Town Hall Meeting
The date and place is Thursday, May 28, 7:00PM at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center.  We will meet in Building A.  If you have not been there before, it is the first building and the building with the office in it. 

 In response to several emails, only Comm. Cox and I will be at this Town Hall meeting.  If more than 2 commissioners attend, it is considered an official meeting.  We would like anyone that is interested in what is going on in the County to come no matter what district they live in.  Please forward this information to anyone you think would be interested or tell your friends and neighbors.

 
Commissioner’s Retreat
I have not been informed about any details or the agenda of the Retreat; however, the County Attorney mentioned at the 5/4/09 meeting that it would be Saturday, June 6 at 9:00AM in Athens at the RDC building.  He also said 3 commissioners had committed—Payne, Pennamon, and Hill—along with the county manager, county attorney, and the auditor.  Mr. Cox has not indicated if he is or isn’t going to attend at this time.

The public can attend this retreat, as it must be an open meeting.  I will not be attending.  I do not think the location for the “Retreat” will be any more  productive than having it locally.  We do need more public work sessions in the county.

Commissioner’s Meeting 5/4/09

            Adult Education Program: BOC was asked to vote and sign a letter of support for the Adult Education Program at Griffin Tech.  A section of this letter said the BOC would provide resources (meaning money) if it was available.  I mentioned that the County already provides about $40,000 a year in support to Griffin Tech where the AEP is held and felt the section about providing resources should be removed.  (This support includes insurance, maintenance, cleaning, and utilities.)  I abstained from voting on this issue while the others voted to approve the letter of support as it was presented.

            Logging Ordinance: The new, revised logging ordinance was approved 5-0.  This new ordinance keeps logging trucks from using our county dirt roads for hauling operations for 24 hours after rain.  There are a few other changes, but this was one of the main issues.

             JCWSA Appointments:  None of the 3 current members sitting on the JCWSA whose terms were expiring wanted to be reappointed.  Four people asked to be appointed to the 3 open positions.  The three new members will be Tim Kelley, Craig Salmon, and Gene Trammell.  Even though it was talked about at the first BOC meeting that appointments should be made at night so those interested could attend the meetings, that isn’t happening. 

             County Road Projects:  The County Engineer (Larry Kaiser) made several presentations all rolled into one.  He is applying for a grant from the Federal gov’t for money to repair 4 structurally deficient bridges on Post Rd.  He asked the BOC to approve this application and we did 5-0.  The county will have to provide 20% of any funding we obtain.  The BOC also voted 5-0 to bid out the remaining work on Pitts Chapel Rd.—a SPLOST road that has been worked on for almost a year—and the bridge on Lane Rd. that was destroyed March 1.  The work should be able to be completed faster and better by being bid out.  Another plus is the fact that if the work isn’t done properly, the County should not pay for it until it is.  All work will be bonded.

             Animal Control Sign:  45 days ago it was brought up that there needed to be a sign on Hwy 212 W showing where the Animal Control Shelter was located.  As of 5/4/09, that still hadn’t been done.  The County Manager promised it would be done “today”.  This should help people locate the shelter so they can adopt or rescue the animals there.

             Copier Leases:  The last of March IKON met with the County Manager and County Clerk about the leases and the cost each month.  Every office has its own copier and the IKON representative did some checking and found that 3 copiers were off contract and some things could be done to save the county $391 month.  Nothing has ever been done and this was not followed up on.  The County Manager said he would look into it.  He was reminded that every month he waited, it cost the county another $391 (about $4800 per year).

             Road Maintenance:  I made a suggestion that all dirt roads that have businesses on them be maintained much more frequently, even once a month if necessary.  Three roads I could think of were Aldridge Rd (egg farm), Ross Rd. (3 different businesses), and Bear Creek Marina Rd. (the marina).  The county has few businesses as it is, and we need to do what we can to help them and their clients and suppliers get to the businesses on a maintained road.  Comm. Pennamon didn’t think a vote was necessary, but I will continue to follow up on this suggestion.

             Jackson Lake Rd.:  It has been suggested by several people that have either called or emailed me that the speed limit be changed on Jackson Lake Rd. to 45mph due to its poor condition.  This is supposed to be on the next agenda.  If you have feelings one way or another, please let me and all the other commissioners know how you feel about lowering the speed limit to 45mph.

             County Manager Search:  It was voted on by Cox, Patrick, and Payne to start the search for a new county manager.  Hill and Pennamon voted no.  The current manager’s contract is up in October and this was brought up so advertisements and interviews could be held and completed before October.

The motion and approval also included that the County Manager’s position would be combined with the CFO (financial) position.  I certainly believe that in a county as small as ours we do not need two people to perform these duties.