FLOYD COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
MAY 13, 2008
Caucus: Dr. Wade Sellers, public health district director, presented budget figures showing the Floyd County Health Department will have to dip into its reserves for about $130,000 to cover costs.
Sellers said the reserve has already dipped below the two-month operating budget minimum set by the Floyd County Health Board – and the situation is not expected to improve due to continuing cutbacks at the state level.
Click to view 'Health Department funding charts'
Sellers will host an open town hall meeting at the Health Department on May 22 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to explain the shortfalls and what will happen without an influx of cash.
“We need to put the community on notice that what most folks expect from their health department is being compromised by the budget crisis,” he said. “The department has shrunk close to 20 percent over the past few years, and without another $130,000 we’ll probably have to cut another two or three positions.”
Less-frequent restaurant inspections, elimination of well samplings and longer waiting lists for some services are among the likely results, he said.
REGULAR MEETING
CALL TO ORDER: Present: Commission Chairman Jerry Jennings and Commissioners John Mayes, Eddie Lumsden and Chad Whitefield. Absent: Commissioner Garry Fricks
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO FLAG: Lumsden and Mayes
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
Don Lawalin, 7 Johns Drive, submitted a petition from property owners asking for repairs and improvements on Chubb Road. County Manager Kevin Poe agreed the road is in poor shape but noted that it is privately owned. An engineering study shows that the cost of obtaining the necessary right-of-way, relocating the water line and bringing the road up to county standards would cost more than $200,000, he said.
APPROVED MINUTES of Regular Meeting of April 22, 2008.
PROCLAMATIONS
1. Click to view '170th Anniversary of the Trail of Tears.'
2. Click to view 'Foster Care Month - May.'
3. Click to view 'Floyd County Emergency Management Volunteer Rescue Squad.'
4. Click to view 'Rome-Floyd Citizens Emergency Response Team (CERT).'
5. Click to view '5. Rome-Floyd Critical Incident Stress Management Team (CISM).'
Floyd County Emergency Management Agency Director Scotty Hancock presented a report detailing how the EMA volunteer squad, CERT and CISM helped the Wax Road community in the aftermath of the deadly March 15 tornado.
The Category 3 tornado touched down in Polk County and continued on the ground for 16 miles along the Floyd County line, into the Wax community and Bartow County.
A host of other organizations – from local public safety agencies to the Red Cross, Salvation Army and Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief – also were recognized.
Click to view 'Tornado response presentation' including a map of its path and the resources expended in the rescue and recovery.
Hancock said Home Depot sent $20,000 worth of chainsaws, tarps and other supplies “without even being asked,” and the Flint Hill Baptist Church served 300 meals a day for 10 days.
The County Public Works Department removed 550 tons of debris and Inland Paperboard accepted 91 percent at no cost. The other 9 percent went to Walker Mountain Landfill, Hancock said.
The county alone spent $295,450 on the clean-up, just short of the $300,000 needed to qualify for reimbursement from the state.
Jennings said he was on the scene Saturday when Hancock’s 10-year-old daughter called him and, during the course of the conversation, asked him five times if he was alright.
At that time, more storms were expected, Jennings said, and the conversation served as a reminder that “these folks put their lives on the line for the community” and their loved ones bear a burden as well.
Hancock said the tornado, with winds up to 150 miles an hour, was half a mile wide at some points and just missed Georgia Power Co.’s Plant Bowen in Bartow.
“In Floyd County it was isolated to a farm area,” he said. “If it had hit the subdivision about half a mile away, it would have destroyed every home in it.”
The tornado damaged or destroyed 17 homes in Floyd County and killed a man in Floyd and a woman in Polk County.
FOCUS ON FLOYD
1. Victim Witness Assistance Program – Beth Dabbs, director, said the office is responsible for helping all crime victims and witnesses. The three full-time advocates have opened 165 case files so far this year. The department’s budget is $148,000 but it brings in about $200,000 from add-on court fees charged against convicted defendants.
2. Floyd County Police Department– Chief Bill Shiflett said the department has 85 full-time positions with four slots currently vacant. The budget for 2008 is $4.69 million but it has returned more than $594,000 to the general fund in the past three years, due to careful management.
The department’s clearance rates for serious crimes ranging from murder to thefts are well above the national average, according to a chart Shiflett included in a PowerPoint presentation and plans to post on the department’s Web site.
RESOLUTIONS
1. Approved a change in the design of the Historic Courthouse Parking Deck Project funded through the 2006 SPLOST.
Unstable soils discovered on the site caused the deck price to more than double from the $1.54 million allocated from the SPLOST. Consultants recommended a surface lot instead, at a cost of less than $860,000.
Click to view 'Parking deck resolution and justifications for the change in scope.'
Rome officials objected to the initial redesign, which included 14 spaces carved out of the lawn of the Law Enforcement Center on Fifth Avenue. County commissioners removed those spaces from the plan, which will now provide 78 spaces instead of the 104 estimated for a deck.
“We were worried about the (Fifth Avenue spaces), too,” Jennings said. “There was just too much potential for problems.”
2. Adopted a resolution related to construction of the 380-space parking deck being built jointly by the city and county next to The Forum. The $7.88 million deck is being funded through bonds.
3. Adopted a resolution approving the issuance of up to $55 million in bonds for Berry College’s planned construction of new residence halls, expansion and renovation of the student union building and other campus improvements. The college is responsible for repaying the bonds.
4. Agreed to allow portraits of judges who have served Floyd County to be displayed in the courthouse. A resolution is expected to be adopted at the board’s May 27 meeting. A portrait of retired Superior Court Judge Robert G. Walther is ready for installation, Jennings said.
FIRST READINGS
(PUBLIC HEARINGS TO BE HELD MAY 27 AT 6 P.M.)
1. Request rezoning from A-R (Agriculture Residential) to C-C (Community Commercial) with Special Use Permit to construct mini warehouses on property located on Kingston Highway at Branson Road. Zoning Map M14 – Parcel 292. (Planning Commission Recommendation: Approve with the following conditions: 1) Development shall not encroach on the stream and wetland on the east side of the property; 2) Setbacks, landscaping and buffers shall be provided to the full extent required by the ULDC; 3) All lighting on property shall be downward directed and shall not spill over onto adjacent property. [VOTE: 6-2])
2. Ordinance to Amend Floyd County Code Section 2-11-88 related to Emergency Closing of Unfit Dwellings, Buildings and Other Structures. (2008-003A)
3. Ordinance to Amend Floyd County Code related to a Pawn Shop Reporting System. (2008-004A)
PUBLIC HEARINGS – None
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT – None
COMMISSIONER’S REPORT
1. Administrative/Finance Committee – Commissioner Whitefield, Chairman – None
2. Public Safety Committee – Commissioner Lumsden, Chairman -None
3. Public Works Committee – Commissioner Mayes, Chairman – Recommendation to Accept Leslie Lane, SE, on County Maintenance -- approved
4. Water Committee – Commissioner Fricks, Chairman – None
5. Judicial Services Committee – Commissioner Jennings, Chairman – None
CLERK’S REPORT
Consent Agenda
1. Approved tax refunds
2.Approved a contract service agreement with BellSouth
3.Accepted a $594,679.80 local road resurfacing grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Click to view 'List of roads to be resurfaced'
County Manager Kevin Poe said the annual grant amount “is similar to what we got last year, but the cost of asphalt has gone up.”
The state is providing the equivalent of $40.20 per ton of asphalt, Poe said, while the county is currently paying $57 per ton.
The county will have to make up the difference in cost, in addition to providing the labor, he said.
MANAGER’S REPORT
1. Declare List of County Equipment Surplus – the surplus items will be listed for sale on the online auction site GovDeals.
2. Awarded Bid for High Pressure Water Jetting Machine for Public Works to low bidder U.S. Jetting LLC at $36,641. The county budgeted $67,000, which also includes the price of a truck to tow it. Poe said he expected the truck to be much less than $30,000.
3. Awarded Bid for Two Eight-Passenger Golf Carts for use at The Forum during construction of the town green and parking deck. Low-bidder was Specialty Car Co. at $9,998.50 each. The county budgeted $11,000 each.
4. Awarded Bid for Trench Roller with Remote control for Water Department to low bidder Neff Rentals at $26,490. The county budgeted $36,000 for the dirt compaction machine.
5. Accepted RFP for Emergency Debris Removal and Disposal from AshBritt Inc. as the primary provider and DRC Emergency Services as the secondary provider.
Poe said the companies will be on standby in case of an emergency such as a tornado that would overload the public works department. Identifying backup debris removal companies in the county’s emergency management plan also qualifies it for additional reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
6. Approved the addition of up to $15,650 in the contract with Wilbur Smith Associates. The company is designing the Armuchee Connector bridge across the Oostanaula River and the money will add a traffic signal at its intersection with Old Dalton Road.
Click here for project details.
7. Awarded a contract for Civil Engineering and Survey Services for Wolfe Park Project to Southern Engineering in the amount of $13,300. (2006 SPLOST) Click here for project details.
The work is being done near a protected trout stream and special erosion control and sedimentation measures are required.
8. Approved $42,200 GEFA Recycling and Waste Reduction Grant Awarded to the Rome-Floyd Recycling Center to set up a household hazardous waste collection point at the center. The move will allow year-round collection to replace annual collection events.
9. Approve standard liability coverage agreement between Experimental Aircraft Association Warbirds Squadron 17, Inc., Floyd County and Floyd County Airport Commission for an event at Richard B. Russell Regional Airport this weekend.
ATTORNEY’S REPORT – None
ADJOURN
Compiled by staff writer Diane Wagner
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