[0:02] Reimagine van gogh's starry night. Good afternoon. Let me welcome everyone to our tuesday,
[0:13] december the 2nd, 2025 board of commissioners meeting. We're very honored today to have
[0:18] having reverend jeff mccarthy from mountville baptist church here today to give our
[0:23] invocation. After that, we have the pledge to the flag. And I'm going to ask commissioner
[0:27] mckinney to lead us in the pledge to the flag. After jeff comes and gives our invocation.
[0:32] so if everyone please rise. Let's pray. Dear father. I ask you to be with each person here.
[0:44] father, there's so much going on in our community right now. We just need your guidance and
[0:48] your wisdom and your peace. Father, that you'll just touch each person here, lord. And
[0:53] just let us remember through all this that that we're your children and, lord, that we
[0:58] just need to to hang on to you and keep keep our faith and don't let it post during these
[1:03] times. Father, I ask you to to to to let these the commissioners here set aside
[1:10] their personal thoughts and and just what's best for the community. Lord. We give you
[1:16] praise for taking care of each one of us and and guiding us every step of the way. And we
[1:21] ask it all in your son's holy name. Amen. Amen. Thanks, flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag
[1:27] of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under god,
[1:34] indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Just a reminder to some of you today's
[1:45] election day. Not not everyone's voting, but some are. And the polls don't close till 7:00 tonight. So just a slight reminder. Alright. The next item on our agenda is the
[1:57] approval of the agenda and the minutes. So first we before we do if you can. Troy anderson
[2:03] came to us before the meeting and would ask that item c be struck from the agenda. The
[2:09] hangar development. Okay. It will come back before you in two weeks. Okay. All right. So
[2:20] with that item be removed, I then I would seek approval for the final agenda. So moved.
[2:26] alright. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor? Alright. Thank you.
[2:36] motion is carried. Next is the approval of the minutes from the troup county board of
[2:43] commissioners work session, which was held on november the 18th, 2025. Do I have a motion?
[2:47] they be approved a motion? Do I have a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor? Alright.
[2:56] thank you. Motion is carried. And then finally is approval of the minutes from troup county
[3:01] board of commissioners board meeting, which was held on november the 18th, 2025. Do I
[3:05] have a motion to be approved? So moved. Alright. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. All those
[3:11] in favor? Alright. Thank you. Motion carries. Next we go into special business. At this time,
[3:21] I'll turn it over to the county manager. Thank you. Chairman. Commissioners. First item on the agenda is an item discussed this morning. Bill bullock was here this morning. Still here?
[3:30] here again to ask for support for the ridley lake park funding project. The amount is
[3:37] $30,000, which is a matching fund toward the georgia outdoor stewardship grant. If the board
[3:45] makes motion to move forward, my recommendation would be that we take those funds from the
[3:52] cip fund. Okay. Any questions? Yeah, I like to explain when this started, how many years
[4:05] ago, when the agreements and all that had taken place since then? Yes, sir. So
[4:10] approximately four and a half years ago, the city applied for the georgia outdoor stewardship
[4:16] grant, which is you see, notice here on the document as part of that document, part of that
[4:23] requirement. It's a it's a point system. And based on funding from external
[4:29] government entity ourself, they would gain ten extra points for their their grant when back in
[4:39] 2021, bill came and asked the county if we would support the project. At the time we agreed
[4:46] to do so, we did so with the thought that we would utilize it out of our arpa funds, which
[4:54] is the money that we received during the covid era from the federal government, passed down
[4:58] to troup county. We provided a letter of support. We didn't really have a whole lot of
[5:04] correspondence with the city over the over the term about the project. But six months ago
[5:10] or so, I guess, bill came back and asked, or I guess it's an invoice in to sonia, which
[5:17] received and I'll say initially we rejected the request and felt it needed to come back
[5:23] before our board being that it was above the county manager's spending authority. That letter
[5:29] is original letter. Yes, sir. It is original letter of agreement. All right. Any other
[5:43] questions? All right. If not, then I will entertain a motion that we approve the ridley lake
[5:52] park funding request. So moved. Do I have a second? Second? Okay. All those in favor? All
[5:59] right. Thank you. Motion is carried. All right, next up is the consideration of the lease
[6:07] amendment for project wing. Troy is here. If you have any questions about project wing.
[6:15] mr. Chairman, there you are again. So to recap, the faa package that was submitted in
[6:25] august, faa came back and withheld approval contingent on a couple of specific items. And
[6:32] one of those items is the amendment to the existing ground lease, which now, if
[6:38] approved, will capture a a business plan that was not originally incorporated into
[6:47] the the the ground lease. And so the intent was to codify, if you will, for the faa how the
[6:54] use of the facilities would be to utilization towards aeronautical and
[7:00] non-aeronautical use between the two facilities. The apron is the third facility, but that
[7:04] is strictly aeronautical. So the intent is to within the 60 day period dating back 38 days
[7:11] ago, the faa asked us to to have something in writing within 60 days as a means to
[7:17] move forward with the approval to build the air aircraft component aviation complex. All
[7:30] right. Any questions? All right. If not, then I will entertain a motion that we approve the the
[7:38] ground lease amendment for project wing. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a
[7:44] second? Second. Okay. All those in favor? All right. Thank you. Motion carried. All right. For
[7:51] our final item under special business, I'll invite jay and zach up to discuss the
[7:55] consideration for the troup county fire station number 14. Chairman. Commissioners. Good
[8:01] evening. Good evening. Director steele and myself discussed this morning asking permission
[8:08] to move forward with constructing a new fire station out at 3157 roanoke road. As
[8:13] you're aware, we received that property from the troup county school system. Used to be the
[8:18] old tatum school. And we've been working with two on the design of the the station and
[8:26] harris gray. The site design and everything is ready. We put it out to bid, with your
[8:32] permission, earlier in october, and we received bids last tuesday on the 25th. We
[8:38] received ten bids, the low bid on the base bid, which is the two bay fire station. The low
[8:48] bid was principal construction at $3,299,000, and the plans have been reviewed by all the
[8:55] various agencies it's ready to permit, ready to move forward with your permission. So we would ask permission to award that contract to principal construction $3,299,000 per
[9:05] their bid. Mr. Chairman, if just add just for clarification. Assuming the board would
[9:16] approve to move forward as mr. Anderson is is recommending. Valley. Can you hear me now?
[9:25] yes. Did you hear me before? No. Alright. Assuming that the board is inclined to move
[9:30] forward, we need to recognize that whatever action the board takes is going to have to be
[9:38] contingent upon the actual transfer of the property, because the while the agreement
[9:42] is in place, the actual deeds have not been been executed and transferred. So any the board
[9:50] could certainly award the bid, but any contract would have to be contingent upon obviously
[9:56] legal review and also the closing of the property, because obviously we can't kind
[10:03] of can't build a fire station on property that hadn't been transferred to the to the
[10:08] county. When is the deed transfer supposed to take place? I have prepared a draft deed
[10:15] and sent it to the attorney for the school board a couple weeks ago, and I have not emailed
[10:23] them yesterday, and we're just waiting to hear back. They're aware that the plan is to try
[10:30] to, I think, look at early january. Groundbreaking. So I mean, I've talked to the school
[10:39] school board superintendent as well, and I think she only sees it as a a formality at this
[10:44] point that their board has already approved the transfer. It's just more, I guess, the
[10:48] legal transfer at this point. Right. We we just legally shouldn't be building,
[10:54] constructing on property that you don't, you don't own. Good idea. When we move forward.
[11:01] which way? The way we're moving forward here this evening. Do we put in a motion that, that
[11:09] that we're, we're, we're waiting on to get the deed from the school system? Yes.
[11:17] unfortunately, you'll miss the chairman will probably be looking over scolding me for
[11:22] having too long of a motion, but it would have to be do it right. It would have to be
[11:28] contingent upon negotiation and review of the contract and acquisition of the property
[11:35] from the school board. Mr. Short, as I can make it to continue. Yeah, we're going to
[11:43] continue this. Well, and regardless, typically when we approve something like this,
[11:48] the contract process happens every time we've ever approved a building project. There is
[11:54] contract negotiations. Yes, but we don't have the deed to the land on this contract. I mean,
[11:59] that's what we're we're waiting on. We we we got we gotta make sure we're in our motion that
[12:04] we have. Oh, I agree, let's find the deed. The land. Oh, absolutely. I think what eric's
[12:10] kind of hinting hinting at is usually the contract process and the review by the attorneys
[12:16] on both sides and then getting the payment performance bonds and insurance. That takes 30
[12:21] days anyways. And if things proceed as expected, we should be fine. And we decided this
[12:28] morning was it funding for this 5050 splost five? Yes, sir. Sighing I both talked actually
[12:37] earlier before the meeting and we both feel comfortable with a a 5050 split of splost, $5 from
[12:43] the fire department and 50% coming from the cip fund. Any other questions? Do you have
[12:57] that motion memorized? I'm going to try and see what I can do. So I would seek a motion
[13:04] that we approve the construction contract for the troup county fire station. Number two, subject to receiving and review of all of the league. 1414. Oh, god. Okay.
[13:16] a fire station in 14, subject to a receiving and review by our attorney of all the deeds
[13:22] and any other legal documents. Good enough. Okay. Do I have? I have a motion. So moved. All
[13:30] right. Do I have a second? Second? All those in favor? All right. Thank you. Motion is
[13:37] carried. Thank you. Thank you all. Alright, the next item is the public hearing section of
[13:44] our meeting. So I'll entertain a motion. Or something. Okay. The next section of our meeting
[13:53] is the public hearing. And so I will I will entertain a motion that we come out of the regular
[13:59] meeting and go into public hearing, make a motion. We come out of regular meeting in a
[14:04] public hearing. All right. Do I have a second? Second? All those in favor? All right.
[14:10] thank you. Motion carries. Miss ruth. Good evening, commissioners. Good evening.
[14:18] this item is a rezoning request that was submitted by timothy stamper for 1462 new franklin
[14:25] road. He does have approval from the property owner to put forward the request for the
[14:31] rezoning. The parcel is 1.1 acre. This is used to be the old mr. Shelnut veterinary
[14:40] clinic. It's always been commercial. Unfortunately, it was always a residential parcel.
[14:45] so it meets all of the standards for the ordinance. And if it is approved by the
[14:52] commissioners, the staff recommends that the applicant must obtain the necessary
[14:57] building permits, business license and a site plan, then must submit a site plan to the
[15:05] community development office. We did place a notice in the newspaper on 1025 and the sign
[15:13] posted on 1028. The board of zoning appeals and planning commission did approve that.
[15:19] the rezoning. And it is the first reading and vote eligible. Did we how was a business run
[15:31] there for so many years without being proper zoning? I'm just I'm just asking that I do not
[15:37] know. Okay. But it has been there as long as I can remember. Yes. It's not the first. I
[15:48] think that probably the concept is, is probably grandfathered in over many, many years before
[15:54] zoning maybe even existed. It could have been. But once the new owner comes, they do have
[16:00] to request a rezoning to continue business there. If you say it was any conditions, yes.
[16:06] just make sure they obtained the necessary building permits, submit the required site plans
[16:11] and obtain a business license. Okay, to be able to operate. But all of this, the approval
[16:17] for them to buy the property is contingent on your approval of that rezoning. All right. Any
[16:26] other questions? All right. If not, this is a public hearing. We give the public an
[16:33] opportunity for those that might support or be in the opposition to this rezoning. So
[16:40] I'll open it up if there's anyone that would like to speak in opposition to this, you're
[16:45] welcome to come forth. Alright. Hearing none, then anyone would like to speak in support.
[16:52] you're welcome to come forth. Alright. Hearing none is. Miss ruth said this is the first
[17:00] reading, but it is vote eligible, so I'll entertain a motion to approve the rezoning
[17:06] at 1462 new franklin road. With. With those conditions that you mentioned earlier, I'll make a
[17:15] motion to approve for those conditions. Do I have a second? Second? Okay. All those in
[17:23] favor? All right. Thank thank you. That motion is carried. Mr. You the I think this is the
[17:49] last item on the agenda. This was discussed, as you know, at some length at the work session
[17:57] this morning. The item for consideration under before the board now is whether or not to
[18:06] extend the data. We're calling it data center moratorium. Technically, I think the
[18:12] ordinance is the law for large commercial developments to include data centers and crypto
[18:17] mining. The decision as to whether to extend it and if it is extended for how long. The a
[18:27] draft resolution was part of the packet this morning with blanks. My recommendation was,
[18:34] I think, to extend, given the imminent expiration of the current moratorium for an
[18:43] additional 90 days, that would put it. Terminating almost precisely with the termination
[18:53] of the only other moratorium in place in the county with the city of lagrange. Okay. Any
[19:06] questions? All right. So we're asking for approval to extend our moratorium for 90
[19:18] additional days from the date that I was expired, which is, as we determined, is not week
[19:25] after next may, right before our next meeting. So we don't have time. Okay. Scroll down.
[19:31] valerie, you can see the termination date 16. Yeah. Yeah I think. So. It's the 16th of
[19:46] december. Second. Any additional estimated? So this would extend through the close
[20:06] of business 90 days close of through the close of business on march 16th, 2026. If you
[20:16] went with the 90 days okay okay. Okay. Any other questions. All right. If not again this is
[20:25] public hearing. So if there's anyone that would like to speak in opposition to us extending this moratorium, you're welcome to come forth. Alright. Hearing none, if there's anyone that
[20:36] would like to speak in support of this moratorium, you're welcome to come forward. And if
[20:42] you give us your name and address, for the record. Hi, my name is cindy hutchings. My
[20:47] address is 912 south willow crest way. Hi, rex. Please, please extend the moratorium.
[20:54] there's still work to be done. Please. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Anyone else
[21:02] like to speak in support? Alright. Hearing none. Then I'll entertain a motion that we
[21:10] approve extending our moratorium on data centers till the close of business on march
[21:14] the 16th, 2026. Do I have a motion? I have a second, second, second. Those in favor? I
[21:22] didn't have to turn to hold the bridle to the horse at all. He went running for the block.
[21:28] okay. And that that concludes our public hearing. So I'll entertain a motion. We come out
[21:32] of public hearing, go back into regular meeting and adjourn. Do I have a motion, mr. Chairman?
[21:37] I'll make a motion. We come out of public hearing into the regular meeting and adjourn.
[21:41] okay. Do I have a second? Okay. All those in favor? All right. Thank you. Motion carries. All
[21:48] right. Thank you all very much for being here.