See everyone did get a a message from
Commissioner Walden. They wouldn't be
able to be here, but we're still praying
for he and his recovery.
» Michael, is it?
>> Uhhuh. I need to move it closer.
>> My monitor.
>> That better?
>> Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
All right. At this time, we ask Mr.
Moses to come lead us in our
uh prayer. Has the meeting been properly
advertised, sir?
>> Yes, sir.
>> I think I see evidence there. Will you
please stand now for the prayer and
pledge of allegiance?
Let us pray. [clears throat] Kind
benevolent father, we thank you for all
that you do for us on a daily basis. We
thank you for the sunshine as well as
the rain. We pray that you be this
August bodies to liberate the business
of this community. And father God, we
lift up our commissioner, Commissioner
um Walden. Father God, pray that you be
with him and strengthen him. Pray
tonight that you continue to be with us.
These all the blessings we ask in Jesus
name. And everybody said, "Amen."
>> Amen.
>> To the flag of the United States of
America and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with justice for all. I
wonder what was that. What are you
saying? [laughter]
>> Hey,
so [laughter] is that the right order?
>> Nope.
>> Let's change them right now then.
>> Oh, I was looking.
>> Let's change them right now.
» The carpet carpet man. I know we all
did. We all [laughter]
>> mean
[laughter]
that. What's he doing?
Took me a second to figure it out.
» Yeah, those carpet people.
>> If you hadn't noticed, we had the carpet
replace them. When they replace the
carpet, they transpose the flags.
Thank you, gentlemen. Uh, presentations
and recognitions. Boys and Girls Club,
Opioid and Date Fund Check presentation.
Uh, Miss Edna Walthy and her team are
here. Would you please come to the
podium, Miss Walth? the um a few years
ago through the opioid settlement,
counties, maybe communities, maybe
cities too, I'm not sure, or counties
are are are given opioid funds from the
settlement to give to the organization
to help combat drug use and drug
prevention. And so our local Boys and
Girls Club has uh applied and had been
awarded. I'll hold the amount to just a
minute. uh as well as the date funds.
Those funds come from fines and
forfeertures uh once again that can only
be used for preventive measures uh drug
and alcohol abuse. So we thank you all
for for working that ministry if you
will, you know, and with our young
people especially. So who will who will
greet us and then we'll have Mr. Let's
see. I got it back here. Okay. Okay. Who
will speak for the organization?
>> Chairman speaks.
>> Yeah.
>> Merry,
>> you just lost the chairman of y'all.
[laughter]
Good evening everybody.
>> We want to thank you for [snorts] um
this funding. We want to thank you for
supporting us on behalf of the Boys and
Girls Club and everything that's going
forth. U for the continuous support is
what I want to say because we recognize
that you're always behind us of the
years as we're coming through the ranks.
So, we thank you and um
please continue to support us and look
out for us and pray for us as we go
through these years and gather the youth
in this county and keep them in a safe
place and a safe environment.
>> Thank you. You all will come up for your
photo op. We have the check up here.
» And we have with us none other than the
club director.
>> What's her name?
>> Smile.
>> Bridget Kelly.
We can lower if you want somebody to
come in the middle.
» Oh no, he's raise it up.
Yes. Appreciate it.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
>> And y'all pray for us that we'll get a
national championship in the region that
we in football again.
>> All right.
[laughter]
>> No, no. I'll take this.
>> I'll take that.
I'll take
Thank you. Appreciate you.
>> All right,
Chief Derby, please come forward.
National firefighters month. We're going
to roll right through these um rec
proclamation and recognitions. Okay.
>> Good evening, chairman and
commissioners. September is firefighter
appreciation month. Time to recognize
the courage, dedication, and sacrifice
of our firefighters who serve and
protect community each day. On behalf of
Liberty County Fire Rescue, I would like
to extend my sincere appreciation to our
firefighters and their families for
their commitment, professionalism,
and the service that they give Liberty
County each day. We, as Liberty County,
are proud to honor those who answer the
call when the community needs them most.
In celebration, Liberty County Fire
Rescue will host a firefighter
appreciation cookout on September 26th
from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Miller Park
Fire Station for our staff. We invite
you as the commission and county
administration to join us as we
celebrate to show our appreciation for
our men and women and their families who
serve our community.
>> September 26. Yes, ma'am.
>> Send us an invite.
>> I will. Yes, ma'am.
>> One of Thank you,
>> Mr. Uh we're going to read all the
resolutions tonight in short form.
Proclamations September is firefighter
appreciation month. Whereas the Liberty
County Fire Services recognize the
benefits derived from the hard work,
sacrifices, and unwavering dedication
that the fire service members have
contributed throughout this country,
including the communities of Liberty
County. And whereas the role of
firefighter today is one of dedication,
commitment, sacrifice, and willingness
to put their lives on the line. And now
therefore, I, Donna El Love, and the
Liberty County Board of Commissioners,
do hereby proclaim September 2026 as
Firefighter Appreciation Month, so
declared on this 20th day of August,
2026, and urge all community members to
honor the firefighters who paid the
ultimate sacrifice for those they serve.
>> All right. Do you have a team, sir? Are
you
>> I'm here by myself.
>> Come on up, sir.
>> Thank you.
>> Bring that with you, if you will.
>> Uh, Dr. Bear, you and your team are
lining up. We're going to do three for
one just as it's listed here. St.
Catherine's Beach Sweep, Great Southeast
Pollinator Census Proclamation, and
Georgia Coast is not an astray
proclamation.
>> Come all together.
>> All right,
do it now.
>> We're going
Congratulations,
sir. Thank you for what you do.
» Is Miss Willa Lewis behaving down there?
>> I don't know. I tried. [laughter]
She already acting up.
» Mr. Scott and Miss Wilson
» and a baby. She even down. [laughter]
>> All right, Dr. Bill to introduce those.
>> Yes, sir. Good evening.
>> Good evening. Afternoon.
>> We're here to talk about um water,
pollinators, and um cigarette butts. So,
they all three um proclamations kind of
go hand in hand.
The beuite is what we do on St.
Catherine's. And um unfortunately what
we do on the mainland end up on our
water in our waterways and on our
beaches. So that's a cleanup that we get
to do sometimes twice a year to help
keep our waterways clean. And we look
forward to doing that. We use this year
we had about 40 um volunteers sign up
and we look forward to actually doing
that at a um a beach
sweep on St. Catherine's soon. for the
pollinator um census that's coming up.
We um passed out some pollinator kits
and you have some on your table. And
what this is is actually making sure
that we have pollinators around because
we need them. They help us with our food
and keep us alive. So you have some wild
flowers that attract butterflies. So we
hope you plant them. This weekend at the
recycler fair, you'll be able to do a um
pollinator census where you get to look
at a plant for 15 minutes and count all
the lovely friendly little uh flies or
butterflies or any other insects that
comes to that um plant. And we turn that
information into the um University of
Georgia um and it's five states, not
just Georgia. It has expanded to all the
way from North Carolina down to Florida.
So, we're excited that Liberty County
could be a part of that study. And then
Georgia Coast is not ashtray. Um, you
have a coaster in front of you or that
was handed to you.
And this just lets you know that
cigarette butts is littered, too. I know
that it's a small item, but it's one of
the most dangerous and littered item in
the world. Not just here in Liberty
County, not just in the United States,
in the world. And we here um keep Li
beautiful, keep America beautiful with
trios um tricycle. They terracycle. We
actually recycle the cigarette
[clears throat] butts and they make it
into a um plastic form either what we
can put on the ground for playgrounds or
hard plastic like tables and chairs or
ashtrays. um they recycled the cigarette
butts. So we have that program here in
Liberty County. We also offer free
cigarette receptacle standalone or on
the pole wall. You just let us know, we
give you [clears throat] one for free.
And we are now taking our volunteers are
going around to the different
restaurants or uh car dealership bars
that these are located and collecting
them for them. So the companies don't
have to do it if they do not want to.
Our volunteers are taking it upon
themselves to collect them and mail them
off. That's all three in a nutshell.
>> You did a good job, Miss Moses. Seeing
you do a good job.
>> Okay. Precious. Proclamation St.
Catherine's Beach Suite. Whereas
adequate debris chokes aquatic debris
chokes our waterways and oceans,
threatening the lives of thousands of
animals and birds and putting human
health and safety at risk. And whereas
as part of the keep Georgia Beautiful
Foundation, St. Katherine's Beach Sweep
Day is the largest one-day cleanup of
Georgia beaches. And whereas for each of
the past 13 years, volunteers have
collected an average of 50 tons of
debris while raising awareness of the
importance of being good stewards of our
environment. And now therefore, I Donald
Levit and the Liberty [clears throat]
County Board of Commissioners do hereby
proclaim August 15th, 2026 as St.
Catherine's beet sweet day throughout
Liberty County. so declared on this 20th
day of August 2026 and encourage all
Georgians to work together to clean our
beaches.
Proclamation great southeast
pollinator census. Whereas pollinator
species such as birds and insects are
essential partners of farmers and
ranchers in producing much of our food
supply. And whereas pollinator species
provide significant environmental
benefits that are necessary for
maintaining healthy biodiverse echo
ecosystems. And whereas the Libby County
Board of Commissioners provide producers
with conservation assistance to promote
wise conservation stewardship including
the protection and maintenance of
pollinators and their habitats on
working lands and wildlands. And now
therefore, I Donald L. Belove it and the
Liberty County Board of Commissioners do
hereby proclaim August 21st and 22nd,
2026 as the great southeast pollinator
census. So declare this 20th day of
August 2026 and urge all citizens to
recognize this observance.
Proclamation Georgia coast is not an
estrade. Whereas keep America beautiful,
the nation's leading community
improvement nonprofit organization that has taken aim at aggressively uh
reducing cigarette litter and
beautifying communities through its
cigarette litter prevention program
which launched in 2002. And whereas keep
liberty beautiful was formed in 1983 and
coordinates with other groups here in
Liberty County and with Georgia's six
coastal counties participating in the
Georgia coast is not an astray outreach
program and whereas keep liberty
beautiful mission is to engage
[clears throat] individuals businesses
and governments to participate in this
joint educational and outreach program
which started June 1st 2024 and declare
August 28 2026 the day for the Georgia
coast is not estray [clears throat]
message drink coasters to educate locals
and visitors about cigarette litter
being used throughout Liberty County.
And now therefore, I, Donald L. Love it,
and the Liberty County Board of
Commissioners do hereby proclaim August
28th, 2026 as Georgia Coast is not
astray awareness day in Liberty County.
So declared on this 20th day of August
2026, I urge all organizations,
businesses, and citizens to find ways to
keep Liberty County beautiful. Um sir,
can I um also say to help with the
businesses and our citizens that go out
on August 28th, if you take a picture
with a coaster coastal that you um use
at the restaurant, that restaurant would
be put in for a um a prize tag and the
um citizen would um be put in for a keep
their beautiful [clears throat] swag. So
we're trying to help the business that
advertise and the go out and take the
picture. Thank you. If you all will come
on up for your photo op,
[clears throat]
Oh man, I should all sign.
» She want to see the baby.
>> One, two, three.
Are
>> we going to do them all?
» Do them all.
[laughter]
» I guess I could have gave each one of
them one to hold up, huh?
All right.
>> I think it was a different crowd,
>> right?
>> Come on.
>> I should
[crying]
[applause]
Thank you. All right.
[clears throat]
>> Thank you all. Spirit of volunteering is
alive and well in Liberty County,
Georgia.
>> I thought Dr. Bell was going to brag
about
our local our boat captain here, but she
didn't talk about it today.
>> We had to postpone that particular day.
>> I think I was the only captain.
>> Really?
>> Couldn't hold 40 people,
>> dude.
Thank you. Uh Keith Le a beautiful
family. Uh item five, acknowledgement of
the proclamation honor Senator Tunis
camel senior and representative William
Golden. Two of Georgia's original 33
black legislators.
Uh Representative Carl Gard from
Savannah asked that we do this. We were
up at the Liberty County Day Liberty
County Fort Day. There was a celebration
on the floor of the capital to recognize
these people. is as America still
celebrates it 250th birthday. This is a
part of American history and we're proud
that you know we always brag or announce
that two people from Liberty County
signed the declaration. So also two
people from Liberty County serve as one
as in the original uh legislators too
from Liberty County. One being Tunis
Campbell senior may not recognize that
name but the other one is William A.
Golden. And that's where Snelson Golden
get his name from. actually hyphenated
snelson- golden but they kind of over
the years lost the hyphen in there but
the golden and and um snelson golden's
name come from represented uh honoring
way he made golden for his work in Ly
County all right thank you so much for
that uh item C state judge annual
presentation Judge Ginstead
» afternoon [clears throat] everyone I
don't know if I've met everyone but my
name is Leonard Ginstead I'm the state
court judge probably better known as
Bubba Gren instead because I practice
law here in Hinesville for 35 years. I
see on here it says it's the annual
judge presentation, but my
administrative assistant said it was the
first one. So, I guess it's the
[laughter] first it is the first annual
[clears throat] presentation by the
state court. So, I wasn't really sure
exactly what you wanted. So, I talk a
little bit about what really state court
is. State Court of Liberty County like
all state courts in the state of Georgia
were established by local legislation
that was introduced into the general
assembly to establish the state courts.
Uh the difference between state courts
and superior courts like the five
superior court judges we have in the
circuit over these six counties is that
the state court only exercises
jurisdiction in Liberty County, Georgia.
Only things that occur in Liberty
County. Uh statewide there are only 72
state courts out of the 159 counties. So
every county does not have a state
court. In some counties like the larger
ones, Fulton, Dicab, Bib, Chattam have
multiple state court judges, but they
all still only exercise jurisdiction
over their county. Now, uh either the
state court judges are either elected or
appointed. If an uh by the governor
depending on what needs to be done.
Qualifications for state court judges
are you have to be at least 30 years
old, a resident of Georgia for three
years, a licensed attorney for seven.
That's it. That's all you have to be to
run for state court judge if anybody's
interested. [laughter] So
we're elected for four-year terms and
it's all nonpartisan elections. So, it's
not Democrats, Republicans, because a
judgeship is a nonpartisan
uh position.
I was elected in 2024, and I'm in my
19th month of being a state court judge.
I took over for Judge Ostein. After
Judge Ostein decided to retire from the
position, now state courts uh handle
both criminal and civil actions. I guess
uh you have there
>> what is a state court uh the traffic
what we handle from a criminal side are
misdemeanor cases that can be either
traffic simple batteries assaults
anything that's a misdemeanor in nature
misdemeanor is defined as something that
can be punished by no more than 12
months in jail and andor no more than a
$1,000 fine if it falls within that
range then it can be handled in the
state Court of Liberty County from a
civil side. We handle civil disputes
also as long as it's a civil dispute
that does not uh it's not preserved for
the exclusive jurisdiction of the
superior courts. Superior courts have
jurisdiction over domestic matters like
divorces, child custody, child support,
things of any domestic nature, real
estate disputes, and anything that deals
with giving an injunctive belief for
something. Uh we handle things like
personal injuries. We handle a lot of
personal injuries in the state court of
Liberty County. Things like slip and
falls, car wrecks, things where
someone's hurt by someone else's
negligence. Uh we are also probably
known as the medical malpractice court
in this county. We handle a lot of
medical malpractice cases where
somebody's injured as a result of the
alleged malpractice of a person or a
organization. We handle a lot of
contract disputes. with a lot of cases
involving property damage. A lot of debt
disputes where people uh especially
collection agencies are filing actions
trying to collect money that was lent
and never repaid uh or either on
contract or as a result of financing
vehicles just where it wasn't paid back.
Uh we also handle appeals from the
magistrate court. people that have heard
actions in the magistrate court where
one of the parties didn't like the
resolution that occurred in magistrate
court
>> hear the appeal
>> they have the automatic appeal they come
to the state court they also could come
to the superior court but they seem to
come to the state court so we hear the
appeals from the state courts we issue
bench warrants [clears throat] we set
bonds we can revoke probation when we
set them and we can set people on
probation
uh and things that we rule on can be
directly appeal to the superior [snorts]
court. I mean the Supreme Court of
Georgia or the Georgia Court of Appeals
depending on what kind of case it is.
And like the Superior Courts here, uh we
are a court of record, which means all
the we follow the Georgia rules of
evidence, the Georgia rules of civil
procedure, uh and the Georgia rules of
criminal procedure.
Here
is the three-year case load uh that
we've had so far in the last three years
in 24, 25, and 26. You see where you
have the the criminal in blue, the
civil, we have many, many more criminal
cases that are filed rather than civil
cases because all misdemeanors, traffic
violations, things of that nature. All
if you do not pay ahead of time, you
come to our court. If it's not in the
city limits of Hinesville, uh where the
city of Hinesville writes it, it goes to
the city of Hinesville and those can be
appealed or if they demand a jury trial
on the issues even in municipal court,
they come up to my court, the civil
court uh to the state court of Liberty
County. And you see the difference in in
26 what's been filed so far. But if
you'll flip to the next one, you'll see
the difference right now. It's projected
now from 26
in 26 that we're going to have about a
60% increase of the civil cases that
were filed the year before and a roughly
a 60% increase in the criminal cases
that were filed in 2025. I don't know if
people have got more fragile or people
get more irritated easily, but it
appears that
many many more criminal and civil cases
are being filed at this time. Uh we have
in the state court of Liberty County
arraignments a [clears throat] couple of
times a week to take care of the
criminal cases that are filed. Uh we
have trial terms and civil cases a
couple times a [clears throat] year.
Criminal trials
uh terms a couple times a year. We also
have uh criminal non-jury tri trials
monthly for people that do not want a
jury trial but want a bench trial which
is a trial just in front of the judge
making the determination of their guilt
or innocence. We have those every month
and sometimes like next week we have two
[clears throat] days worth of bench
trials for people that have been charged
with criminal acts that wanted a trial
on their case rather than work something
out and plead to something. Uh and we
have again criminal and civil trials
trial uh jury terms two separate times a
month I mean a year. Uh the uh civil
trial terms are usually January
and
September I believe. Yeah. Now January
and July. And the criminal trial terms
that we said are in April and October.
And depending on the uh volume that we
have, we can increase and put additional
trial terms in different areas and
different months also and increase what
we need to do to try to keep the case
load down.
That's all I can think to tell you right
now about the state court. That might be
more than you wanted to know, but I
didn't know how much you wanted to know.
Ask you answer any questions if you have
any.
>> Good briefing. Any questions for Judge
Greenstead?
» Thank you for your service.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> We appreciate.
>> Appreciate you.
>> Have a good day.
>> Someone for the program, Miss James.
She's been busy.
» [clears throat]
» Good evening everyone.
>> I'm here to give a recap of the summer
food program for year 2026. It has been
a busy one.
Okay. To start off, we um we operated
out of 15 sites this year. Um and the
program ran from June 1st to July 31st.
During those days, we served 17,918
meals throughout the county.
Next slide. Okay.
Summer program staff consists of the
program coordinator, two program
monitors, one being right here, site
supervisors for each site. We have a few
here, kitchen workers and delivery
drivers for a total of 29 staff.
Next slide shows
um the count for each each site that was
served. How many meals for each site?
Next slide. Highlights for this year was
our state inspection. There was no
findings. They came and they um did a
pop-up inspection on two sites um in the
kitchen. They there was zero findings.
Now, they still have to order to do the
um paperwork, but they'll schedule an
appointment to come back and do that
going forward for um next year
to implement hot meals. We will need
additional freezers and um we'll meet
with the uh the health department to to
get the kitchens situated for that.
>> So I excuse me. So our enhancement of
the kitchen at the complex
still leave them short of freezer space.
Is that what I'm hearing you say?
>> Yes, the freezer space and um the health
department has to do one final walk
through for like piping and stuff. They
said there may be some minor issues
there.
Some more goals is to try and minimize
staff shortages. We'll plan early and
recruit strate strategically to ensure
every area is fully staffed.
some ways to do that for to keep staff
retention
[clears throat] things like this to
recognize the workers that are here that
give so much of their time and effort to
make this this possible.
As I mentioned, we plan to fully
implement hot meals next year
and [clears throat] hopefully we can add
more student activities. We had a couple
of guests come in um to do to visit
certain sites. We had some people do
financial literacy. We had some come and
do activities with the um with the
students and the children there. So uh
we we plan to increase that activity and
that'll boost uh boost participation at
certain sites.
» Any questions?
>> What was your your average age?
Well, that was you.
>> The average age was between um five and
maybe 12. Those were our our regulars.
[clears throat]
>> I'm thinking if you're going to
interject, Miss Hunter.
>> Yeah, we had
>> educational piece. Then you
don't say the same spill to your
5-year-old that you do to your 12y olds.
maybe a little bit of a challenge unless
somebody's
>> we have like worksheets and things of
that nature to um that kind of can age
yes
» those things
>> Mr. Chairman, I just I I don't really
have a question, but I have a comment.
And you can see by the meals that were
served, Gum Gum Branch had really
>> um stepped up or increased the number,
and I appreciate I'm not sure which
worker you had out there, but she did a
phenomenal job.
>> She was out there early and staying late
>> and um I appreciate that. Also, one
thing I did notice, if we could get some
bigger signs, maybe a little bit bigger
sign.
>> Bigger. Okay. or either banner to put on
the fence, but I know a banner,
>> you know, if we rent the park then it
might get destroyed. But, you know,
>> a bigger sign maybe out by the road, but
otherwise I think Gum Branch did really good this year as [snorts] far as
participants.
>> And that worker bring her back out
there. [laughter]
>> Had to Yep. We I'm trying to get her
back.
>> They were they were there early.
when I when I see the recommendation
about uh recruitment and sustaining this
is a program where where we pay up front
then we reimburse from state. Um
how how would you work in a pay increase
for for staff based on that kind of
formula? How would you work that in?
Yeah, right. Sh.
>> The reimbursement is for the food.
>> Okay.
>> So, that's county. Okay. All right. All
right. Make a note. Okay. All right.
Thank you all. Appreciate
what you've done.
>> You're welcome.
>> Of course.
>> Oh,
well. Yeah. Come right on.
>> Is that okay?
>> Absolutely.
That's kind of a bus driver. They don't
work a lot of hours, but she gonna pay
me decent average.
» Yeah.
[clears throat]
» Yes, ma'am.
Hello. How are you?
Come on.
» So nice.
[clears throat]
Patrick.
>> Thank y'all.
>> Thank you. How you doing?
» Is Miss M Miss Hunter is is serving the
hot meals going to produce any
challenges next year doing that as
versus the way we're doing it that
going?
>> No, sir. Actually,
[clears throat and cough]
>> actually, we think we do have the
freezer space. It's just about preparing
it in time, but um we could have
implemented the hot meals this year,
>> but in terms of getting the employees
adjusted and making that change, we
thought it would be too much for them.
So, that's why we said we would just
start fresh next year.
>> Okay. All right. Thank you.
All right. Uh, Miss Leopool,
CVB update.
Mr. Chairman, how are you?
>> Miss Jasmine is passing out some swag
for you.
>> We love swag.
>> Yes.
» You weren't given my PowerPoint.
>> Okay. It's going to be a [clears throat]
really short update then.
>> U Miss Maria had it. Yes, sir.
>> I'll help you out. How about that? Oh,
>> it's okay. So, we are before you today
to do our by annual update. So, January
through July, we have accomplished a lot
of things. I will make sure that you get
the PowerPoint. I'll get it to Miss
Lamisha. Um it was sent ahead of time,
but that's fine. I know she's been ill.
Um so we've accomplished a lot of things
during that time frame, including
several spouse tours. We are also
attending the newcomers fair still, so
those welcome all of the new soldiers
and families to Liberty County. Jasmine
is usually out there. And we have some
very dedicated volunteers that also help
with that. So today we welcomed 56 new
soldiers which is a lower number for us.
Usually it's 100 or 200. They had some snafuss on base today but we had
Mr. Alan Volskay with Georgia Power. We
had Miss Ursula with Interstate Credit
Union and Miss Charm, Miss Susie
Sunshine herself out there welcoming new
soldiers and families. Those are always
interesting to me to hear, especially
our young soldiers. A lot of them, they
know they live in Georgia now, but
that's about all they got.
>> Um, so having those conversations and
telling them about what the
opportunities are here in Liberty County
for them is always interesting to do.
Um, we have also participated in the
Susie King Taylor Ruben cutting. We
hosted an evening under the stars before
that and I'm also actively participating
in the planning committee for that. So,
we're happy to be involved. Um, we
appreciate um, Mr. Mosley and Miss
Hunter for involving us in all the
things and making sure that we feel like
we're part of all the planning. So, we
we're happy to be there. Um we continue
to pack lots of bags. Um we've packed
some for Commissioner Gillard recently.
Um and it feels like a million of them
starting with Martin Luther King Day to now. Um we're always packing bags. We
did have the honor of packing bags for
the Atlanta Falcons when they visited
Fort Stewart to do the touch or flag
football game. Did you?
>> We were asked to pack for those. um
gentlemen. Uh we didn't get to meet
them, but we did get to give them
Liberty County swag, so that's good.
They have hats and all the things. So
hopefully we'll see photos um of them
wearing them. Other than that, we
continue to push forward with all the
normal things that we do. And I'm happy
to answer any questions if you have
them.
>> Any questions from the food truck festival? That's chamber,
not CVB.
>> It's both, sir. It's September 19th. We
have 27 food trucks signed up. We're
trying to get to 30. Um, so I think
we'll get there. We have a petting zoo,
bouncy houses, live music all day long.
So that's from 11:00 to 4:00. Um,
that'll be right here in downtown
Hinesville. So we're excited about that.
We're also in September participating in
the Liberty County 250 committee that's
formed. Um, so our first meeting is in
se forming [laughter] is in September.
So we're excited to get started.
We have set the date for Fort Stewart
Liberty County Day at the Capitol as
well. Um, that's on February 24th, but
you should plan to be there the 23rd and
the 24th. So, in Atlanta the 23rd and
the 24th. I sent the save the date out
already.
>> I may have missed it. The the theme for
this year's Christmas
>> Christmas parade is cowboy Christmas.
>> Cowboy Christmas.
>> Yep.
>> So, your best cowboy boots and cowboy
hat and all the duds.
>> Boots on the ground.
[laughter]
>> Mr. Chair, I I just have a a quick
question. Miss P. I appreciate
everything you do. I know you have to s
hold two hats at simultaneously
sometimes, but uh you were saying uh
with going out to for meeting the new
soldiers that's on a monthly basis.
>> No, it's every week.
>> Every week.
>> Um we don't do it every single week, but
we try really hard.
>> Oh, is that microphone?
>> I know these mics are
>> we have to pay to be out there. I'll
back up just a little bit more. U
because I am loud. We do have to pay for
the opportunity to sponsor that to have
a table. Um, so we get 51 opportunities
in the year and if I'm paying for it,
I'm trying to do it, sir.
>> Right.
>> I'm not going to waste those.
>> Understood. I I guess uh with that being
said and and when you were talking about
the soldiers because you know I think
sometimes when we talk about Liberty
County and we talk about this being
retirement community, I think people
fail to realize most most soldiers are
going into the military at 18.
So even if they do 20 years, they're
still 38. So and and I know dealing with
active soldiers, the average age is what
around what 21.
>> We usually have more single soldiers
that are young than we do have married
soldiers. They rotate them through in
two groups. Single soldiers and then the
married.
>> Okay. So I I guess the question I have
is uh whenever you have communication
with them, what what are they asking
about our community? What are are some
of the main questions that
>> a lot of them want? Well, they complain
about traffic, which we all complain
about traffic,
>> but they also want to know about outdoor
opportunities and recreation. So, we are
we have all of those materials with us
to be able to have those conversations.
So, where they can go fishing, where
they can go hunting, where they can
kayak, um all of those they do like the
idea of festivals and outdoor events. Um
and of course, young soldiers are going
to like younger person activities. So,
that might be a bar, it might be a
brewery, it might be those, um which we
have some of those here. We do have
Brewery and Midway that we can direct
them to. Of course, not our
18-year-olds, um, but the ones that are
of age, um, Fort Stewart, I cannot speak
for them, but they would certainly
rather keep them here in our local
community versus having them go far a
field and potentially drink and drive.
>> Absolutely. Okay. All right. Just just
was trying to gauge
>> a lot of outdoor.
>> That's kind of what I hear Colonel
Weaver say, too, just what you've said,
right?
>> Yeah. They're looking for outdoor.
That's why we got to lean more toward
the trails and the bike path and all
that kind of stuff cuz cuz people look
for that. Um and and you're right, they
want to keep them off the road going to
Savannah for some of these
>> wherever they go. They would like to
keep them here.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Keep them safe and it helps
towards our sales tax.
>> It does if we can keep them here,
>> right?
>> All right. Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate
it.
>> Appreciate it.
>> Yes. I I think this is might be the
shortest presentation you've done in
history. [laughter]
» Um chairman, board of commissioners, um
this year we wanted to do something a
little bit different with our um summer
enrichment program. And when
brainstorming with u Miss Leah in a
meeting, she offered to plan a um tour
of Liberty County of Liberty County
history. um she and her team planned the
trip and even um showed the students how
to cast out a net and took
[clears throat] care of lunch and we
just want to thank um Miss Leah for the
work and the partnership not only on
that event but all events um that in
which we worked together
please get a picture I want you to open
it up and see what we got [laughter] is
it a cast
>> we'll turn around and let her get a
picture
>> choose open it slowly
Oh, diet Dr. Pepper and lots of sour
patch kids. I'm not [laughter] sure,
sir. I'm not sure. He always takes all
my sour kids.
>> Leah,
>> thank you. [laughter]
They're not coming back.
» Thank you. Let me go and say this
publicly, Leah. Uh,
you do a lot, Commissioner Fraser,
right?
>> [clears throat]
>> wear so many hats and we car do a lot of
things especially when it comes to
greeting and treating people who visit
our community. So, thank you for what
you do. Your um your your footprint is
well entrenched in the fiber soil of
Liberty County, Georgia. Thank you so
much.
>> Working on the National Association of
County Commissioners.
>> We're working on that.
>> Yeah. And and then on top of that, uh
you know, she's my classmate. She she's a Liberty County High School
Panther, by the way.
>> Just just let y'all know.
>> Yes. Yeah, not Bradwell Liberty.
>> No comment. [laughter]
» Thank you, Leo. Your team again. All
right, Mr. Trent Long.
» All right. How's everyone tonight?
>> We're well.
>> Um, [clears throat] I'll just kind of
jump right in. Um, one of the things I
want to talk about, um, a little bit are
the sidewalk projects we have going for,
uh, Commissioner Frasier. We are working
on the uh Paul Castle Street sidewalks.
Got that going and working on those,
getting those ready to go. Do want to uh
meet with you sometime next week or two
to talk about Varnad Street and see what
we want to do with it because those
costs are going to be pretty high and
[snorts] we'll make sure we're
proceeding the right way.
>> Yeah, we we just matter of fact, we'll
meet and then we'll meet with uh get a
meeting with hopefully with one of our
administrators and and try to partner
with the city of Hindsville as well.
Okay, that's perfect.
>> Sidewalks in.
>> Okay.
>> You have not because you asked not.
>> Um, Commissioner Stevens has us working
on the main trail roadway improvements.
Um, [snorts] as we're building that
roadway and getting that done, um, we're
seeing that we're going to have to go
when we're redoing, we have to we're
raising the road a good bit. So, I've
got to redo several people's driveways
and I'm going to need to go into their
yards to make the transition uh, good.
So, I'm going to need some easements
from folks. Uh, what I'd like to do is
if we could within the next couple of
weeks, let's try to have a town hall
meeting out there [snorts] and meet
somewhere on the site. Uh, and let
residents come have it, you know, one
afternoon after 5. That way we can talk
to people what what we want to do and,
you know, hopefully go ahead and and
tackle that
up [clears throat] front so we can get
that one going.
>> I'll have you a good date by Monday.
>> Okay, that works good.
Uh likewise on Butterblunt Road, we just
have that one that we need to probably
sit down and talk about which way we
want to go with. Um because you know,
she's kind of harder to get a hold of.
So if we spend some time in the next
week or two looking at what we need to
do to accomplish that, then we can get
that project on.
>> Yeah. Whatever it takes to get this
project out and on the bid for December
31, that's looking forward for
>> I I really want to do that.
>> Thank you. So, um
I uh gave you a package. Uh we kind of
have a updated layout of the roundabout
that we're looking at crossroads at
State Route 119 and Bington Ferry and
Riceboro. Uh encourage you to take a
look at it. We had a good meeting uh
with some of the churches and the uh res
you the owners of the four corners. Uh
so I think we're in good shape to kind
of start moving forward on that. uh
after the meeting that we had the other
day uh brought to [clears throat] my
attention several of them now it was
it's okay to look at the drawing but
before we have another one we would like
to see some they would like to see some
flags out to show exactly they can look
at it themselves
>> okay
>> what's going to go what trees going to
go away
>> and everything
>> yeah we can do that we can actually
paint some lines on the road so they can
see where things are right
>> and and try to do that. So, I I'd be
more than happy to do that.
>> So, as soon as you can get the closer
you get to that, let me know and then
I'll go ahead and have them
>> okay,
>> set up so go back.
>> Um,
let me get it on the calendar to get
survey guys out there to paint some
things up,
>> right?
>> And then, uh, we'll get it set up,
>> put some flags out or whatever, too.
>> Perfect.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. I I I'll make sure I get that on
our calendar for the guys to go out
there and do that.
>> Okay. All right.
[clears throat] um
Macintosh Lake Road. Uh this is uh one
of Eddie's projects.
We took proposals on this one today. Uh
the lowest bid was JW Oliver uh for
$391,471.50,
which gives us a deceleration lane and a
right turn lane. Uh which is a good
price uh for the amount of work that is. So, um, we will be bringing
that back to you at the regular meeting
for action. Uh, we haven't gone through
and done the bid tabulations and made
sure everybody did all the math right
and and did everything, but
preliminarily that's kind of where we
where we're standing. Um, Freeman Grove
Road is finished. Um, so I'll be taking
that off of my report for the next
couple times. Sunshine Lake Road. There
are some erosion control issues that,
you know, the rain water we had last
couple months really kind of took a toll
on some of the uh dirt on the shoulders
and he we've called him back several
times and he's supposed to go back out
there next week to fix the erosion
again. He's been fairly [clears throat]
responsive. He's a little slow this last
time to come, but um we're trying to get
him back out there.
>> That's a question, Trent. Uh is this a
good time? You mentioned the good bid
price that came in. So, is this a good
time to maximize the use of our Tesplas
dollars?
>> Well, I'm thinking we need to go ahead
and get butter blown on out the road
now.
>> And anything else that I got that's
close, get on out the door
>> if we [clears throat] get in good
prices. That's what
>> Yes, sir. So, we have on both of these
this St. John's Road that opened today
as well for Allenhurst and Macintosh
Lake Road. We both had eight contractors
picked up bids and we had four proposals
on each.
>> Yeah.
>> So, I thought that was fairly good. And
uh likewise on Canyine Road, we had
eight proposals.
So, I I felt like we're getting some
they're not as hungry. Let me back up.
They're more hungry than they were just
a couple months ago. The the level of
work I think on the horizon is less. And
so they're bidding more of these things.
>> You think you see the same for the um
sidewalk?
>> Yes, sir.
>> Okay.
>> Sidewalks are so expensive now.
>> Yeah.
>> It's it's it's unbelievable. You know,
uh I remember sidewalk projects, you
know, when I first got up here compared
to now. And
>> Oh, you're not kidding.
>> It's it's
I don't I don't get it. But
>> I'm hoping cows Paul Caswell is going to
be a lot less because we we already have
curb and gutter,
>> right? It's going to be a lot easier to
get down.
>> The issue is, you know, the older
subdivisions like
>> Yeah. that have the old ditches.
[clears throat]
>> Like my neighborhood.
>> Your your neighborhood has some really
expensive sidewalks.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's why we
didn't never finish.
>> Yes, sir. Um, I was also asked to talk
about Jones Creek and dredging. Um, I
think there have been some questions
about why we don't dredge uh the Jones
Creek Lagoon and that was an old uh
dredge area that was done when they
built I95 and um it was used as a um
a launch so to speak for boat ramp and
over the years and it does fill up
really quickly. So we have a lot of
sediment that comes from the river that
just goes in there and then water sits
still and it drops out. So it just over
time it really really
the sediment builds up very quickly. Um
we did we have looked at it several
times over the last 20 years of what it
would take to uh dredge it and the cost
to dredge it is pretty extreme. I think
last time we looked seven or eight years
ago, it was more than $500,000 to drench
it. And if you cut it down to just a
like a channel to get in and out, uh,
you know, everything kind of sloughs
back down. And so it it becomes where do
you stop because of all the sediment
that is in there. And to make matters
worse is um very much like JC Landing
over in Jessa
they dredge that out and they have to
dredge it out every
seven 10 years or something like that
and it's very small you about twice the
size of this room and it's
$100,000 plus every time they do it out
there it's huge and would be half
million to a million dollars every
five to seven years [clears throat] just
to keep up with it. So it just becomes a
an e economically unfeasible area to try
to maintain on a regular basis.
>> Trent, [clears throat]
just curious, where would you take that
what you dredge out?
>> Well, that is that's a real real problem
you because you have to find a place to
take that material as well. And [snorts]
then you know and once you start doing
it on a regular basis, you've got to
take it. And the process is not just
that easy either because you've got to
>> pump it. And for us, we got to pump it
into bags and dewater it so we can get
it loose enough or dry enough to haul
off.
>> So it it it just becomes quite an
ordeal, right?
>> So yeah, it just it's a great idea. It's
just economically not really
not recommended, I guess, is the best
way to do it.
While you on Junk Street, talk about the turning radius to get the boats in
both sides.
>> Yes, sir. Um, and that boat ramp is
fairly small. So, we have it set up for
small boats, not big tandem axle boats
or anything like that. And so, we have a
small turning radius to promote the
smaller boats and not the larger boats
coming in and out. So,
>> and you can only use it
couple hours each tide.
Where might the larger votes put in,
sir?
>> So, there's couple places in Liberty
County. Half moon is one of them. You
can also do interstate paper. It's uh
got a enough that you can get a little
bit larger boat in there. Um you can go
to Sunberry boat ramp.
>> Um
>> still got the boat ramp down
Liberty County line down there. that I
was about to say that's I drive by that
one every day and and people are there
all the time. Um it's that's just a long
way out,
>> right? But
>> you know, when you put in that one, it's
I've taken my boat up to it before
[clears throat] and you're like, am I
ever going to get there?
>> What's it what's it a good 15 minutes
drive from uh if you live on White to
the Sunberry?
>> Yeah, it is.
>> 15 minutes. Yeah. From White down to
Sunberry.
>> Yes, sir.
>> It's not crazy.
If you're coming from Minesville, I will
>> longer any of you need to keep going
anyway. [laughter] Try
>> can handle some good large boats,
>> right? You know, we we have the the
cattle hammock property that we got the
marina set up for. And you know, I I
think if we get start finding some money
for that, um that'll be another good
place. And then, you know, eventually
we'll we'll find a technology or a way
to get a boat launched there as well,
you know, but you right now it's just
you can get about two boats in an hour
and you spend well over a million
dollars. It's just, you know, a lot of
money for a lot of very little output.
think I want you to explain that because
we've been hearing that from people and
I know ever since I've been here uh
occasionally that's been mentioned that
it would just not be uh it' be a costly
measure to do that and and it's not
lasting it's not lasting so why would
you
>> if it were to stay a long time it would
be great and if we had enough boat
traffic
>> and just the location of it is not going
to generate the boat traffic that you
need to
>> to keep it turned up you know So, it's
just
e it's an economical thing.
>> All right. Thank you, sir.
>> Yes, sir. Um,
live oak uh roadway improvements. We
talked to the contractor. He's supposed
to show up Wednesday or Thursday and
start milling. So, you'll see some
action happen out there next week.
>> Thank you. I appreciate it.
I think the weather this summer. Uh he
had taken a couple of school jobs and
then he was behind on school jobs
because of the weather and we got behind
the school jobs and so it just took a
while to get done but I think we'll be
there and get it done good.
>> Um Mary Todd Road um we've been meeting
with a lot of the uh [clears throat]
property owners on the roadway. I've
talked a little bit with Commissioner
Thrift. Um, right now we have 72% that
have either agreed or are willing to
sign. Um, and what we'd like to do is
we've presented all these folks with the
appraisal that we did on the project,
talk to them about it. Um, what we'd
like to do is go ahead and release
$37,000 and go ahead and purchase and
record the 72% of the rightway that we
do have. I want to make sure that we
don't have people move or change
ownerships while this is going on and delay the the the project any
further. Um so if if we could get that
money released to do that, that would be
great.
>> Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, I've been
speaking with Trent and some of the
property owners on Mary Todd and um
like he said, we we've come a long way
since we hired and got the appraisals
from the um consultant. And while these
folks are willing to uh sign it, sign
the agreement, then I would make a
motion that we release the funds to go
ahead and pay these property owners for
the property. It will be coming out my
spl
uh commission made a motion that we uh
accept the the bid price of am I reading
right Mr. Loan 957.
>> No, no, we're not there yet.
>> Not there yet.
>> No, no. We're on Mary Todd Road7
line.
>> This is 30 county line.
[laughter]
>> Spend all your money.
>> Yeah.
>> he's spending more of the money.
>> Second motion that
>> 37,000
up to 37,000.
>> 37,000.
>> Second.
>> I thought you said 36, but 37
in a second.
>> Second.
>> What's the number for the matter of
record?
>> 37,000.
Any further discussion? I I do
uh because I'm I'm just looking and it
says that uh with a non-responsive
14 of the 21 certified receipts were
received. So I I guess what I'm are or
you don't have to just do some
additional uh engineering if they
>> So what we're going to we we've kind of
set this up so that we can take other
steps as far as trying to contact folks
and moving through the process to obtain
the rightway. Mhm.
>> Uh so we're trying to follow the the
federal process for obtaining rights
away. Um our what we're going to have to
do on these others that are in red is
just going to have to go knock on doors
and hopefully find people at night or
weekends or something,
>> right?
>> But but what I'm saying in the case of
you not getting you know the whole 100%
what would be the next step? So um what
we have to do is you know prove our
efforts to get in touch with everyone
and once we've proved our effort like
imminent domain or something
>> we start moving toward imminent domain
>> okay right
>> you could say
>> that's kind of that's kind of the
process [laughter] we're going through
so we
>> that is that is the that is the end
>> that is the end
>> result if I can't do it
>> right okay
>> all right
>> okay we have a motion second discussion
everybody ready all in favor Favor, show
of hands, please. 37,000. Okay. All
right. I apologize for jumping ahead. I
was looking at the
No, no worries. I'm trying to save
County Line Road to the last because it
is a line item by itself from the
agenda.
>> I see it is. Yeah.
>> Okay. Um I've talked to Miss Julie
Martin a little bit about the Alawite
Convenience Center. I'm going to need to
get in touch [clears throat] Mr. Van
Martin and talk to him a little bit
about that. Um, so I'm in the process of
trying to make those contacts to start
working on getting that one done because
that is next on our capital improvements
list for solid waste and uh part of that
is relocating uh quarter drive so it
doesn't intersect so close to Highway
84. Um, so we just got to have the the
rightway in the property to be able to
do it.
>> So that's next on our list to be able to
try to acquire.
>> All right. Um,
County Line Road. That's okay for me to
go ahead and move to county line.
>> Um, oh, I did not I skipped it. Um,
Commissioner Gillard did ask me to talk
a little bit about make sure I had on my
list the the St. John's Drew and and the
proposals came in today for 600 no
$790,000
for uh St. John, but I'll try to let him
know that as well. County Line Road. Um
we did receive eight eight bids. Um the
lowest responsible builder was McClendon
Enterprises and uh we have a job going
on with them now in Jessup and I have
done uh several projects with Mlendon
Enterprises over my career and all of
them have turned out well. Um and their
price was $957,960.
Um, we recommend and Commissioner Thrift
does have the money to do this plus a
10% contingency and it also leaves
enough money as the proceeds come in for
Mary Todd Road that she'll be able to
build Mary Todd Road once we get the
rightway. Um, so we're not just
depleting your funds.
>> That's right. I've been very good
steward of my money.
>> That's right. So I recommend that we
enter in a contract Mlennon Enterprises
for $957,
>> $960
13 cents plus a 10% contingency.
>> Yes, sir.
>> You want to make that statement again,
but it came in what?
>> It came in really under under what we
had originally estimated. I think it was
a little over [clears throat] 1.1
something like that. And it came in at
957. So, um I would make a motion that
we go ahead and approve McClendon
Enterprises
for the um
repaving of County Line Road
>> in the amount of second that
>> 957
>> sorry
>> $957
960 and 13 plus the 10% contingency fund
>> and this project is to start
>> we have to give them what we'll do is if
once you approve it,
>> um we will have to issue contracts and
it'll be about 45 days before we give
them notice to proceed.
>> Okay. By the time we get through this,
it's going to be a little bit.
>> Okay.
>> And and how long is this the length of
>> that road there is?
>> Two, three miles.
>> We're doing a little over two miles.
>> I saw all the way through. We're going
to
>> uh long long road.
>> And that's resurfacing.
>> Yes, it's resurfacing.
>> Okay. Now resurfacing and deep patching.
>> Deep patch. There's some bad right bad.
>> You're starting at r patch.
>> Starting right patch going the other
way. Yes ma'am. [snorts]
>> Then we're also doing OGI course which
is open graded interface which should
help the reflective cracking. There's a
lot of cracks in it and the OGI helps
keep the cracks from coming through.
I'm not trying to get in the weeds, but
» I can get a road,
>> right? She she's getting two miles of
roads
>> compared to his sidewalks.
>> And my sidewalks and and I understand
him piping and and all of that, but
that's not Ronaldo. That That's not even
What is that a half a mile? Two miles?
>> No,
I don't know. But it goes
>> It's a little It's a little more than a
half mile. Yeah.
>> Right. It's It's not a mile. I I know
it's not a mile. I've I've walked that
street as a kid forever.
>> Yeah. It's And and it's, you know, the
difference is just the intensity of
work.
>> Yeah.
>> On Live Oak Drive versus
>> Man, I'm in business.
I need to just be in sidewalks.
[laughter]
>> That is unbelievable.
U Clinton, where they where are they
from?
Just out of curiosity,
>> you say you work with
>> more Southwest Georgia, but they do a
lot of stuff.
>> Okay.
>> They're the primary contractors doing
all you see all the Evans contractors
>> building the building. They do a lot of
the site work stuff.
>> Oh, you're comfortable with them. Okay.
>> Okay. They're they're they're topnotch.
All right. All in favor, show your
hands, please, so commissioners can get
the work started on County Land Road.
>> Talking about that for a while. And Mr.
Chair, we we do have it in our ordinance
in for Liberty County that all new
developers have to do curb and gutter.
Right.
>> We do.
>> Okay. I just want to verify that because
I I don't want the next commissioner
that might be sitting in my chair, one
of y'all chairs
>> to want to put some sidewalks and it
cost him an arm and a leg to be able to
do it.
>> Unless we give them appearance
>> cuz cuz this him to be put in the email.
So he'd come over there to the city.
He'll walk over there with me
>> with us.
>> We'll
>> please.
>> We'll do it.
>> You know, you know, remember to see it
over here.
>> Yeah.
>> So,
>> yes, sir,
>> man.
>> All right.
>> That's all I have.
>> Thank you, sir.
>> Thank you,
>> just want to say thank you for the signs
on Highway 84.
>> Yes, sir.
>> They got it in. They got them in.
>> Oh, you didn't know? I'm sorry.
>> I didn't notice.
>> You're welcome.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm glad they got there.
>> Yeah. So, well, thank you very much.
Y'all have a great evening.
>> Uh, did we vote? We voted. Did we? We
did.
>> Uh, Mr. Wales
to John Deere Tractors.
» I told you I'd be back.
>> You did.
>> We're not going to keep you long
tonight. Hey.
>> No.
>> Make it home in time for dinner.
>> Yeah.
>> Or see them boys play ball.
>> Yeah. Yeah, we sent out some bids to try
to replace a couple tractors. Um,
unfortunately, we didn't get one bid
back. I sent out bids to three different
companies. And when I questioned that,
the uh they simply could not provide the
tractor, so they didn't bid on it.
>> We got a bid back from AP Pro uh for 200
horse tractors after trade is 16393.
» You said they couldn't get the didn't
get the tractors. They didn't know when
they would be able to get them, so they
didn't bid on it.
>> Coming from overseas. Are they coming
from overseas? I'm just asking.
>> No. Well, I'm not sure where the
tractors coming from, but the guy I've
been working with, he's got them. He's
got one in Brunswick and got one in
Augusta.
>> Yeah,
>> they can get
>> I'm not sure. I reckon it's just high
demand for the tractors. They just don't
have them.
>> Sounds like you getting into the Where's
Crystal? the the same
concerns that getting EMS's and getting
fire trucks and stuff. Now it's hard to
get
>> Yeah. any equipment is it's it's gotten
better actually, but it's still hard to get equipment
>> coming from the straighter or moves
>> two wheel drive
>> four-wheel drive.
You look into that lawsuit
with the fire trucks and
Thank you.
Out outside of um
the availability, you comfortable with
the uh with the price, sir?
>> I have. We we actually, you know, back
when a couple months ago when I bid them
out, the other dealers had tractors and
they bid. It's all right there in line
from what it was.
>> Okay. Okay.
>> So, I I know what other dealers prices
is.
>> All right. Okay.
>> But they they just didn't have the
tractors now. Didn't know when
>> And you're comfortable with with the
durability?
>> I I hope so.
>> Yeah. I've looked at them and talked to
people and
I'm hope I'm hopeful.
>> No one gives you a bad uh
>> No, I haven't got any bad anything bad
on
>> Okay. Okay. All right. Commissioners.
>> Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman,
» sir, I make a motion that we
work.
>> Second in the amount of 1639103.
All right. And the shelf life on these
are
>> sir the shelf life. You think they're
going to last for how long?
>> Two summers. [laughter]
>> You know, it's funny thing. I've got
tractors from 2008. I'm still running,
>> right?
>> Some of them, you know, these I'm
replacing from 2020. I
>> I hope I hope
>> if it helps. Uh in the area I work in, I
have six John Deere tractors. They're
2009 models. It's still going strong.
>> Oh, I I have a O8 at the house.
>> Yeah, but it's not most most of you.
>> Yeah, I don't use it like that.
>> County department and state and
everybody's going to John Deere.
>> I'm not on it every day.
>> All right. All in favor? Show hands. All
right, sir.
>> Thank you.
Hey, John Deere is forever,
though.
>> Timber tax resolution. Mr.
>> Mr. Chair, he's getting mess.
[laughter]
I'm okay with
>> you making a commercial.
» Mr. Chair, uh what we have before you is
information from the state of Georgia.
We talked about this on last year and at
the time we thought that we had to have
damage and um couple in July chairman
received a notification from department
of revenue and I received information
from ACCG saying guys y'all got money uh
in this bill and y'all need to take
advantage of it. Uh it's part of House
Bill 223, which is the Timberland's
Recovery Exemption Earnings Stability
Act, otherwise known as the Tree Act.
And basically has to do with all the
local governments that were involved
with when Hurricane Harlem came in and
damaged, uh properties and trees during
that time period. And so, uh, in order
to apply for the funds, we have to pass
a resolution, which is in your packet.
And then we apply for a res, um, we, um,
uh, complete an application. And what we
are what we look at is they looking at
the average and our average that they
had of timber was $97,000.
So uh uh Miss uh Richardson has prepared
application that's ready to go. So
tonight that depends on you guys passing
the resolution. Now for any property
owner that's affected, what they would
do is go to the department of revenues
website and they would complete a uh
application. uh department of revenue
would vet it and then they would send it
to us and the tax commissioner would cut
of a check for whatever amount that
their property was damaged.
Commissioner Bl, but we we talked to the
people few people few people few people few in your area
>> they didn't feel they had enough
>> they had some damage but didn't feel
like they had enough to qualify for any
help
>> but but you were saying any damage
>> well trees for trees
>> trees trees
>> so if a tree fell in your yard
>> well no [laughter]
» so the tree will have to fall in your
yard
>> then hit half the building or
It's for timber though.
>> You have to have a timber. It probably
has to be in conservation.
>> Don't have to be in conservation.
>> I would think planted pine trees
>> like a tree farm.
[snorts]
>> Forest or have tree farms. Tree farms.
>> Was it that in science class when when
they asked about
>> you? If if if a tree falls
>> in in the middle of the forest and no
one hears it,
>> is it still a sound? Y'all don't
remember that.
>> I I do.
>> Oh, my bad.
>> Graduated in the eighth. [laughter]
>> So, so it's Hey, let's not leave on the
table. Chair entertain a motion. So,
move second.
>> Second.
further discussion. All in favor?
Show of hands, please. Let's do our part
to bring in
uh whatever those funds you quoted 97.
>> They they said we were eligible up to
130, but they I was reading again today.
It said uh whatever your three-year
average is and they provided that was
97,000 and some change.
>> We'll take it.
>> All right. Thank you, sir. You between
Liberty County Sheriff and Liberty
Regional Attorney Kelly Davis.
>> How are you, sir?
>> Good.
evening. I think everyone is
familiar with the security concerns at
the hospital and the agreement that's
proposed between the hospital and the
sheriff's department. Uh the hospital
would like to contract with the
sheriff's department to provide uh
exclusive full-time deputies at the
hospital. That'd be four deputies as
well as provide necessary equipment in
one vehicle. Um and the hospitals
assumed full responsibility for payment
of these deputies as well as all
benefits and training related equipment,
personal equipment they may need in
connection with the their job. And the
agreement that's before you tonight has
not yet been finally approved by the
hospital authority, but I think everyone
is asking the board approve it now
subject to approval of the the chairman
and whatever changes might be
recommended by me. Um just to advance
the the process. Uh and I think I
mentioned at your last meeting or
meeting before the the board really has
no active role in this arrangement. Your
only rule role is to budget the funds
and collect reimbursement from the
hospital authority. And so there will no
be out-of- pocket costs paid by the
board of commissioners. Uh the hospital
agreed to pay all costs associated with
the security. So if it's uh the pleasure
of the board, I just ask that you
authorize the chairman to sign theou
between the county, the sheriff, and the
hospital authority to allow security to
be put in place as soon as possible. If
you have any questions, I'll be happy to
answer them, but Commissioner Thrift
might be able to answer the security
concerns better than better than I
could.
>> Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, like I I spoke
at the last meeting, there's definitely
a need for security at the hospital.
Uh they currently have
um a contract with the
sheriff's department, but it's not as um
stringent, I guess, as this one would
be. And this is kind of in line with
like the one that commissioners have
with the board of education.
>> Yes, ma'am. U and so and I know the
first year of it of the uh like he said
it's going to be
a wash really because the hospital is
going to reimburse the county back but
anyway the first year set up and
everything is a little bit higher then
they'll negotiate
uh or I believe that they have a price
in there for the following year which is
a little less but we are having some
issues or they are having some issues
over there with uh patients that need to
be addressed. And uh
I make a motion we go ahead and approve
this intergovernment or this agreement
with the sheriff and the Liberty
Regional Medical Center Hospital
Authority.
>> A second. My one comment is that
one of the retirees who's a friend of
mine and
Mr. Stevens very well was injured at the
hospital.
>> They've had several employees injured
and had to go out on medical on U
FMLA
>> FMLA or you know and it's just
>> needs to be done
>> and that is one specific concern the
agreement address is not only emergency
department security but security for
parking areas as well.
Yes.
» Not the county commissioners making the
choosing who works sheriff.
>> That is right. They'll make up the
schedule.
>> I hope that they will consider that the
law enforcement that they choose that
they are capable of handling mental
patient
» and I hope so too.
>> Right. because most of those patients
that are causing
uh the harm over there are mental
patients and they need they need a
special type of assistance over there
for those patients.
>> That's a good point and that will be the
focus of a lot of the training of the
personnel assigned there.
>> Yes sir.
>> I was listening to NPR and they did a a
story on this how prevalent it is
country nationwide.
>> Yes.
>> Injuries in hospitals. Uh nurses are
getting very concerned about their
security. I say nurses, hospital staff
in general.
All right. Further discussion. All in
favor? Show of hands, please. All right.
>> Thank you.
>> Execute that contract, sir.
Mr. Dodd, Homeland Security Grant
and the weather report.
>> Good evening, Mr. Chairman, [laughter]
commissioners.
>> Hi, I'm raining. Last year around
August, September, we approached Miss
Rhonda with a voter registration about a
Homeland Security grant um if she wanted
to apply for it. Well, she gave us the
paperwork and she did apply for it and
then we just found out last week that
she did get approved for 66,600.
>> Sir, I thought you said something.
>> I said, "Wow."
>> $66,676.65.
What I'm here for tonight is just to get
the approval with the the Mr. Chairman's
signature that we go into that agreement
with it. And what she's going to use
that money for is uh she's buying
40,000 of it around ballpark figure is
for security purposes and then the other
20,000 she's buying u like a emergency
panic button for her uh pole workers.
Then that's what she's going to do. And
right now we have to sign the paperwork
to get into the agreement with the the
GEMA and then she can purchase the stuff
once they approve it.
Questions for Mr. Dodd.
It's amazing what we have to do for
security nowadays.
>> That's where we are. All right. Let's
please allow uh our board of elections
to receive a granted amount of
$66,676.65
65 cents for secure security purposes as
stated by Mr. D. Chain a motion.
>> So move Mr. Chair.
>> Is there a second that motion? Motion
and second we approve. Present any
further question. All in favor? Show
hands please. All right. We may miss
>> that is a Hey, sir. One thing that is a
100%. We don't have to match nothing.
It's not a 7525. It's straight 100%.
>> All right, sir. Getting better and
better.
weather.
>> You got one
>> weather is going to be hot. [laughter]
>> I can promise you it's gonna be hot. Um
>> Oh, you got you got it on paper.
>> Yes,
>> I knew I knew Mr. Chairman was going to
ask me, so I brought it. [laughter] I
know we're going to have a heat advisory
probably to u possibly tomorrow. They're
expecting some rain to come in tomorrow
evening, but the heat heat index
tomorrow, we're looking at 106, 105.
Um,
and then possibly
cooling down a little bit on uh the
weekend, but rain, no, uh, tropical
weather. That's the good thing, but it's
just going to be heat,
>> right? And and I'm I'm glad you kind of
mentioned that. And I know in the past
we've had discussions about you know
having uh because of the weather either it's
super hot or super cold where we have
like warming stations in the winter time
and cooling stations and and I
understand the city of Hinesville has
done their part [clears throat] and I
know I represent I get elected in
Hinesville but I represent all Liberty
County. So, what I'm saying is we we
have citizens outside of Hinesville who
might need those those type of needs.
And I know Chattam County, you know,
they they have some things. I was
watching uh WTOC the other day. And I
know Chattam County even right now they
have cooling uh stations for for their
citizens. And Buford, they were just
talking about other communities that had them. And I just wanted to know
and I know that's your your area because
we're talking about weather. Do are we
in the future are going to start looking
at at expanding where we have some type
of facility for for our for our
citizens? Sorry, Mr. I put you on I mean
y'all talking about weather.
>> I know the city of Hinesville's got the
agreement with uh Bethl the the church
[clears throat] for the heating and
cooling and I know Trip always sends the
weather and we keep in contact with that
right there. I know some of the
municipalities and I can speak for
Watabil. I know Chief Maxwell has opened
up the the fire station if people is
cooling. Um and it's just we go back to
the same thing space and the the money
to fund something like that. Um that's
the the biggest thing I think everybody
in Liberty County is on the same sheet
as you. But when it comes down to the
space and the funds to man it to to
support that shelter,
>> understood.
>> Find a way to make one.
>> And generally they generally quote the
liability issue too. You know I
kind of like you said before I'm not
going to stir that too much because I
don't want
>> I mean I understand but I I think that's
I mean every every [clears throat]
season during the winter time is a
discussion, the summertime is a
discussion. So I I don't
>> I I think um
>> Yeah. Okay.
>> Right. Or or just just talk to some of
your peers, you know, from around this
particular area.
>> And uh well, I can speak for region uh
area of five with all the EMA directors.
There's 13 counties. We're all in the
same same position in Chattam County.
You know, they're they're involved in
that area, too,
>> right? Um all of us face the same same
things with but with them when we start
talking about that shelters
>> for for uh you know the heat or the
cold.
>> Right. Right. Right. All right. I I just
want to know if we are going to come
with some type of strategic plan for
that but or we just going to let
Hinesville handle every everything.
Either way I just wanted to mention it.
>> Thank you sir.
>> No problem. [clears throat] All right,
Mr. D. Yes.
>> So, last year um January January of
2025, this board uh approved us to
rewrite our um or update our hazard
mitigation plan for the the whole
county, the multi- jurisdictions. Um we
went through we had a kickoff meeting in
March of last year and we did all the briefings. I know my my staff we
worked a lot with uh AG with that's the
one that we we uh we we picked um right
now the plan has went through GEMA and
FEMA.
It's been approved on the uh exceptions
that we have to go through all the the
government agencies to get it adopted.
We've done um we've done four well this
is the fourth one and we got the other
municipalities scheduled to adopt this
plan. Only thing I'm asking tonight is
just to adopt a multi-jurisdiction plan.
That way we can send it up to FEMA. We
can get the plan back.
>> Is wavville on board?
>> Well Tuesday [laughter] we're presenting
Tuesday.
>> I mean you get it. Never mind.
>> I got it.
>> Never mind. Thank you. [laughter]
Chair entertain a motion.
>> A move, Mr. Chair.
>> Second. We approve.
[laughter]
>> Thank you.
>> No problem.
>> All in favor.
Miss Monica, you have that there.
>> Okay. All right. Administrative report.
Mr. Mosley,
>> chair and board of commissioners
briefly. Uh under human resources, we
have started the uh process for our
paying compensation study. uh on the
splash negotiations. we have start are
meeting with our cities to start that
process of negotiating projects and
we'll be bringing a list uh to the board
at our work session on Wednesday and our
upcoming events is a work session for
Wednesday of course and then the ribbon
cutting and dedication for the new MS on
September 3rd 2026 at 9:00 a.m. Uh in in
going back um we on yesterday we got a
chance to meet with uh Miss Brien Grant
and Miss Melissa McCay from the um uh
development authority and they talked
about the Georgia Tech study and what I
would love to do in the in one of next
upcoming uh sessions is have y'all get a
debriefing on that. I think it's some
great information in terms of what it
costs to provide services with dollars
with tax dollars. And on that note, I've
been asked to serve on a ACCG special ad
hoc committee dealing with the um tax
issues that will be coming before the
legislature. And on Tuesday at library
board meeting, I got a chance to talk
with Chattam County manager Michael
Keigler and he's going to assemble some
of the coastal county managers to talk
about it. Uh we know from our
consultant, Mr. McDonald, that the issue
will not go away. It will be back on the
uh 2027 Georgia General Assembly agenda.
So, uh, we need to have some strategies
in terms of how we're going to address
the issue. So, just want to give y'all
an update on that.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Where are we with the
vehicle?
>> Uh, if I remember correctly, I think
we're at about the 75% mark.
>> I've been seeing them.
>> Uh, it was it was paused and it's going
to it's started back.
>> No sir, but we'll we'll get it done.
>> I guess my question has all the decals
and paper.
>> Yes, sir.
>> They should go on the vehicle.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Shows up good when I'm passing them by
on the street. So,
>> yeah,
>> sir. Shows up good.
>> Yes, sir. It does. It does. It looks
good.
>> The numbers on them and all. I'm
tracking.
>> Thank you, sir. All right. Um, ladies
and gentlemen, we now need to go into
executive session for a real estate
matter. Chair and take a motion to
adjourn this session to go into
executive session.
>> I'll move, Mr. Chair.
>> Second of that.
>> All in favor, show of hands, please.
We'll now go into secret session for a
real estate matter.
Motion to come out executive session.
>> A motion to come out, sir. Recession.
>> Uhhuh.
>> Second.
All in favor?
Mot.
>> Second.
>> All in favor?
>> All right, sir.
>> Yes, sir.
>> Oh. Let me see.
>> Oh, by the way, y'all, I lost my keys.
>> You don't fit losing things,
>> man. Listen. No. No. I got smart this
time.
>> I know. Yeah, that was
>> cuz I had a violation.
>> No, listen. I lost for both my trucks.
>> So, I only was able to one,
$600.
Listen.