The Tattnall County Board of Commissioners gathered at 9:00 A.M. on Monday, April 3, 2017 for the regularly-scheduled monthly meeting. All Commissioners were present along with County Manager Frank Murphy, County Clerk Fran Jarriel, and County Attorney Joe McGovern.
After calling the meeting to order, Chairman Jackie Trim called for Brother Will White to lead the room in prayer.
The Board unanimously approved the consent agenda, which included the March meeting minutes, 2 road easements, and a budget amendments. (See bottom)
The Board voted to purchase new hand held radios for the County Shop from Monroe Communications for $13,420.
- Portable Analog – Digital –> 14 at $712 each –>$9,968
- Portable Analog – 12 at $235 each –> $2,820
- Mounted Analog-Digital –> 1 at $547
- Installation – $85
Commissioner Bobby Kennedy made a motion to approve Monroe Communications over Verizon or Southern Linc, with the exception of the portable analog radios, which he says will not be converted as technology evolves. Commissioner Bubba Burkhalter seconded his motion and the measure was approved. Without the analog radios, the total cost is $10,600.
Director of Tattnall County DFCS was present with employees from the office to observe April as ‘Child Abuse Prevention Month’ and Chairman Jackie Trim announced a proclamation supporting child protective services, observing ‘Child Abuse Prevention Month’ and urging all citizens to protect Georgia’s children and help prevent child abuse and neglect. Trim called on only Pam Waters from the Journal -Sentinel to take a photo of the group with the Commissioners. (See bottom of article for proclamation)
The Board approved a request from the City of Glennville to help with repairs of the Glennville Public Library, part of the Ohoopee Regional Library System. Glennville City Manage Amy Murray told Commissioners all the windows needed to be replaced, an entire wall was rotten, and the building needs to be made ADA compliant, among other things. The city was awarded a grant from the state in the amount of $82,500 and Glennville is expected to match that amount. County Manager Frank Murphy said the county budgeted $30,000 from the SPLOST account in 2016 expecting to be awarded this grant and the additional match to meet the $82,500 match will come from FEMA funds.
The Board approved a request from the City of Collins to assist in the tear down and removal of a city-owned building at 347 N.E. Main Street. The building was damaged during Hurricane Matthew and is 100 years old, meaning it is not feasible to maintain or repair. The City said it does not have the man power to complete the task alone and expressed a willingness to pay “a modest fee,” though none was discussed by the Commissioners.
The Board approved a request from Tattnall County Emergency Services to purchase a new ambulance. The vehicle will be purchased from First Priority Global at the cost of $142,000 and will be available for use in roughly four months.
The Board approved a beer and wine permit for Sangitabahen A. Patel for the SuperFastrack on Highway 196 in Glennville. Trim acknowledged that Sheriff Sapp had investigated the applicant and reviewed the application and all requirements were met.
The Board approved a Resolution of Support of the Tattnall County Industrial Development Authority’s facilitation of the Southeastern Tech College building’s rental to Beltline Energy, LLC.
The Board approved the purchase of 10 motor grader tires (1400 x 2) from Massey Oil, the lowest bidder, at $730 each for a total of $7,300. Bids were also provided by Mosley Tire ($785/each) and Kennedy Enterprises ($775/each)
The Board approved a $86,442 fund allocation for Local Maintenance & Improvement Grants (LMIG ) projects. Every summer, GDOT awards the county with a specified amount of funds and as Dennis Odom explained, the county has to “come up with projects to spend the money on.” The county must spend the maximum with the 10% match (~$80,000 this year) for projects planned the previous year If the county does not go over the match, money must be sent back to the state. Odom said, “Each year, I try to to go over $10-20,000.”
GDOT awarded the county $797,352.72 and the lowest bid for the project is $963,795.00. The difference is $166,442.28 of which $80,000 was already allocated in the FY 2017 from the T-SPLOST account. The board unanimously decided to fund the remaining $86,442 from the T- SPLOST account as well. The only other option was to reduce the project list and rebid, a measure Dennis Odom wanted to avoid.
Chairman Trim announced his request to create and approve a resolution celebrating the 30th year of Wayne Dasher’s law enforcement dinner. Trim again requested the representative from the Journal-Sentinel take a photo.
The Board approved a project list for a to-be-determined grant awarded by the state as a result of the gas tax increase. The county is not given a dollar amount and must design projects and wait for allocation of funds. In 2016, the GDOT award of $2.5 million of which $120,000 went to Tattnall County. Odom is anticipating $1.5 million in 2017 meaning Tattnall could see roughly $80,000. Some of the projects include centerline and edge striping as well as rumble strips at 26 intersections.
The Board approved an authorization to take possession of four acres at the Glennville Industrial Park on Cecil Anderson Road as an equipment yard for the south end of Tattnall County.
The Board voted to increase the county supplement for the Atlanta Judicial Circuit Judges – Judge Rose, Stewart, and Cheney. An increase of $50 per month was requested and approved. (Full operating expenses of the office below) The law clerks for the Superior Court also requested a one time payment amount of $350 for the case management program which encourages mediation out of court. The amount will not go toward any personnel salary.
The Public Defender’s office requested approval of their budget in the amount of roughly $11,000 or 8%. The office recently returned $25,000 to the county and has previously sent $8-9,000 a year, however, the state has increased requirements and a budgetary increase is necessary. County Attorney Joe McGovern explained that the only other option would be to have state court public defense be privately contracted which would ultimately cost the county additional money. The Board approved the request.
McGovern also said Tattnall has an increase in public defender cases due to a spike in contraband cases in the three prisons inside county limits. He said those bringing contraband into the facilities are charged in Tattnall and it is costing the county money.
Sheriff Sapp requested the county assist the department in obtaining ONE credit card for use of official purposes and training application fees. Sapp said individuals are currently having to place official county business fees on their personal credit cards, a practice he wants to cease. The card will be managed by Sapp and his Chief Deputy only. The measure was approved unanimously.
A representative from the airport authority spoke to the Commissioners to explain results of the design engineering report. A few years back, the FAA inspected the Tattnall airport runway and requested it be resurfaced due to several asphalt cracks. The original 3,800 foot portion of the runway needs to be removed and replaced completely and the newest 1,200 feet will remain. The cost is expected to total $1.3 million, of which the county will be responsible for $192,000. No action was taken, but the Board will report a decision by the June 1 deadline. Trim said special-called meeting may be necessary to discuss specifics.
The Commissioners then adjourned for Executive Session.
Three separate PDF files are below. Scroll to see all three.
http://tattnall.allongeorgia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/04/Easements-3-2017-Tattnall-.pdf
http://tattnall.allongeorgia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/04/Atlantic-judges.pdf
http://tattnall.allongeorgia.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2017/04/Proclamation-.pdf
Easements 3-2017
TattnallAtlantic judges
Proclamation
Star Rogers
May 3, 2017 at 10:45 am
Where is the money to fix Roads that are hazard to drive on like Rod Strickland Rd what is it going to take to get it fixed someone dying on thse road from pot holds.before you fix it . there’s no sense in the roads to be like that when you buy cars trucks and others stuff that can wait . county commissioner need to get there priorities straight out.