The commission is to submit roads to the state to be considered for paving under the Local Area Road Program (LARP) next year. The commission submits roads, and then the DOT determines which projects to fund. According to Mr. Williams, the DOT suggested the county submit 10 miles or 10 roads for the state to choose from. Commissioner Carl Pennamon suggested each commissioner choose two roads in his district to be considered.
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Commissioner Greg Johnson said the paving projects should be determined by need not by district. Commissioner Bob Yarbrough said we are at a juncture now. Do we continue to make road decisions political or do it by need. He recommended the county select roads based on need regardless of what district they are in. He said he hated that they were all in District 4.

Commissioner Johnson made the motion to get beyond the politics, and do it based on need. He said to submit the top 10 roads or by the mile, leaving it to Mr. Williams to actually choose the roads.

Criteria considered for scoring each road was how many residences, business and churches are on the road, as well as the length and condition of the road. During agenda comments at the end of the meeting, Charles Forsythe asked about the formula that determined the need. Mr. Bernard said the formula would be made available to Mr. Forsythe.

Impact Fee Study

Bill Ross, Jr., gave the commissioners an overview of the work he and his father through their company, Ross and Associates, is doing for the county on the Impact Fee study. He presented each commissioner with a notebook and explained they would be adding papers to the notebook regularly during the scope of the project. He reviewed the tables showing what services could legally be supplemented with impact fees, and what level of service is provided now.

He said his firm would determine the maximum allowable impact fee by law, but that it is up to the commission to determine what is right for Jasper to charge. He also explained the county may want to establish exemptions—certain developments would not be subject to impact fees.

Mr. Bernard asked why roads couldn’t be funded with impact fees, and Mr. Ross explained that there is no date for roads so to determine the impact of new construction on roads is a difficult and expensive process. He said a major hurdle is having a computer model which costs close to $100,000. He said it is important to be able to show in court how services are impacted by development.

He said the county needs to establish a committee of five to 10 people to form an Impact Fee Advisory Committee. By law the committee must be comprised at least 40 percent by the development community. He said by law the committee has to meet once, but that most likely it would meet more often. He said the commission could use this committee to study the documents and make recommendations. He suggested that once the committee is appointed, the commission give instruction to committee members on what feedback is desired.

Senior Center
Mr. Williams presented a letter of resignation from Overview, the agency which operates Jasper’s senior center. The agency said it would no longer operate the center after September 29. The agency and the Regional Development Center (RDC) cannot come to terms on funding, so the agency is withdrawing from the project. There currently is no local director for the Senior Center, which escalates the problem.

Mr. Williams said he had been in touch with the agency and an individual there said the agency would operate the center temporarily if the county paid $2,000 a month. After much discussion, the commission agreed to do that until a better solution is found.

The commissioners are to talk with RDC officials and try to determine what can be done to satisfy Overview, the RDC, and Jasper County. There are federal funds available to operate the center, but the disparity apparently arises between the two agencies—RDC and Overview. Commissioner Penna-mon asked where the $2,000 a month would come from. Mr. Williams said that it would affect the fund balance unless there is money in contingency.

The county’s new Chief Financial Officer, Darlow Maxwell, made a presentation to the commissioners, apologizing that he did not have financial statements. He said that by the end of September he should have statements, accurate and up-to-date. He said the current problem is the statements do not reflect end-of-year adjustments made by the auditor. He said he had tried to contact the auditor Friday and Monday, but did not have the information yet.

He said that he was trying to get it all straightened out, and then everything will be on the table, open to public scrutiny.

He said the county operating on a calendar year gives him some challenges. Mr. Bernard said his concern is the organization of the finance department. He instructed Mr. Maxwell to take a strong look at employees and their functions.

Mr. Maxwell replied that he is trying to determine how best to use the employees and utilize them to help the department run efficiently. Mr. Maxwell said that the county’s financial system has some good features, but that it has a poor format for financial statements. He said, “Once we get to where we know the numbers are accurate, we can create a financial statement.”

Mr. Bernard told him to determine functions not persons.

Mr. Maxwell said the department is installing its first digital scanner which will serve to make record retention and retrieval easier.

Apparently in response to a newspaper article last week on the groundbreaking for the Stanton Springs project undertaken by the Four County Development Authority, Mr. Bernard expressed his displeasure with the authority; with the county spending money to be involved, and with the fact that the county cannot get out of the agreement.

He said we have paid $300,000 and seen nothing. He said, “we asked them last year to sell some of the property, and were egregiously turned down.”

He said if it was up to him he would be sending another letter asking them to sell some of the property to get rid of the debt or to release Jasper from its obligation. Commissioner Charles Hill pointed out that none of the counties had received any benefit yet.

The Four-County Industrial Authority and the creation of the Stanton Springs multi-use development was conceived nearly 10 years ago. It is comprised of representatives form Jasper, Walton, Newton and Morgan Counties. Jasper’s portion of expense is 10 percent.

Mr. Bernard said that the economy is scheduled for a downturn, and if no one has located there during the recent booming economy, how do they expect to attract someone when the economy gets worse.

In other action at Monday’s regular monthly County Commission meeting, commissioners:

•Voted to approve the Comprehensive Plan which was submitted a year ago, and just now received Department of Community Affairs (DCA) approval.

•Approved a contract with Town Planning & Design to update, modify or revise the county zoning ordinance. The cost is $32,500, plus up to $3,000 more for electronic copies.

Commissioner Pennamon asked where the funding was coming from, and Mr. Williams answered the contingency fund. He said only part of the project would be completed this year, so he will make sure there is enough carry-over in the budget to fund what will not be owed until next year.

•Agreed to advertise for persons to serve on various committees in the county, including the new Impact Fee study committee.

•Refused a request from Wildfire Industries to amend their contract. The company provides the cleaning service for county buildings, and wanted a $200 monthly increase. The request said that much more of Griffin Tech is now being used than was when the original contract was formed, and therefore it takes longer to clean and costs more.

The contract gives the county and Wildfire the option to withdraw with 30 days notice.
Commissioners agreed to continue with the contract agreement until it is up next April. If Wildfire is not agreeable, it can withdraw, they indicated.

•Heard from a property owner in Turtle Cove who was upset to learn that she now cannot build her retirement home on her property as planned as the county has adopted an 1,800 sq.ft. minimum housing size. She asked how could that happen. Mr. Bernard told her she could stay after the meeting and learn about the process of how the action was taken.

•Agreed to purchase two new sheriff’s cars from the low bidder, Covington Ford, unless the vehicles can be purchased for less under state contract.

•Agreed to request proposals from court reporters for transcription services for Commission meetings, as no one submitted a bid for such when it was advertised.

•Instructed Mr. Williams to research the policy on accepting roads into county maintenance, and if there is a policy, present it to the commissioners. If there is not, he should draft one.

•Agreed to join the Georgia Federal Credit Union at no cost to the county. Being a member will offer the employees Credit Union benefits.