Burkhalter Wants Commissioners Over County Road Equipment Again

Commissioner Bubba Burkhalter announced his desire to host a workshop to discuss restoring Commissioner power over the motor graders and some road department projects instead of the County Road Department during the meeting Monday morning.

The comment came as the meeting came to a close and Commissioners offered their comments to the Board as a whole.

Burkhalter was unable to elaborate on the idea as County Attorney Joe McGovern directed Burkhalter to instead elaborate on the county employee raise issue which came about during the discussion of the county manager’s contract and dominated conversation of most of the meeting.

It has only been in the last two years that all road projects process through the County Road Department, overseen by Kenny Hicks, instead of by each individual commissioner for their respective district. The road department was reorganized in 2015 and some members of the public complained that, under Commissioner control, there were too many favors with county equipment on private land.

Both Bulloch and Evans counties have a centralized road department responsible for fielding calls, processing work orders, and prioritizing jobs. Commissioners in those counties do not operate independently in their districts for road projects.

No date for a workshop was set. AllOnGeorgia will report on the measure when a date is announced.