[0:07] everyone
[Music]
[0:10] some reminders please silence your cell
phones
[0:15] and please direct all questions through
myself the chair
[0:21] speakers all speakers please limit your
time to five minutes
[0:28] and let's remember that only one person
can speak at a time
[0:33] and we are respectful to everyone even
if you don't agree with what is being
[0:40] said please be respectful
[0:45] the meeting is called to order we will
have our invocation by our County
[0:52] Manager murwad followed by I pledge led
by Evans Martin
[0:59] let us pray
father we want to thank you for the the
[1:04] blessings we enjoy in our community
thank you for the the rain you sent our
[1:08] way recently
Lord we thank you for the the blessings
[1:13] of freedom and and Liberty that we enjoy
and the responsibility that you've given
[1:17] us we ask for your Justice in our
country and in our County I also ask for
[1:21] your mercy and your grace as well and
and lastly we ask for wisdom for this
[1:26] board for all the decisions that are
made we ask that they be done in your
[1:29] glory and honor in Christ's name amen
amen would everybody please stand and
[1:34] face the flag
[1:40] thank you
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
[1:45] United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
[1:50] one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for all
[2:06] at this time
we will adopt the agenda with the said
[2:10] Corrections
item 14 will be deleted
[2:18] item 18 a would be the budget amendment
Sheriff's Office Grant
[2:26] 18 B would be the budget adjustment of
2023 of the Sheriff's Office
[2:37] item 20 will be the city of Waynesboro
request
[2:43] item 21
approval of agreement with Rollin
[2:48] Environmental
and item 22 will be information and
[2:53] reports
so
[2:57] okay and executive session
[3:02] will be item 23.
so can we have an adoption of the agenda
[3:09] with the said
[3:12] I'm sure I'll make a motion we adopt the
agenda as amended a second
[3:18] motion was made by commissioner Nix
second by commissioner Martin that we
[3:23] adopt the agenda with the said
Corrections all in favor
[3:28] unanimous
we will now have the approval of minutes
[3:33] of the meetings on March 14th 16th April
3rd and April 4th
[3:41] Madam chair I made a motion recruited
amendments for the meetings on March
[3:45] 14th 16th April 3rd and April 4th
second
[3:50] motion made by commissioner Nick
seconded by commissioner Abrams that we
[3:56] approve the minutes of the meetings on
the set dates all in favor
[4:02] unanimous
next item is proclamation of National
[4:08] Public Safety telecommunications week
[4:16] there's a proclamation to be signed and
that week is April 9th through 15th
[4:24] 2023
whereas emergencies can occur at any
[4:31] time that require police fire or
Emergency Medical Services and whereas
[4:37] when an emergency occurs The Prompt
response of police officers firefighters
[4:42] and EMS is critical to the protection of
life and preservation of property and
[4:48] whereas the safety of our police
officers firefighters and EMS is
[4:54] dependent upon the quality and accuracy
of information obtained from citizens
[4:59] who telephone the Burke County emergency
communications center and whereas Public
[5:06] Safety telecommunicators are the first
and most critical contact our citizens
[5:13] have with emergency services and whereas
Public Safety telecommunicators are the
[5:19] single vital link for our police
officers firefighters and EMS by
[5:26] monitoring their activities By Radio
providing them information and ensuring
[5:31] their safety and whereas Public Safety
telecommunicators of Burke County
[5:38] e911 have contributed substantially
to the apprehension of criminals
[5:45] suppression of fires and treatment of
patients and whereas each dispatcher has
[5:52] exhibited compassion understanding and
professionalism during the performance
[5:57] of their job in the past year
therefore be it resolved that the Burke
[6:04] County Board of Commissioners declare
the week of April 9th through April 15
[6:11] 2023 to be National Public Safety
telecommunicators Week in Burke County
[6:19] Georgia in honor of the men and women
whose diligence and professionalism keep
[6:25] our city and citizens safe
and this is signed by myself
[6:31] uh Merv do we have to have a motion on
this yeah I don't know if you have to
[6:36] but I think it'd be very appropriate to
have a motion for the the whole board to
[6:41] approve the resolution Madam chairman I
make the motion that we approve the
[6:45] proclamation for the national public
safety telecommunicators week I'll
[6:50] second it
motion made by commissioner Nick
[6:53] seconded by commissioner Martin that we
approved the pop Proclamation for
[6:59] National Public Safety telecommunicators
Week all in favor
[7:05] unanimous
next we will have a presentation by
[7:11] um Madam chair would you like we have
our
[7:14] several of our 911 staff if you want to
present that to them we could get a
[7:20] picture too okay Lacey bring your group
up
[7:27] well that includes um
Chief Webster your group also
[7:39] Chad you coming
[7:43] I reckon we're going down
[8:01] foreign
[8:39] [Applause]
[9:05] next on the agenda is presentation by
Annie Higman Blakeney Elementary School
[9:17] good evening good evening good evening
good evening Burke County Commissioners
[9:22] committee members and guests
one day when I was riding around
[9:28] Wednesday with my mom I realized there
were no dog parks or parks with a dog
[9:32] area
in our town and that idea let me hear
[9:37] today
hi my name is Anna Hickman and I'm a
[9:41] fourth grader at blatney elementary I
recently won second place in the
[9:45] district co-over Leaf 4-H DPA in Metter
Georgia representing Burke County today
[9:52] I'm going to be telling you about my
plan to open a dog park in my hometown
[9:56] of Waynesboro Georgia my three main
points are how to organize how to
[10:01] propose and how to maintain a dog park
point one organizing
[10:06] I could gather up a group of people that
also won a dog park in Waynesboro we
[10:11] could share ideas
with each other next we could try ideas
[10:15] with other citizens to encourage the
County Commissioners to say yes to my
[10:20] dog park idea my mission stem is to
benefit humans dogs and the community by
[10:26] the dogs made new dog friends and the
humans meeting new human friends
[10:31] for the community it's just a benefit of
it being there
[10:36] I can ask
I can ask the County Commissioners to
[10:41] have land next to the animal shelter Rec
Department Public Library or near any
[10:48] County property
my second point is how to propose
[10:56] when I'm ready to open the dog park to
public I will put in safety rules for
[11:01] the people to follow further safety as
well as their dogs my goal is to make
[11:06] sure they have a fun every time they go
for the budgeting I will let people
[11:11] donate for the dog park and I will
recycle things like tires or plastic and
[11:17] pop taps
then I will tell Roger dog owner saying
[11:22] something like hey if your dog's over 40
pounds they may need to stay away from
[11:27] the smaller dogs
I could tell new residents if they have
[11:31] a dog or a puppy
saying something like hey if you ever
[11:35] need a dog park or if you're trying to
find a dog park you can come to mine
[11:40] point three point three maintaining
[11:47] now that I have gotten my dog park in
place it has to be maintained what I
[11:52] need there to be is a trash bag for the
dog's waist and a waste scooper for the
[11:56] bathroom area another step for
development is to make sure people
[12:00] family and dogs have fun
[12:04] I visited a neat dog park in another
town and it had an area for larger dogs
[12:09] over 40 pounds a small area
for dogs under 40 pounds a rocks for the
[12:16] dogs to climb on and a wife's trash can
a tunnel for both areas and a wood trip
[12:21] area
[12:25] and a lot of grass for the dogs to run
and it was open every time of the day
[12:30] they even had a dog washing station
[12:37] my dog Stella inspires me to do this
because still has a larger energy as a
[12:43] golden retriever so here's some real
dogs from Burke County and I think they
[12:48] made like a fun safe place to play like
a dog park
[13:07] so now that we heard my proposal for a
dog park and saw some cute dogs and a
[13:12] cat next time you drive around
Waynesboro maybe you'll see a dog park
[13:17] and what about better days to proposes
the National Pet Day thank you for
[13:23] listening to my proposal today
okay Andy stay right there thank you
[13:29] very much for that presentation it takes
a lot of nerve and courage to come
[13:35] before a group of grown-ups that uh and
present this to us let's give Annie a
[13:42] round of applause
[13:52] called you for winning the 4-H District
contest on your presentation so that's
[13:59] an accomplishment within itself also so
we are glad and proud of you and how you
[14:06] represented Burke County we do see your
proposal we will be looking at your
[14:12] proposal but no decisions will be made
as of now but thank you for your
[14:18] presentation thank you
thank you
[14:21] [Applause]
[14:31] next item on the agenda rezoning a
parcel
[14:37] 106.050 B from A1 to CG for sale to
Specialty to Twos for industrial
[14:46] applications company
Madam chair as Scott Lee is coming down
[14:52] I want to just kind of give you the
overview this is a parcel on Ben let's
[14:59] see some Ben Hatcher Road no it's up the
leasefield is on River Road is that
[15:04] correct yeah
and they're wanting is wanting to go
[15:09] from an egg Zone to commercial General
commercial to do some light
[15:15] Manufacturing in that that area Planning
Commission reviewed it recommended
[15:21] approval there was no opposition at the
public hearing is that correct
[15:33] approve the zoning change
for parcel
[15:39] 106-050 B from a1cg for the special
tools application I'll second it
[15:47] motion made by commissioner next second
by commissioner Martin that we accept
[15:52] the rezoning of the said parcel all in
favor
[15:57] unanimous
next item rezoning a parcel 106
[16:04] a096 conditional use approval for small
facility
[16:10] symmetry
Madam chair this one is on on Ben
[16:14] Hatcher Road this one
um norzetta Lawrence has requested a
[16:20] conditional use approval in an R1 Zone
to put a family cemetery on their
[16:26] property
on Ben Hatcher Road Planning Commission
[16:30] held a hearing on it
they approved it with the following
[16:34] conditions that the Family Cemetery
consists of less than one acre and that
[16:39] they provide legal access to the Family
Cemetery granted through the parcel that
[16:44] she owns
this there was no opposition Scott
[16:50] okay
and playing they recommended approval
[16:57] Madam chairman I make the motion that we
approve the zoning request for
[17:02] conditional use on
106.a at zero nine six well we haven't
[17:08] done that one it's the next one
no that's it good condition use yeah
[17:14] yeah second
motion made by commissioner next second
[17:18] by commissioner Lively that we rezoned
the said parcel
[17:23] all in favor
[Music]
[17:28] next item rezoning a
[17:35] parcel084-007 a from R1 to A1 to combine
the parcels
[17:42] Madam chair this one is a request from
the Marvin Robertson estate there the
[17:49] property is currently zoned R1 they want
to combine it with several adjacent
[17:54] parcels and put them all as a A1
agriculture Zone industry properties on
[18:00] Idlewood Road the Planning Commission
held a hearing there was no opposition
[18:04] and Planning Commission recommended
approval of this rezone request
[18:11] is there a motion
when I make a motion that we approved of
[18:16] zero eight
four dash zero zero seven a
[18:21] from R1 to A1 I'll second it motion made
by commissioner Abram second by
[18:28] commissioner Martin that we resume the
set profit parcel all in favor
[18:35] unanimous
next item rezoning or parcel zero to
[18:40] five through zero one four from R1 A1 to
R1 to combine with parcels
[18:48] Madam chair this one is just in reverse
that the property is currently zoned A1
[18:54] they want to combine a part seven tenths
no seven hundredths of an acre of this
[19:02] parcel with an adjacent parcel that is
already zoned R1 so they're asking that
[19:10] the the board rezone that seven
hundredths of an acre from agriculture
[19:15] to low density residential Planning
Commission held a hearing and there was
[19:19] no opposition and they recommended
approval
[19:23] Ms chairman I make a motion that we
approve no problem Scott right
[19:29] okay and this is on Highway 56 near
Midfield okay and uh a property uh zero
[19:36] two five Dash zero one four from A1 to
R1
[19:44] Madam chair I'll say promotion
motion made by commissioner Abram Second
[19:50] Bank commissioner Nix that we resume the
said property all in favor
[19:57] unanimous
next item of rezoning rezoning of parcel
[20:03] zero
two zero zero one seven G from R1 to A1
[20:11] to combine with parcels
Madam chair this request comes from
[20:17] Charles Daniels they're they're asking
to go from R1 low density residential to
[20:23] A1 so they can combine with an adjacent
parcel they will they want to put the
[20:30] parcels together and replant it as one
but they have to wait till the um the
[20:36] kuva Covenant is expired on both of them
which I think is another year or so
[20:41] Planning Commission held the public
hearing there is no opposition and the
[20:46] Planning Commission recommended approval
this channel down another discussion
[20:50] later we approved zero two
[20:56] zero-017g from R1 to A1
Madam chair I second the motion
[21:04] motion made by commissioner Abram second
by commissioner Nix that we rezone the
[21:09] said parcel all in favor
[21:13] unanimous
next rezoning item rezoning a
[21:20] parcel075-011 from R1 to A1 to combine
with another parcels
[21:27] this Madam chair this one is a request
from Janine Lauren they want to rezone a
[21:33] parcel that's currently zoned R1
residential to agriculture it's located
[21:38] at the corner of Porter Carswell Road
and Rackley Road where they come
[21:42] together it's a little point right there
the rest of the property is zoned to
[21:46] agriculture so they would like to have
the whole parcel zoned as as agriculture
[21:51] as one unit Planning Commission held a
public hearing there was no opposition
[21:56] and they recommended approval of this
rezone
[21:59] Madam chairman I'll make a motion we
read for the rezoning of partial zero
[22:03] seven
five-011 from R1 to A1 now second
[22:09] motion made by commissioner Lively
second by commissioner Martin that we
[22:14] rezoned the said Parcels all in favor
unanimous
[22:21] next we will have the bid opening first
one the motor grader Road Department
[22:27] [Music]
[22:31] we have two bids on the motor grader
[22:44] first bit is from Dobbs equipment
company out of Grovetown
[22:50] their bid for a new motor grader is
279
[22:55] 756 dollars
Dobbs equipment
[23:01] 279 thousand
756.
[23:07] what kind of motor
it is a John Deere
[23:13] John Deere thank you
next bid is from Yancey Brothers
[23:18] equipment
[23:34] they're
bid and this Yancey Brothers in Augusta
[23:39] their bid is 320
000 even
[23:45] 320 even
they say they've got it in stock in
[23:51] Augusta
[23:59] thank you
that's all
[24:02] all the bids on the motor grader
if you like I go ahead to the bids on
[24:08] the
the culvert pipe
[24:22] three o'clock for the finance committee
meeting
[24:28] all right the next bit is the culvert
pipe
[24:32] for several locations we've got uh
pipe we've only got one bid it's from
[24:38] Cherokee culvert
[24:46] and we've got bid for Quaker Road
Project that's 16 853
[24:54] a bid for Middle Ground Road replacement
of the Culvert there and that's 30
[25:00] 135 dollars
and Butler Mill Road uh 14 664.
[25:08] the total price on the three uh
Replacements or the the pipe for the
[25:13] three Replacements is 61 652.
61 652.
[25:30] that's better I wish we had gotten some
more bids but that's better than I
[25:34] expected it to be
okay all right thank you
[25:39] next item on the agenda proposal of low
cost spay neuter options the animal
[25:46] services all right
I'm going to let Mr Parish uh tell us
[25:51] about this proposal
[25:56] they could even I won't be long
um
[25:59] oh
there you go
[26:03] I was a couple years ago I had mentioned
uh to County Manager Merv uh Walter that
[26:07] we were looking at doing local spay and
neuter and since we were first starting
[26:11] up we had the funds and we budgeted it
for funds and worked things out to where
[26:15] we can provide that at free of cost to
the public uh just like with everything
[26:19] else
um over the past couple years prices
[26:22] have greatly increase so we were not
able to get a spay and neutering done at
[26:26] the discounted rate that we were so
doing that time frame I immediately
[26:29] stopped doing spay and new to vouchers
to the public so we can try to figure
[26:33] out a different option
um speaking with multiple different
[26:37] other counties and different rescue
groups around the area what they've been
[26:42] doing have been seeing a success is
offering a low a low-cost spay and
[26:48] neuter services such as as offering
vouchers of say between forty five
[26:53] dollars six dollars just depending on
what the animal is and what the cost of
[26:57] the surgery is and then that
organization or that county has been
[27:00] picking up the remaining part of the
bill so either way so they're still
[27:03] offering an option for low-cost spay and
neuter but they're also taking that
[27:07] person that's owned owning the animal
and having them invest a little bit into
[27:12] it also after speaking with Mark with
Michael with the finance department uh
[27:17] you mentioned that that could be
possible as a public-private partnership
[27:21] so I want to present that to you guys to
see if that would be an option for
[27:25] animal services to to continue to allow
citizens to have an option for a
[27:29] low-cost spay and neuter
uh we currently still have the funds
[27:33] within our Professional Services budget
that we uh during the budget every year
[27:38] for a spay and neuter
[27:43] clarify already I'm going to ask some
questions because to make sure I
[27:46] understand so in the in the past we have
paid 100 of the cost of spay and neuter
[27:52] and it was intended for those
um pet owners who couldn't afford to
[27:57] have their their animals spayed or
neutered we found out that just through
[28:02] not you know there were a lot of people
who probably could afford it that took
[28:06] advantage of the spay and neuter program
and then the funds ran out and then the
[28:10] people who truly needed it didn't the
money wasn't there and then now the
[28:14] prices have gone up and it's much more
right now the funds are still there and
[28:18] we still have enough funds to continue
and with the prices of the services that
[28:22] I've looked into
um
[28:25] generally if we so whatever you guys
want to set the price to let's say if
[28:30] it's 45 55 60 whatever per voucher It
generally still what we would actually
[28:36] pay now compared to what the offset
price is will now be back generally to
[28:42] what we were originally playing paying
excuse me
[28:46] um now we also offer offer free spand
and neuter for any animal that is
[28:51] adopted through us so we'll still get
those prices at the same discounted rate
[28:55] but uh any animal that's already
previously owned by somebody and they
[29:00] come and say hey which I have two dogs
or whatever
[29:04] um can you guys help me out on spay and
neutral services so generally what we
[29:07] were doing at the time of doing the
vouchers and now we're saying okay all
[29:11] right well how about you become a little
bit Financial invested into it this is
[29:14] your animal you had it for a while
we shouldn't have to generally eat the
[29:18] entire cost of it so we would provide a
voucher to the individual to take to the
[29:23] vet yes and then the vet would would it
would still send us the entire bill but
[29:28] but we already have the
funds for them purchasing the voucher
[29:34] so they would they would pay the the vet
directly and then we would pay when the
[29:39] vet gave us the voucher back yeah they
would pay us directly uh all right so
[29:44] whoever wanted to spend the bachelor
would pay us the cost so to spay and
[29:47] nude about you so we would take that
money which I made deposits to Michael
[29:50] on a daily basis
um and then the vet would still just go
[29:56] and send us the bill so we already have
the funds that they've uh uh that they
[30:01] purchased the spay and neuter voucher
for so we already have that
[30:06] so is it a certain percentage that the
the animal owner pays and then the
[30:12] voucher pays for the other part so so
they would pay whatever price that you
[30:17] guys set forth on the voucher a lot of
people are doing anywhere between forty
[30:21] five dollars sixty dollars per voucher
and then that organizational that
[30:25] government has been paying the remaining
cost of it okay so then the now I'm
[30:30] understanding exactly so we would the
the pet owner would come and pay the
[30:35] county yes we pay the county 45 or 60
whatever the fee is for a voucher they
[30:42] would take that voucher and get their
pet spayed or neutered yes and then the
[30:47] vet would then send us the actual bill
whatever the difference yeah it would
[30:51] send us that bill on the monthly basis
okay
[30:54] so what's the average cost now for a dog
and a cat
[31:02] so generally the average cost is safe
for a
[31:11] yes a lot of procedures now is going by
the actual waiter adult so there's a
[31:14] range so let's say on the low end for
adult to get spayed let's say if it's
[31:18] anywhere anywhere between two pounds to
49 pounds generally the average cost of
[31:22] about 137 dollars
[31:29] and then anywhere between the 50 to 99
pound dog you're looking at 170 and then
[31:34] 100 pounds plus you're looking at 200 at
uh 203 dollars
[31:39] that's generally about an average
um and for a cat for a cat generally
[31:45] calls for a cat spell you're looking at
about 137 and for a cat neuter you're
[31:51] right at 115.
[31:55] yeah so my recommendation would be to
kind of set it out of the middle
[31:59] middle-ish or say if you guys want to
say that a dog
[32:03] um spay voucher is going to be higher
than adult new to voucher or vice versa
[32:08] however you guys want to set it I plug
it in
[32:11] we'll go from there
why don't we put a program together I
[32:17] think from what I can tell there's some
general interest put it together as part
[32:22] of our budget proposal we're about to
start the budget process and have it
[32:26] ready for implementation October 1.
sounds good to me is that okay with the
[32:32] and we'll we'll work out the particulars
and bring back a specific proposal
[32:37] do that anyway
okay thank you thank you all right thank
[32:40] you
[32:43] next item is acceptance of the canine
donation from canines of Valor
[32:50] Foundation
Sheriff's Office
[32:55] we have been notified that the the
canines of Valor foundations donated a
[33:01] canine
Officer a dog named Cooper to be
[33:07] provided to Burke County Sheriff's
Office the county would have to um would
[33:12] I guess take possession put provide
insurance
[33:17] um the there's going to be expense of
feed and vet bills that are in I'm
[33:25] assuming the dog's already been fully
trained there's no extra training needed
[33:30] yeah go ahead
[33:34] to retire the one doll because of the
medical issues that it had so uh back in
[33:41] January we applied and with other law
enforcement agencies Across the Nation
[33:46] and were interviewed by canine Valor to
they interviewed the Handler that we
[33:50] chose they interviewed uh Command Staff
and other people within the agency and
[33:55] they offered us the canine and that not
only comes with so you're talking about
[33:59] vet bills so canine Valor Christina with
canine Valor they're actually whatever
[34:03] vet of our choosing they're going to put
their credit card on there and handle
[34:06] all the vet bills so so the dog comes
it's a Narcotics uh detection dog and
[34:12] it's also a tracking dog so we're not
going to use apprehension so it's not
[34:16] going to be a bite work dog it's
strictly if we're using for Narcotics
[34:19] work and for tracking for suspects
missing people missing kids so it came
[34:24] with the dog she also provided a kennel
and has sent the kennel to the Handler's
[34:29] house she sent the crate to the
Handler's house and it came with the
[34:33] Handler training so the only thing that
we're going to have to do is typically
[34:37] we did it before we did it through the
stipend through the Handler and that
[34:41] would he would use that to help pay for
the food so that would be the food cost
[34:45] and then the insurance costs so that
would be the only cost that we have so
[34:49] it's about a 25 000 by the time you do
the dog to Handler training and
[34:53] everything that they're giving us so
what kind of dog is it what's that what
[34:57] kind of dog is it it's a lab a lab yep
didn't I see another dog
[35:03] that's a mouse so we've always had two
dogs and that one will be the same thing
[35:07] and that's completely donated that one's
completely donated by quality canine
[35:12] Concepts in Thompson with Matt Hammond
okay
[35:17] the one thing just
to remind everybody to stay within
[35:22] budget and knowing that there's some
budget issues related just be careful to
[35:29] keep all the expenses within the total
budget of the Sheriff's Office yeah so
[35:33] we try to do it this way so we didn't
have any other costs because we were
[35:36] going to go another route and it would
have cost twelve thousand dollars just
[35:39] for a dog but trying to apply for these
things and able to get it through this
[35:42] process is is a whole lot better than
costing anybody a whole bunch of money
[35:46] so
[35:49] The Madam chair I make the motion that
we accept the canine donation from The
[35:52] Valor Foundation our second
motion made by commissioner next second
[35:58] by commissioner Abrams that we accept
the K-9 donation from The Valor
[36:04] Foundation all in favor
unanimous
[36:10] next item
18 Alpha a budget amendment Sheriff's
[36:18] Office Grant
and Merv can you go over there because
[36:22] we okay Michael yes okay Madam chair uh
last month the board approved or
[36:28] accepted a grant from Department of
Justice through and I can't remember
[36:34] this the
particular Foundation
[36:38] but the grant was for a crime analyst
and it's one of the
[36:45] the most of the expense of the grant
would be Personnel costs and it'd be a
[36:51] small amount for a computer and for
software for the the new employee
[36:56] the budget amendment it reflects what
was in the grant proposal that was
[37:03] submitted to us last month
there's yeah as of
[37:08] Friday this was perfect
Monday morning we have a new employee in
[37:14] that that's
certainly was signed up to be on the
[37:17] payroll but the salary is going to be
higher than what this budget amendment
[37:21] would support so that is an area of
concern
[37:25] if we continue with the salary that was
presented for the budget Analyst at like
[37:31] 23 and and some change per hour then the
money will not last the full two years
[37:38] of the grant so there's um it needs to
be some discussion before we go too much
[37:43] further so this budget amendment doesn't
act will not accurately reflect the
[37:49] current situation because the salaries
are going to be higher than than what
[37:53] this proposes
so so the current
[37:58] for the budget we got would be 1947
hours that correct uh that sounds
[38:04] probably that's right yeah we figured
out but the salary in order to stay
[38:09] within budget and the employee not take
health insurance would need to be forty
[38:14] thousand five hundred that's that's
correct and then that works out the 19
[38:18] and I think 47 cents per hour that's
with no insurance with no health
[38:24] insurance we still had to provide life
insurance and I think we and work
[38:29] yourself right that's correct workers
comp retirement that's correct well I
[38:33] know the sheriff ain't here tonight but
when we talked about this last meeting
[38:37] he assured that it would only be for
what the budget amount was
[38:43] and then he comes back with something
higher that's not in in that amount
[38:47] closed amount per hour I'm sorry
23.48 per hour
[38:51] and so the the bottom line will be
approximately ten thousand dollars over
[38:55] per year so we'll need an additional
twenty thousand dollars for the two-year
[38:59] period
[39:05] the grant was for a hundred thousand
that's correct two years right for two
[39:09] years correct
[39:13] and that included
salary and benefits right that's right
[39:18] that would includes salary and benefits
and computer
[39:26] so the if if we continue with the salary
at
[39:31] what was it
23 48 then the funds would run out about
[39:38] a year and a half into the grant program
[39:47] we got a comment
anybody from the Sheriff's Office
[40:01] yeah so right even considering that
because I think what you and I talked
[40:06] about was a a certain level but
when we got the personal action form it
[40:11] was higher than that so all right when
um Michael calculated out what it would
[40:16] what that
um Grant could support without the
[40:21] employee taking benefits and it was
forty thousand five hundred maximum for
[40:25] salary That's not including if that's
assuming no overtime either but then
[40:30] when the Personnel action form came up
month yesterday
[40:34] it was at a much at a higher rate that
would not stay within the grant funds so
[40:41] it's um
and anyway we're pointing out that
[40:45] there's a discrepancy let y'all figure
out how to handle which how you want to
[40:50] solve it you can say the when the grant
Runs Out in a year and a half is over
[40:54] and that's done or that you go back and
refigure the salary to make it last two
[41:00] years or the last meeting the sheriff
assured that it would only be
[41:05] what the grant was covered for so which
is 1947 hour minus health insurance
[41:11] so either we need to table it till we
talk with the sheriff or either we need
[41:15] to
[41:18] pass it with the 1947. it is my is my
take on it
[41:25] well it was certainly he did say that
and certainly for two years is there any
[41:29] I mean there's no way if we if we sign
up for this we can't fire this person
[41:33] this lady in a year and a half so we
need to again I think I agree the table
[41:37] it or or deny the Grant I mean I hate to
take to not take money that we can get
[41:42] but if it's not going to be what we
agreed on last month we got to come up
[41:45] with a different plan don't we
one issue is that it's my understanding
[41:52] that she's already started working
and so that there's going to be whatever
[41:58] hours she's worked and
um unless she agrees to a lesser pay
[42:03] then
she started working at 23.48
[42:09] as of yesterday
[42:13] until we started working forward Miss
chairman
[42:17] um I I don't think it's a perfect place
to do this why don't let's um
[42:23] um just meet with the chef and see if we
can come up with
[42:27] uh that's my way I think in the meantime
do we add can add this person to the
[42:31] payroll or or not we don't have a place
to charge it without a budget amendment
[42:37] because it's going to be as part of in
the grants fund small grants fund
[42:42] and this was if if the salary had been
what we had all agreed to then this
[42:47] budget meant what would cover everything
would be
[42:52] it's Federal grant money so we got to be
careful how we use it as well
[43:01] any other recommendations
one is the table
[43:06] other she's already been hired right
she's already to start at work right
[43:10] that's my understanding I don't know
[43:14] that's what I thought she came in
yesterday to sign up for payroll
[43:18] and we had and it was that's when we
realized that there was an issue
[43:23] yeah so did she know what this I guess
only the sheriff would know this
[43:29] um that it only lasts for two years but
now it's possibly this the money will
[43:36] run out in a year and a half
[43:42] well like I said the last meeting I mean
he he assured us it would
[43:47] would be within this budget and you know
obviously it's not
[43:53] [Music]
[44:00] and and you got to go to full or two
years in order to satisfy the grain
[44:06] legally
there
[44:09] for them we didn't see it that way there
wasn't a requirement that we saw when we
[44:15] looked over it after talking with the
manager that you have to keep them on
[44:18] for two years
ago
[44:21] but this board doesn't have the
authority to hire or fire for the
[44:24] sheriff's department so if we approve
this as a budget line from a grant then
[44:28] we'll all be on the hook for them so
what what would happen
[44:32] basically is is trying to look into a
murky crystal ball you'd have the money
[44:37] run out to play them to pay the employee
in about a year and a half back to fund
[44:41] the calculations that have been said and
then that part that employed there will
[44:45] be no money in that part of the
insurance budget to pay that employee
[44:48] that employee would have to be paid on
the insurance other funds if he had any
[44:52] to pay just as a regular employee if he
kept them on or or yeah if he kept or
[44:57] let them or or yeah or not have that
position any longer
[45:03] but everything the administrator the
manager said and Michael said earlier we
[45:07] looked into it we agreed with everything
they said
[45:11] well I think I think we need a table and
talk to the sheriff and see if he's in
[45:15] agreement with when the money Runs Out
[45:19] I mean
yeah
[45:22] if the contract
stated that it wasn't locked into two
[45:28] years
we did not see that we when we when we
[45:32] were informed of the problem this
morning and then we talked to manager
[45:35] about we that was my first concern that
we were locking ourselves into a
[45:39] two-year guaran a two-year commitment we
were because this this this contract is
[45:44] y'all right only the sheriff can employ
this person but you all have to approve
[45:48] it and so we specifically look for that
we saw no requirements that they have to
[45:53] stay the full two years in this position
which turns it back over to in a year
[45:59] and a half the money on the line item to
pay this person for the grant will run
[46:02] out according to the calculations and
then the sheriff's got a decision to
[46:06] make he's going to have to bring that
person known as a regular employee
[46:09] out of existing funds if he's going to
keep that person on
[46:13] unless it's another grant that comes
along
[46:18] rather than to let the money go back why
don't let's just uh
[46:24] make the agreement where that uh until
the money run out
[46:29] we need him here to make that agreement
because he made the agreement last
[46:34] meeting
and he was going to stay within the
[46:36] budget on it
[46:40] well that's no big deal we can take an
um
[46:43] he's not out the country no way so we
can saw this one day next week when is
[46:49] payroll uh we're doing payroll payroll
this week but this is
[46:54] since she started this week it's two
weeks before she would be on the we'd
[46:58] have to cut a check for this one for
this employee
[47:03] but can we get that's great one day next
week
[47:11] let us know if you're going to uh agree
with the uh as long as the money run out
[47:17] or you can make a motion that the money
Runs Out is over or you can make a
[47:23] motion that that you're going to stick
with what was proposed at the last month
[47:29] and those basically two options are the
the maximum forty thousand five hundred
[47:36] or the you're going to pay what they
said to pay and then the money is going
[47:42] to run out and it's that's it well I'll
make a motion do we go
[47:46] by what he said last month that he was
going to stay within the hundred
[47:51] thousand dollar budget which will be
1947 mile
[47:55] second
[Music]
[47:58] motion made by commissioner Martin
second by commissioner Lively that we
[48:04] stay within the 1947 all in favor
[48:11] to to in favor
okay can we get a another motion
[48:19] that
the sheriff has decided to pay her 23
[48:25] 48 an hour
and when the money Runs Out in a year
[48:29] and a half
that's it
[48:36] I'm in favor and it's part of the
discussion on that motion that you would
[48:41] include the subsequent budget amendment
that we'll have to work that up but it's
[48:46] if that's what the board decides the
thing you want to do you haven't taken
[48:50] the vote yet we'll follow up with that
Mo that motion would include the budget
[48:55] amendment to allow it to pay
well this budget amendment covers that
[49:00] until it runs out well that's true it's
it doesn't make
[49:05] may not have enough salary but um it
would get us through this fiscal year
[49:10] it'd be sufficient for the for this year
then we can correct it in the fall the
[49:15] next fiscal Year's budget would be
different
[49:19] okay motion to amend the budget with the
said information
[49:25] motion made by commissioner Nix second
by commissioner Abrams all in favor
[49:32] three all opposed
to
[49:39] so y'all gonna y'all want to be certain
that next year when the money runs out
[49:43] y'all want to be sure let's remember
that what we stuck to what y'all stuck
[49:47] to because we have a short memory
sometimes okay we will and Kathleen
[49:51] please put in the minutes thank you
okay next item uh budget adjustment
[49:59] share so all right Madam chair the the
finance committee made a motion a couple
[50:05] months ago
um asking for the Sheriff's Office to
[50:09] provide a budget amendment so they could
pay the inmate medical expenses the
[50:15] sheriff's offices this week has
submitted us a budget amendment moving a
[50:19] hundred thousand out of health insurance
and moving that into the Professional
[50:24] Services for inmate medical and so we
need to approval of that budget
[50:29] amendment it was an extra hundred
thousand angle need in health insurance
[50:32] that's um because of fewer employees I'm
not sure exactly why but we've we've
[50:37] checked and at the rate they're going
they're not going to need that hundred
[50:40] thousand Mr chairman I saw a move
I'll second a motion Madam chair
[50:46] motion made by commissioner Abram second
by commissioner Nix that we accept the
[50:53] budget adjustment from the sheriff's
department all in favor
[50:58] you now
[51:02] next item approval of a resolution for
new opioid settlements
[51:09] Madam chair is you and the Commissioners
know you voted a couple years back to
[51:13] participate as a County as well as most
counties if not all counties in Georgia
[51:17] did in a lawsuit against the the
pharmaceutical companies that produced
[51:22] the opioids because there was evidence
that they knew that basically there was
[51:26] an epidemic going on that was over
prescribing going on and maybe even some
[51:29] misinformation to some of the Physicians
as far as the danger of The Addictive
[51:35] problem with the drugs that end result
cost County governments city government
[51:40] state governments a lot of money with
overdoses ambulances to deal with at
[51:44] hospitals and so forth and so on the
county has received in the settlements
[51:50] that occurred against the pharmaceutical
companies and the fifty four thousand
[51:54] dollar range is your percentage of all
the local governments in the nation that
[51:58] receive money from that there is a
second round of lawsuits in that dealing
[52:04] with the people who filled those
prescriptions the Walmarts the Walgreens
[52:07] the CVS's and what things they could
have could have not done to improve the
[52:14] problem that occurred what was their
role in all that those companies as a
[52:18] group have already settled that and
there's a judge has set aside a pot of
[52:23] money for the cities and counties Across
the Nation to share in it'll probably be
[52:28] smaller than what you've already
received but whereas the first decision
[52:31] you had to make to participate you had
to think about and talk about it this is
[52:35] all done the money's just sitting there
you just got to decide if you want your
[52:38] share or not but you will need to vote
to allow the chair to sign a resolution
[52:42] to allow you to join in with other
cities and counties to collect the share
[52:46] that Burke County would be due of the
resolution of the settlement with the
[52:50] performance with the um the the the
retailers that fill the prescriptions
[52:54] does that make sense manager it does no
matter chairman I make the motion that
[52:59] we approve the resolution authorizing
you to sign
[53:03] for the
settlement funds for the second opioid
[53:08] settlement
second
[53:12] motion made by commissioner Nick
seconded by commissioner Abrams giving
[53:16] me permission to sign the resolution for
the new Opera settlement all in favor
[53:23] you know Madam chair I just want to add
that I was skeptical when we first went
[53:29] into this whether we would get anything
out of it but um it's provided already
[53:34] 54 000 that we can use for training for
First Responders so I think it's a good
[53:39] good move to participate thank you
thank you
[53:45] okay next item um
[53:48] can that money be used to buy like
Narcan and stuff like that or just I
[53:54] believe we could yes anything dealing
with medical
[53:58] type stuff like that yes
[54:03] okay next item on the agenda city of
Waynesboro request wherever you're going
[54:10] to say it is we had um let's see if I
can find my letter we had a request from
[54:15] the city of Waynesboro on there and sit
the mayor and Council asking the County
[54:21] commission for a meeting and also to
consider working Contracting with the
[54:27] city to do
um curbside service within the city
[54:31] limits and so I think everybody's had a
copy of the letter
[54:36] we have
just as background for the public
[54:40] the board one we've been talking about
curbside for several years and have had
[54:47] meetings with all each of the Cities
invited the cities throughout the
[54:50] process
we put out a bid that any anybody could
[54:55] have bid on the proposal
um
[54:58] several companies bid on the city could
have been that but it might have been
[55:02] difficult to do curbside county-wide but
we we did it with a price
[55:08] to do the entire County including all
the cities but we we knew that
[55:13] Waynesboro was skeptical so we did a
price with all the cities except
[55:18] Waynesburg the mayors of the other
cities and the council have told us they
[55:22] they want to participate so the contract
that we've been working toward is a
[55:29] contract that includes curbside garbage
pickup throughout the county except in
[55:34] Waynesboro that we could include them in
that contract with Rylan if they elect
[55:40] to but so far they have told us they
didn't want to to participate with Rylan
[55:49] okay any
questions or comments concerning uh the
[55:55] letter from the city of Waynesboro
[56:01] okay
no action taken
[56:08] next item
approval of agreement with violent
[56:12] environmental for solid waste collection
services
[56:16] and Madam chair we have on your desk we
have the the final version at least I
[56:22] hope it's the final version of the
Contra Mr Lanier and I've been back and
[56:27] forth on on this and this I think that's
that's healthy for us to do we took a
[56:32] model contract in both
revise it throughout the latest one the
[56:37] only changes are related to the time
frames and I think Mr Lanier wanted a
[56:43] seven year I wanted a five-year contract
so we've got the initial term would be
[56:48] five years and nine months to run out as
of
[56:53] September 30th uh I forget the first
year so that it matches with our fiscal
[56:58] year and and thereafter at the board
elects they could renew the contract for
[57:03] five-year terms expiring on September
30th
[57:08] um the the rate for is the same as what
was in The Proposal that was submitted
[57:15] to us there is a fuel escalation charge
that's on the last page
[57:20] if fuel goes up there'd be an escalation
do you have any questions and um
[57:26] try to answer them and miscellaneer is
here to answer to
[57:34] um Mr Lanier can you kind of elaborate
some on this fuel escalation
[57:45] yes ma'am first off thank you guys for
allowing me to come and and have this
[57:51] discussion as Mr Waldrop said it's
healthy to have dialogue back into when
[57:55] you work in a contract because the only
contract is good is when both parties
[57:58] are satisfied with it and so we try to
make sure we're doing that the fuel
[58:02] escalators you see that we attached in
there was put in our proposal when we
[58:06] initially put it out as we all know
we've had unprecedented times in the
[58:10] last couple of years with diesel fuel
going up to six dollars a gallon and so
[58:14] what we did is we came up with a
graduated fuel escalator so fuel prices
[58:19] go up we have the percentage there is no
surprise it makes budgeting a lot easier
[58:25] for Mr Waltrip to do budget amendments
or whatever if that may be we're praying
[58:30] that fuel stays down it's been trending
that way uh but you know when it went to
[58:35] six dollars a gallon last year we all
scrambled so we wanted to be fair and
[58:40] our fuel escalator outlines the exact
percentage of what our rate will go up
[58:44] as the fuel escalates but it also States
in there that once it goes back to what
[58:48] our base rate is is what we perform at
our contract at it goes away so it's not
[58:53] something that we just stick on there
and stay on there because uh we've got
[58:57] to be we we got to have the trust of the
county and the County's got to have our
[59:01] trust as well so we can make this thing
work the right way so we want to be fair
[59:05] and transparent with it as we go along
and that's why we put that escalation
[59:08] table in there
what's your current fuel base rate uh
[59:13] our fuel brace rate right now is 350 a
gallon
[59:16] and so I think our fuel escalator starts
at four dollars because as it jumps up
[59:21] 50 cents a gallon that's where that's
basically what our our thresholds are
[59:25] and and what we do is we don't go by the
East Coast average like a lot of other
[59:29] people do we go by what the pump on the
street is so what we're paying in
[59:33] Waynesboro is what we pay for fuel what
we use our escalator not for what
[59:37] they're paying in New York or Newark or
wherever else they may be so we also use
[59:42] that and it outlines our local things
thank you
[59:48] and I know our country says to start no
later than January 2nd and we're kind of
[59:54] being optimistic maybe you could get
started sooner yes sir yes and we do
[59:58] have a lot of I mean
between the two of us a lot of work
[1:00:01] public relations as well but inform the
public well this is the first step in
[1:00:05] the process once we get our contract
signed we can present it to our lenders
[1:00:09] so we can actually I've got equipment on
order but now we can get that process
[1:00:14] started we can get carts being produced
we can put that leg work in and start
[1:00:18] moving toward that it's going to be a
big process especially with the 10
[1:00:22] collection centers that were you know
requested we've got to cite those
[1:00:26] centers we've got to put that that in
place
[1:00:29] but what I think will happen is and this
is something that we'll go into in
[1:00:33] discussions I think the curbside piece
is the first piece that needs to come in
[1:00:36] play and then we'll cite the centers as
we go
[1:00:39] uh and and that way we can graduate to
see how many we need if we do need 10
[1:00:43] that's great we'll put 10 in we're
prepared to do 10 but if we see curbside
[1:00:48] is working and we only need five or six
or seven or whatever then we have that
[1:00:52] flexibility to change those and move
them as we go I actually had lunch
[1:00:57] uh last Thursday with a vendor uh for
some equipment that we'll be using in
[1:01:03] the collection centers which I think
will make things a lot easier and a lot
[1:01:07] more efficient for us as well so we've
already started that process and we just
[1:01:11] uh we're just at this point now to where
we can you know this is the meat and
[1:01:14] potatoes of the deal
[1:01:17] you also said initially in your
presentations that you would conduct
[1:01:25] educational sessions to the community so
when is data projected well that's what
[1:01:32] we'll once we get the contract signed
we'll set a calendar what I like to do
[1:01:35] is put an implementation timeline in
front of you guys and so once we get set
[1:01:40] dates we can hit our marks uh this young
lady's presentation earlier tonight that
[1:01:45] that's where it's key for us to start at
we've got to start educating in the
[1:01:49] schools we've got to educate in the
local churches we've got to educate all
[1:01:53] over the place well you know if you have
a community fire meeting or something
[1:01:56] where you have volunteer fire department
we need to be there to answer any
[1:02:01] questions and make it as accessible to
the public as possible because this is a
[1:02:05] change uh it's a I think it'll be a
Monumental change for Burke County and I
[1:02:10] think it'll be great for us but we want
to give that message out uh we learned a
[1:02:15] valuable lesson when we took over Macon
and Bibb County that you can't over
[1:02:18] communicate we did everything we
possibly could as a matter of fact our
[1:02:23] communication plan won national awards
for uh public relations people we were
[1:02:27] on awards for swanna we we take that
education piece seriously because we
[1:02:33] want everybody to be comfortable with
what we're doing and understand the
[1:02:35] process as we go so to answer your
question as soon as we get this contract
[1:02:40] signed we're going to start putting that
education piece together probably at
[1:02:44] your next meeting I'll submit a timeline
to you for approval and outline some of
[1:02:48] those meetings on that timeline okay
Miss Morris did you had your hand have
[1:02:52] your hand if somebody had their hand up
okay Mr Mark okay
[1:02:59] uh
we all pay through the County's gonna
[1:03:04] it won't it won't be billed to the
customer well the one exception was if
[1:03:10] folks got the second cart it would be
ten dollars each to the customer if they
[1:03:14] got a second poly cart
[1:03:19] but the basic curbside would not be
charged to the customer and it was
[1:03:23] actually going to be cheaper than what
we're paying now for the system we have
[1:03:26] now we're already paying for it in our
property taxes paying more than what
[1:03:31] this would cost us
[1:03:34] once a week
[1:03:38] yes that's right
[1:03:42] well I'll tell you we picked up garbage
in Ware County Georgia so if I can get
[1:03:46] them to go Okefenokee Swamp I'm getting
Waynesboro I promise
[1:03:53] well to be honest with you the size of
the card is 96 gallons and most of us I
[1:03:58] mean I'm from Miller we all country
folks we have a 55 gallon drone in the
[1:04:02] backyard
and you got almost twice that capacity
[1:04:06] in that car it'll hold a lot more than
you really think it would uh and the
[1:04:10] beauty of it is the county had the
foresight to put collection centers in
[1:04:13] play as well so in the events you don't
have that opportunity if that cart's
[1:04:17] filled up if you have a family reunion
or like I have a big family we just had
[1:04:21] a Easter get together it was a lot of
trash because we had a lot of folks and
[1:04:24] so those kind of things number one
if it's something that happens like a
[1:04:29] death in the family or or something like
that give us a call we'll help we'll
[1:04:33] accommodate that we'll come out and
bring an extra car we'll do extra pickup
[1:04:38] whatever we need to do because that's
part of being part of the community
[1:04:41] but if it's on a regular basis you may
want to look at getting a second cart
[1:04:44] because we have a lot of folks that have
second cars and so but like Mr Waldrop
[1:04:48] said and commissioner Nick said when we
looked at the budget numbers this is
[1:04:52] when we started pre-covered when we
started doing these things uh
[1:04:57] it's actually going to save the county a
considerable amount of money
[1:05:01] over what they're paying now their
budget now is for solid waste pickup and
[1:05:05] I I said this in our last meeting and
I'll tell you again we implemented
[1:05:09] curbside collection in Troutman County
Georgia
[1:05:13] been a year and a half I had a
commissioner meeting in January
[1:05:17] we pull the numbers for the last year
that the county did the collection which
[1:05:21] they had open green boxes just like we
have here
[1:05:24] a lot of counties around them
had access to those green boxes without
[1:05:28] any encumbrances
they they deposit about 30 000 tons of
[1:05:36] garbage in the Toons County landfill
one year later curbside implemented all
[1:05:42] the dumpsters are gone
we took 15 160 tons of garbage into the
[1:05:48] Toons County so twice the garbage
that we picked up at the house each
[1:05:53] month each was was coming from outside
the county and other and County Citizens
[1:05:59] were subsidizing that waste disposal for
other counties and so this is this is
[1:06:03] what we talked about and what we've done
many times and I think
[1:06:08] once you get over the initial shop I
mean like I said I'm used to a 55 gallon
[1:06:12] drum in the backyard I'll go out there
and burn it well times have changed we
[1:06:15] can't do that anymore
so once we get over that initial shot
[1:06:19] and we're going to show you examples of
you know in our literature and in our
[1:06:24] education pieces of communities where it
works at uh one of the presentations I
[1:06:30] made to the County Commissioners was one
of the counties we do business with is
[1:06:34] Appling County Appling County closely
mirrors Burke County not quite as big
[1:06:39] because it has a river that runs across
as a nuclear plant a lot of the same
[1:06:45] idiosyncrasies that you would think are
going on in Burke County going in Akron
[1:06:48] County we picked that up successfully
and have been for four years now
[1:06:56] yes ma'am
[1:07:00] no man
no man
[1:07:06] I just I just unless you have a huge
family I don't I don't think you're
[1:07:11] gonna I think you'll see that that one
card will suffice once a week pick up
[1:07:17] yes
[1:07:27] well that's something that the county
and I work together on and identify
[1:07:31] my idea would be based on commissioner
districts
[1:07:35] um commissioner Abrams district has the
largest District so obviously he would
[1:07:39] need the most collection centers uh you
know you gotta the the commissioner
[1:07:44] District that encompasses the city of
Waynesboro you really won't need one
[1:07:47] here because you've got the landfill out
here or the transfer station so you have
[1:07:51] that option to go there
so we would take those and put them in
[1:07:54] other places in the more rural areas
where it'd be it'd be more accessible to
[1:07:58] people to get to but the one thing is
it's not those are not going to work
[1:08:01] either we don't police them you know if
we just leave them open and let people
[1:08:05] throw trash at a dumpster then we've not
accomplished anything
[1:08:08] so we just gave you a pretty red tragedy
[1:08:19] we'll have low awesome things
and so you'll have that that more or
[1:08:25] less to put both waste and stuff and
that's the other thing we're also going
[1:08:28] to offer a bulk waste option that if you
have bulk material that you want to get
[1:08:32] rid of give us a call we'll come get
that bulk waste for you
[1:08:36] and so you know we'll you know that's
another service that you don't have now
[1:08:40] you got to figure out a way to get it to
the transfer station where it's supposed
[1:08:43] to go but most folks throw couches and
refrigerators and stuff in the dumpsters
[1:08:47] and that's one of the things that they
run into
[1:08:50] and so
you know we're gonna we're gonna
[1:08:52] eliminate that issue as well
well
[1:08:56] like Mr Waldrop said contract says no
later than January 2nd we hope we hope
[1:09:02] to get it done earlier than that but but
the thing is there's two things number
[1:09:07] one you've got to be able to have
equipment it's got to be available you
[1:09:10] know I've already got everybody in place
to order what we got to have just got to
[1:09:15] see when that production date is but the
other thing is is we got to make sure
[1:09:19] that we implement it the right way so
that means me and some of my team will
[1:09:24] be riding every Road in Burke County
we're gonna count every house
[1:09:28] and what we'll do is we'll take a map
and we'll mark off the roads that don't
[1:09:32] have homes on them so those those roads
won't be travel home
[1:09:35] and so then we can we can generate a
route that's productive and gets the
[1:09:40] garbage picked up in a timely manner
[1:09:47] well it'll be at her at the roadway at
the end of the driveway or whatever
[1:09:51] and uh you know
[1:09:55] okay okay if a school bus or the postman
goes down the road my garbage trucks
[1:10:01] will go down the road
Mr Lanier okay we'll take one more
[1:10:05] question yes this young lady in the back
[1:10:18] well those Parks don't
well those cars won't blow over as
[1:10:22] easily as some people think
[1:10:29] well we do 350 000 of them a week and so
we're going to figure it out long way
[1:10:34] that I promises I don't have all the
answers but I sure work hard to get them
[1:10:38] I promise
okay thank you Mr Lanier thank you and
[1:10:43] um when he has these educational
sessions come back and ask more
[1:10:49] questions by that time you think of more
things to ask
[1:10:55] The Madam chairman
oh we got one
[1:11:01] okay we got to move on this yeah right
on Lucius okay
[1:11:07] okay let's move on Michael did somebody
sign up
[1:11:17] he is now
[1:11:22] okay we'll continue
with the item so Madam chairman I'll
[1:11:28] make a motion that we approve the final
uh contract with uh right
[1:11:33] motion made by commissioner Nick
seconded by commissioner Martin that we
[1:11:38] approve the agreement with the Ryland
Environmental
[1:11:42] for solid waste collection Services all
in favor
[1:11:47] unanimous
next item on the agenda
[1:11:55] Doris tongo
[1:12:06] good evening good evening praise God I'm
I'm here again two months later
[1:12:14] and my sister's standing with me because
we are also here because she wants to
[1:12:22] um
she's on the list also so she's with me
[1:12:27] I'm here again two months later to talk
again about the Voting Rights
[1:12:35] I still need the help of the commission
[1:12:42] my experience is that
[1:12:47] we some I am labeled or
most of the voters that I am talking
[1:12:54] about didn't have the opportunity to
have their votes counted
[1:12:59] a label as no count
[1:13:04] we are silenced
[1:13:09] having no voice
treated as invisible
[1:13:17] hidden and Plain Sight
[1:13:22] again an open investigation
[1:13:27] has been silenced
and some of us
[1:13:32] are labeled
equity
[1:13:39] unable to stay in their place
so I'm humble
[1:13:45] I am again before this Commission
[1:13:51] I have sent letters to
the County Board of Elections Mr Simpson
[1:13:57] the chairman the director the County
Board of Elections
[1:14:03] to the secretary Brad
Ford's perjure
[1:14:09] representative Gloria Frazier
[1:14:14] the state election board to date I have
no answer
[1:14:20] hidden in plain sight
[1:14:28] the county
I'm asking you
[1:14:34] I've spoken to the city and they said
that the county is responsible
[1:14:40] for the city's voting and for me to go
and talk to
[1:14:45] the county
[1:14:49] your silence continues to give consent
in allowing the voices of the people
[1:14:57] to be silenced
those voted and the votes didn't count
[1:15:04] I'm humbled to be in your presence
and I'm grateful for everything that
[1:15:08] each and every one of you do
[1:15:12] I'm just asking you to please
Reach Out
[1:15:16] and not allow this
to continue to go dead
[1:15:22] I pray that Gods will be done
and blessings upon each and every one of
[1:15:28] us here families and all
[1:15:32] love blessings
and I really want to know
[1:15:37] what have you done or what will you do
to make sure that this investigation
[1:15:42] doesn't go dead
[1:15:47] okay thank you Reverend taco
uh verb is it anything else the the city
[1:15:55] may have misinformed you the county does
not run City elections the board the
[1:16:01] city contracted with the Board of
Elections to run the elections which is
[1:16:06] not the Board of Commissioners the
Commissioners appoint two of the five
[1:16:10] members but they don't have any real
authority over the Board of Elections
[1:16:15] they are independent of the Board of
Commissioners I know I have turned in
[1:16:20] I've gotten your requests and I've
turned it in to the board of commotion
[1:16:24] and excuse me the Board of Elections and
ask them to look into it but it is in
[1:16:31] their in their Court to I believe Mr
Simpson said they had investigated and
[1:16:37] closed the investigation but really
that's they need to respond to you
[1:16:41] either yes we're looking into it or we
looked into it there's nothing to it or
[1:16:46] yes we've looked into it and there's
we're still studying it one or the other
[1:16:51] but it is you're
um need to get on the board of elections
[1:16:56] agenda and and meet with them because
that's who runs elections
[1:17:02] I'm aware they run elections but I'm
also
[1:17:07] they have no position without this
comedy it's easier to come talk to the
[1:17:14] County Commission than it is to talk to
the Board of Elections but you're in the
[1:17:18] wrong spot really you need to talk to
the Board of Elections about your
[1:17:21] grievance that's that's the the proper
board that handles that
[1:17:27] and I've done that and I thank you
kindly okay thank you it's green
[1:17:33] she's going to read the letter okay
request for disciplinary action March
[1:17:38] the 27 2023
to Merv walls draw
[1:17:44] County Manager Terry large chairman
602 Liberty Street
[1:17:49] dear Mervin Terry I would like to
address the inappropriateness of their
[1:17:55] behavior of commissioner Lively during
the meeting on March the 14th 2023
[1:18:01] respectfully
Rising above and polite and
[1:18:07] inappropriate conduct has many
advantages
[1:18:11] one advantage is that it allows us to
take the high road and not stoop to
[1:18:18] being discourteous
my only concern when I address the Board
[1:18:22] of Commissioners on March the 14th 2023
was to get the garbage cleaned up on
[1:18:28] Bates Road and clocks Place Road
I addressed commissioner Lively because
[1:18:34] he said that he had the same problem of
garbage not being picked up in his area
[1:18:41] Mr Lively rudely raised his voice
and made me feel offended not one time
[1:18:47] but several times doing the meeting he
also made
[1:18:53] inappropriate offensive comments to
sheriff Williams commissioner Abrams and
[1:18:58] commissioner Kelly
someone with the position that he has as
[1:19:03] counter commissioner should show a
higher degree of politeness respect and
[1:19:10] tactfulness even when having to deal
with criticism
[1:19:16] I am faithful as a citizen of this
County to the leaders of this colony
[1:19:23] I am humbly asking
the two of you that I have addressed the
[1:19:28] commissioner
this Commission
[1:19:32] commissioner to address commissioner
livelies is inappropriate actions during
[1:19:38] the meeting on March the 14th 2023
thank you for your good services to all
[1:19:47] of the citizens of this County
humbly submitted and green
[1:19:55] and I just wanted to comment uh one more
thing after sending another instructor
[1:20:01] I thought that something would be done
but as of today nothing has been been
[1:20:08] done out there at all
the garbage extent
[1:20:14] so I appreciate if someone would do
something about it and as uh I think it
[1:20:21] was last Friday or last Saturday a truck
full of stuff going to the landfill
[1:20:29] mattresses fell off in from our house we
had to go out and pick it up can you
[1:20:35] imagine me picking up a king-sized
mattress to drag to the back this is
[1:20:40] what's going on out there
it's terrible
[1:20:44] and I just wish I prayed that y'all
would do something about it it's very
[1:20:49] nasty drive up and down here you see and
I know you've been up and down at the
[1:20:54] sea because we haven't talked about it
so please
[1:20:58] couples out there
please
[1:21:02] thank you thank you Miss green
I know that our County manager has
[1:21:09] spoken with the judge concerning that to
have detailed workers to do that but I'm
[1:21:19] not sure of the status of if they've
gone or any any type
[1:21:24] events that have occurred though you
murdered I don't know which areas I have
[1:21:29] turned that road in a couple of times
I'll follow up with the judge tomorrow
[1:21:34] okay is there a time limit
I don't the judge doesn't work for me
[1:21:40] I'm for I'm not unfortunately but I will
bad sun down to more I will have
[1:21:46] communicated with them
so but that but I can't make
[1:21:50] him get the community service workers
there no the question about time limit
[1:21:55] this is the third month coming and the
promises has been the same so that's
[1:22:01] what I'm addressing not the judge yeah
Madam chair every excuse me Madam chair
[1:22:07] every time we have a request for any of
the roads and you are all aware because
[1:22:12] I copied the commissions on all these
emails I sent but I've forwarded on to
[1:22:17] the community service coordinator and
judge Cox and the state court
[1:22:24] administrator
[1:22:27] if it makes you feel any better I've
emailed them about some roads in my
[1:22:31] district too and they hadn't got to them
either so
[1:22:34] but that's all I can do is try to get
let us go and take a look at what yours
[1:22:38] look like where are you sir
uh Spring Branch Church Road Usher Road
[1:22:43] Old Waynesboro Road Four Points Road you
have those kind of
[1:22:47] um I had that kind of trouble too yes
ma'am yes ma'am okay but but I have
[1:22:53] emailed the judge in the community
service people just the way
[1:22:59] Mr Walter Pez and I mean you know like I
said they they work on Saturdays I don't
[1:23:04] know if they work on Sundays or not but
yeah you know it's just it's a big
[1:23:08] County I mean I know they're they're
working but I you know that's all I can
[1:23:12] tell you
yeah one Mustang what are you gonna do
[1:23:16] about the library and the way he talks
to people
[1:23:23] put this stuff above all the upset and
stuff and understand that when we come
[1:23:29] here and talk we only asking for the
help and he shouldn't be getting upset
[1:23:34] about somebody mentioning his name and
it only was mentioned for one
[1:23:41] the question
[1:23:46] yes
I get upset when when people bring in
[1:23:51] things that have nothing to do with the
issue we try to make everything a race
[1:23:55] issue and your trash in your ditch is
not a racial issue because I have trash
[1:23:58] in my niche
this Board of Commissioners didn't throw
[1:24:02] their mattress out in their in your yard
the government can't fix every problem
[1:24:05] they just can't do it so you depending
on us to stop somebody from throwing a
[1:24:10] mattress in your yard that that's not
our we can't do that
[1:24:13] it's not we can't throw enough money at
the problem to make someone stop
[1:24:17] littering maybe you should talk with the
sheriff's department maybe they should
[1:24:19] Patrol your area more maybe stop
littering I don't know what to do but
[1:24:24] again I didn't get upset until we
started bringing other issues that had
[1:24:27] nothing to do with garbage in our
community so
[1:24:30] and by the way this board can't do
anything to me they can't discipline me
[1:24:36] you as a voter can
and I'll be glad to see that happen in
[1:24:40] two years
[1:24:43] see you there thank you very much
okay and thank you all
[1:24:49] and we'll continue to work
through this issue and through the
[1:24:54] concerns that you have
okay Ben Roberts
[1:25:13] Madam chairman Commissioners my name is
uh Ben Roberts I'm a County employee in
[1:25:18] the tax assessor's office I'm also the
writer of the bird dog politics column
[1:25:22] that appears in the true citizen from
time to time I want to speak tonight
[1:25:27] quickly but I want to address some
comments that were made at last month's
[1:25:31] meeting
specifically comments made by
[1:25:34] commissioner Abrams who suggested that
questions surrounding
[1:25:40] the controversy around Sheriff Williams
spending of his budget is somehow
[1:25:45] related to the color of his skin was the
phrase that Mr Abrams used
[1:25:51] that's not the first time this
accusation has been made the sheriff has
[1:25:55] made it himself
privately as well as publicly a month or
[1:26:00] so ago Sheriff Williams gave an
interview to WRDW in which he made that
[1:26:05] same statement I emailed him after that
and asked him for any evidence he had of
[1:26:10] that
um
[1:26:12] he didn't have any and he stated that he
didn't and admittedly that's something
[1:26:17] that's hard to prove but it's also
something that's
[1:26:21] hard to disprove if you lay that label
or that accusation on somebody
[1:26:27] um
it's a basic tenet of our government
[1:26:32] that ordinary citizens are elected to
positions
[1:26:36] and then citizens are allowed to come
and question those officials
[1:26:42] I think there's more than enough
evidence to show that the questions are
[1:26:47] valid that are being asked of sheriff
Williams
[1:26:51] um
so I think to dismiss that or to suggest
[1:26:54] that it's simply based on his race was
improper now
[1:26:59] I stand here as a 50 year old almost 50
year old white man
[1:27:03] born and raised in the South and in the
state of Georgia
[1:27:07] I'm aware that
my life experiences differ from everyone
[1:27:12] else's and could differ greatly from
African-Americans and other minorities
[1:27:17] I'm not trying to suggest that sheriff
Williams hasn't had difficulties or Mr
[1:27:23] Abrams or chairman Kelly or anyone else
in this room haven't had any
[1:27:27] difficulties
in their lives because of their race or
[1:27:33] gender or things of that nature I'm I'm
no fool and I'm not going to suggest
[1:27:37] that
but again
[1:27:40] I think it's important
that we look at the evidence and so I
[1:27:44] want to briefly run through as a
reminder both for Commissioners as well
[1:27:48] as the public of what we where we stand
in all of this and the evidence that we
[1:27:52] have so
um going back to August 18th of 2021
[1:27:56] Sheriff Williams received a fifty
thousand dollar Grant from the
[1:27:59] Waynesboro Housing Authority uh in
October and November of 2021 he received
[1:28:04] a 375 thousand dollar Grant from
partners with plant Vogel that was the
[1:28:09] fourth time he had received the
Waynesboro Housing Authority Grant the
[1:28:12] sheriff that was the third time he had
received the uh he was referred to as
[1:28:16] the Vogel safety Grant previously that
Vogel Grant was used for salaries for
[1:28:21] extra patrol around Plant Vogel the
Housing Authority Grant to my knowledge
[1:28:26] was always used for small equipment
purchases or something of that nature
[1:28:30] in previous years there was press
releases Fanfare Facebook posts about
[1:28:35] those grants being awarded as there
should be we were fortunate to get that
[1:28:40] money fortunate that the sheriff was
able to get that money uh but this time
[1:28:43] around in 2021 no Facebook post no press
releases no nothing it was later
[1:28:49] determined
um in April as a matter of fact the
[1:28:53] following year the sheriff standing here
in a meeting happened to admit that he
[1:28:56] had used the vocal grant for some
purchase and nobody was aware of it at
[1:29:01] that time so the sheriff hid the money
both from the public as well as from you
[1:29:05] as Commissioners it was not appropriated
to his budget legally as it should have
[1:29:11] been instead he deposited in a local
bank he got himself a checkbook and a
[1:29:16] credit card
in 10 months Sheriff Williams spent over
[1:29:19] forty one thousand dollars on that
credit card
[1:29:22] the county audit determined that 86
percent of those funds or those credit
[1:29:27] card charges were spent on hotels
airline tickets rental cars restaurants
[1:29:31] including steak and seafood dinners out
of town those out of town trips included
[1:29:36] multiple out-of-state trips to places
like Montgomery Alabama Nashville
[1:29:41] Tennessee West Palm Beach and Destin
Florida Little Rock Arkansas Springfield
[1:29:46] Massachusetts
Biloxi Mississippi and other places and
[1:29:50] sometimes on multiple occasions
um it was later determined that a number
[1:29:55] of these trips were for travel for the
leaders helping leaders Network
[1:29:58] conferences and it was determined that
Williams is actually a staff and paid
[1:30:04] employee of that company
um
[1:30:07] last week one of the busiest weeks in
our area with with Masters in Augusta
[1:30:12] huge law enforcement presence if you
went to Augusta last week Sheriff
[1:30:16] Williams was in Boston Massachusetts
teaching for the lhu in network of
[1:30:21] course I assume he was being paid and
compensated while he was there teaching
[1:30:27] in addition to the 41 000 in credit card
expenses Williams also spent thirty
[1:30:31] thousand five hundred ninety eight
dollars in legal fees for his lawsuit
[1:30:34] against the county
5798 on additional meals and
[1:30:38] entertainment
3660 On a payroll processing contract
[1:30:42] that as you are aware he never even used
thirteen thousand seven hundred and
[1:30:48] seventy six dollars was paid to various
individuals some of those
[1:30:52] expenses were under very questionable
circumstances nineteen thousand two
[1:30:57] hundred dollars was given to other
charitable organizations in the county
[1:31:02] now that's nice
I'm glad the sheriff's all fit to
[1:31:06] support those organizations however
those Grant funds were provided the
[1:31:12] sheriff signed an agreement the
agreement clearly stated what those
[1:31:16] funds were supposed to be used for
the sheriff just then funneled them to
[1:31:20] organizations that he chose
to to help and while that help is good
[1:31:25] that wasn't what those funds were to be
used for the sheriff has been in here
[1:31:29] multiple times over the last two years
to say how desperately he needs money he
[1:31:35] should have held on to those funds or if
he wanted to make some sort of donation
[1:31:38] he should have done that privately
out of that nineteen thousand two
[1:31:42] hundred ten thousand dollars was given
to the Burke help Foundation as a
[1:31:46] sponsor for their Tim Tebow event
um
[1:31:50] as a sponsor the sheriff got to meet Tim
Tebow shake his hand take a picture post
[1:31:55] it on Facebook he was listed as a
sponsor all of the Fanfare that went
[1:31:59] along with that but when the Burke help
Foundation was contacted about that
[1:32:03] Grant and the inappropriateness of that
money being given to them they refunded
[1:32:07] it and gave it back to the county as
they should have to my knowledge the
[1:32:11] sheriff has not bothered to pay the ten
thousand dollars back to the birth
[1:32:15] Health Foundation out of his own pocket
but instead they're just short that
[1:32:19] money and out and that was a fundraiser
that they were doing
[1:32:24] um
[1:32:27] seven thousand four hundred eleven
dollars were spent on holiday turkey and
[1:32:31] hams again it's a great cause not what
those funds were meant for the sheriff
[1:32:36] could certainly seek donations find
other sponsors to do that he could do
[1:32:39] that without using money that should
have been spent to better this
[1:32:42] department and all William spent 249
thousand and thirty one dollars of the
[1:32:48] original 425 000 in Grant funds
really less than half of those expenses
[1:32:53] appear to be for legitimate law
enforcement purposes which again is what
[1:32:57] that money was donated for
Williams has not received to my
[1:33:02] knowledge of fifty thousand dollar
Waynesboro Housing Authority Grant in
[1:33:05] 2022 I'm assuming he won't the Vogel
Grant is set to run out actually this
[1:33:11] month
there's been no announcement as to
[1:33:14] whether or not that will be renewed so
if not Williams has cost the county as
[1:33:19] well as his Department 425 thousand
dollars in funding
[1:33:23] all by his own actions not by anything
that anyone else did
[1:33:30] taxpayers spent over a hundred thousand
dollars I don't have the exact amount
[1:33:33] but we spent well over a hundred
thousand dollars in attorney's fees for
[1:33:36] the mandamus lawsuit
can you well I understand but yes ma'am
[1:33:41] I'm wrapping up quickly I'm sorry it's
been over a hundred thousand dollars on
[1:33:44] attorney's fees for the mandamus lawsuit
there was an appeal he later dropped
[1:33:48] that appeal
um before the lawsuit the sheriff was in
[1:33:52] here one evening handed out this sheet
of paper to all of us I was surprised I
[1:33:55] could find it
um he gave a bunch of promises to what
[1:33:59] he was going to do when he had control
of his money negotiate a less expensive
[1:34:03] expensive health insurance he wasn't
able to do that he's still on our health
[1:34:07] insurance saved money so he could pay
more to his employees retirement still
[1:34:11] on the same retirement that we're on and
he was going to save taxpayer dollars
[1:34:16] in red right here the sheriff's proposal
can save taxpayers five hundred thousand
[1:34:20] dollars per year
that has not happened he was in here
[1:34:24] last month asking for an additional one
million 1.1 million the sheriff's budget
[1:34:29] over the last six years he's been over
budget 2018 84 000 2019 he was over two
[1:34:35] hundred and eighty thousand dollars 2020
346
[1:34:39] 000 2021 he did come in under budget for
both the jail and the Sheriff's Office
[1:34:43] 2022 over budget 498 000. currently he's
running a deficit in six years of 774
[1:34:51] 307 so just shy of three quarters of a
million dollars that he has overspent
[1:34:57] above what the commission has provided
[1:35:01] um
as a reminder
[1:35:05] he wanted a gas card said that was going
to be easy for his employees to fill up
[1:35:08] with gas it would keep them from coming
back to Waynesboro
[1:35:12] um
I don't have the exact figure but I
[1:35:15] think we're somewhere around thirty
thousand dollars that he overpaid in
[1:35:18] fueled because he paid at the pump the
same price that the rest of us pay
[1:35:23] um
he has yet to explain where it happened
[1:35:25] to 53 871 dollars in forfeiture funds
that was sitting in the in the safe
[1:35:31] and he is currently involved in the gbi
investigation for discrepancies with
[1:35:35] post-training records where he admits
that he entered the wrong date however
[1:35:40] he has not been cleared by gbi and the
sheriff has yet to provide the correct
[1:35:44] date
of all the County elected positions
[1:35:48] besides the sheriff the uh offices of
Magistrate Judge Probate Judge clerk of
[1:35:54] court and Tax Commissioner are all also
held by African Americans three of those
[1:35:58] are also women
I'm sure that every one of them as well
[1:36:02] as every other department head black or
white man or woman will stand here and
[1:36:07] tell you they have made requests that
you all have it funded
[1:36:10] needs that they had that they wanted
funded but they would also admit that
[1:36:14] you all have funded
other things other requests that they
[1:36:18] have made
I'll close by saying every bit of this
[1:36:22] is a verifiable fact there's
documentation all of these numbers can
[1:36:27] be verified
um
[1:36:30] and I think it warrants questions to the
sheriff and none of these have anything
[1:36:34] to do with the sheriff's race
and I just want to remind everyone of
[1:36:40] that we have every right to question the
sheriff and I have been very critical of
[1:36:44] the sheriff and I assume I will continue
to do so
[1:36:47] but I just wanted to remind everyone of
that thank you okay thank you
[1:36:55] now we will have information and reports
from our department heads
[1:37:01] okay
[1:37:04] okay Mr Burke Mr Burke you have anything
[1:37:17] good evening Commissioners um the road
department has been doing our normal
[1:37:21] duties over the past month uh trash
pickup is normal the trucks are still
[1:37:26] running
um
[1:37:29] grass Cutting Crew is operating the
herbicide truck now spraying around the
[1:37:33] county
also
[1:37:37] the grass cutting crew are also weeding
around the signs maintenance crews are
[1:37:43] cleaning ditches installing a lot of new
driveways we did five today
[1:37:46] uh
Lynn cut and crews are working in
[1:37:50] various areas around the county sign
crews are putting up new signs and
[1:37:54] maintaining the old ones and the shop is
busy
[1:37:58] so it was just normal day for us
all right thank you we appreciate all of
[1:38:04] you all's hard work
Scott
[1:38:09] Lacey
Michael
[1:38:24] Commissioners uh I placed your
monthly Financial reports on your
[1:38:29] desks in front of you
we have budget report as well as revenue
[1:38:34] and just wanted to mention before we get
to the budget report that as you know
[1:38:39] the audit was scheduled to be released
and would be presented tonight but that
[1:38:44] has been held back of course as most of
you know and so budget reports just want
[1:38:49] to check with you make sure that you
have any questions before I
[1:38:53] do you know what time frame on it we do
not uh we've been I've not been told a
[1:38:58] time frame just that they were not
comfortable at this moment
[1:39:01] do you know why is the audit late this
year
[1:39:06] normally we have it ready before April
1st and have a presentation
[1:39:12] yeah so right now where we stand is uh
the finance department that works for
[1:39:17] the county manager has has completed all
of our documentation and that that work
[1:39:21] was done on time and it would have been
so would have been released by March
[1:39:25] 31st required by Georgia law however the
audit firm was uncomfortable releasing
[1:39:30] the audit
due to the issues that have Arisen from
[1:39:34] the sheriff so right now we are on hold
so
[1:39:42] that that decision has nothing we can't
control that decision so
[1:39:49] okay any more questions for Michael
I was noticing on the revenues
[1:39:55] it looks like we're running low World
sales tax for this year
[1:40:00] um both on lost and almost lost we we
are that's correct we've had about 15
[1:40:06] percent right that's correct we've had
two uh months that had what what the
[1:40:11] state calls audits and normally that is
a large taxpayer
[1:40:16] that has gone back and determined that
some things that might have been taxable
[1:40:20] was not or they've done some refunds or
or things like that so those two issues
[1:40:26] have Arisen but also we're seeing a
decline in retail sales right starting
[1:40:30] to see some recession and then as part
of the construction at Vogel they
[1:40:36] typically come out about once a year and
and say well we they estimate their
[1:40:42] taxes and then when they get to the end
of it or toward the end they'll say well
[1:40:47] this was probably exempt and so we need
the Department of Revenue to reimburse
[1:40:51] us they reimburse the taxpayer and it
comes out of our next month's
[1:40:57] the sales tax revenue and occasionally
we've had Walmart do the same thing when
[1:41:03] they do it all over the state
but this looks like it's just a Burke
[1:41:08] County issue not a Statewide issue
that's right the the our large neighbors
[1:41:12] Richmond and Columbia did not experience
it and if if it had been Walmart they
[1:41:16] would have had much larger
reductions in that one the case this
[1:41:21] time so it's probably
isolated to us with Georgia Power
[1:41:27] which is understandable they make a
determination they have to go back later
[1:41:30] it's a tough process for them
[1:41:35] all right okay and I would encourage the
Commissioners to pay attention to this
[1:41:40] into the detailed budget report but
specifically the budget to expense there
[1:41:45] are several departments that are
trending toward going over budget
[1:41:51] um the we've been advised
by legal that we can't
[1:41:56] do anything until that department goes
over budget however there are
[1:42:02] we need to caution our department heads
to be careful to stay within budget and
[1:42:07] really all of them are doing a good job
except for a couple of them
[1:42:11] and and really once having overtime
issues the which and it's only a small
[1:42:17] amount over there's the same person we
keep talking about has got is trending
[1:42:22] toward 851 thousand dollars over budget
[1:42:32] any more questions for Michael
[1:42:37] okay thank you Mike thank you
thank you Mike
[1:42:42] now we will have a motion to go into
executive session
[1:42:48] Madam chairman I make a motion to go to
the executive session to have a
[1:42:52] discussion on the litigation issue I'll
second
[1:42:55] motion's been made by commissioner
Nick's second by commissioner Martin
[1:42:58] that we go into executive session for
litigation matter all in favor
[2:46:00] chairman did you just make a motion to
return a regular session
[2:46:08] Mr Vice chairman in the executive
session there were four litigation
[2:46:12] matters discussed there was no final
action taken on any of those you'll need
[2:46:18] a motion for one of your Commissioners
to allow you as Vice chairman to sign
[2:46:21] that update I incubated emotion but I'll
make that again
[2:46:26] just a second
[2:46:34] you can join the meeting now unless
yeah all right meeting adjourned all
[2:46:39] right thank you