Commission Tackles Roads, Recreation, Trash and More

May 12th 2009 in the regular meeting of the Brantley County Commission, action was taken on the following items:

• Accepted a proposal from Golden Isles Engineering, who the County already has under general contract for services, for the detailed design, survey and drawing of the new recreation facilities on Baker Creek Road next to the Forestry. The proposed total costs were $13,600 for these services. The goal is to build the first half of the general plan so that baseball can be played on the new fields next Spring. For a detailed view of the vision for the new recreation facility see the link below and to your left. Funding sources for the new facility were discussed and a report will be made available in the June meeting.
• Authorized the County Attorney to contact landowners on Boots Harrison Road to discuss Right of Way and road path changes. A rough draft of one alternative has been provided by Planning Commission member Jamey Osteen. For a detailed view of one alternative for this road, click on the link below.
Boots Harrison Road
• Received a report on the right of way needed to pave Waynesville Road. The County is still waiting on right of way approval from these land owners on Waynesville Road. Once that right of way is condemned or negotiated, the County can move forward with paving Waynesville Road. The attorney has received the authority to condemn the property and move forward with the project. Letters went out last month to these land owners asking for their cooperation.
o Martin Anderson – Garcia Anderson Foundation Inc.,
o Richard W. Reyna, (need deed updated due to road change)
o Rose Ann Cooper
o Alan Nathan Cook
o Larry and Darlene Moye (need deed updated due to road change)
o Chad Taylor
o Ryker Investments LLC
o Mary C. Millis (need deed updated due to road change)
o Cheryl Lynch
o Scott Edward Lynch
o Bonnie Rheborg
o Melissa Taylor
o Ricky R. and Teresa L. Vaughn
o Heather Rentz
o Rayonier Timberlands Operating Company L.P.
• Approved request from Cindy Crews, Clerk of Superior Court, to deposit $1911 in collected fees to capital account for Clerk’s office.
• Approved purchase of 1000 tons of large stone and special fabric from Earl Echols, using road building SPLOST dollars, with the anticipation that these funds may be reimbursed with FEMA disaster funding. These will be used to permanently fix Warner’s Landing and other roads that wash out every time the river floods. The County’s goal is to set aside funds that are to be received from FEMA for disaster relief into an account that would be used to permanently fix the roads that have the most problems in flood or major rain events.
• Assigned the corner office in the current County Commission building, formerly used by Code Enforcement, to the Airport Authority.
• Assigned office formerly held by Code Enforcement to Voter Registrar department.
• Moved the Code Enforcement Department so that it reports to Emergency Management Agency under Billy Lartz, effective May 18th, having Amy Schultz take over responsibilities as Code Enforcement Clerk, increasing her salary by $1.50 per hour. A previously discussed item of moving Scott Smith into the Court House was scratched. The new Code Enforcement department head will assign Scott’s office.
• Tabled an item to close Buck Lake Road, as developers are in the process of purchasing property on that road.
• Approved using capital outlay funds for 25% match on EMS grant received for a new ambulance. This provides Brantley County with a new ambulance with no taxpayer dollars being spent.
• Approved an agreement with the City of Nahunta to provide fire protection for the City of Nahunta starting January 1, 2010. A fire tax equal to that collected in the County will be levied on County residents living in the City Limits, with those funds going to the Nahunta Inc Fire Department for providing said service.
• Approved a resolution supporting the County assisting the City of Nahunta with all elections moving forward. In this, the City would reimburse the County’s expenses for holding the election. These two are good examples of how the County and City are working together to streamline costs and reduce the burden on the taxpayers.
• Adopted a resolution providing for Direct Deposit of payroll funds, making the payroll process more efficient.
• Authorized an RFP for the removal of scrap metal from the landfill, with the hopes of increasing revenue from this refuge.
• Authorized the county attorney to draft an ordinance addressing ATV’s on County roads and rights of way. This will be reviewed at the June Work Session. The goal is to reduce the wear and tear on County roads and rights of way and to improve the safety of roads and citizens.
• Authorized the county attorney to prepare a Timber Ordinance “Permit To Cut” that would have to be acquired to harvest timber in Brantley County, modeled after the Pierce County ordinance. The goal is to implement a system where the County gets notified of timber harvests so that the appropriate taxes can be collected.
• Adopted a resolution for the lighting at the airport for $418,975.40 with all but $12,136.10 coming from State and Federal agencies.
• Adopted an agreement where the County would provide the dirt and loaders to load rented trucks to haul approximately 5500 cubic yards (about 367 truck loads) of clay that is needed to finish the airport. This will cost approximately $12,000, which will be paid for out of State funds received by the airport. Only County labor and equipment to load the trucks will be used. This also allows the County to keep $32,000 in reimbursement of funds from the State which nets Brantley County $20,000.
• Decide not to trade in or buy any new equipment for the road department at this time. The County Manager was instructed to review used equipment and equipment turned back in by failed construction companies.
• Declined a Beer and Wine license request from Alice’s Place. The County ordinance forbids a recipient from being within 600 feet of a residence.
• Received an update on the County Digest from the Chief Appraiser. The target date is to have the digest completed on August 3rd, which is well ahead of the last two years. Notices of assessment will go out soon for those who’ve had property values changed, and the time table starts for the appeals process. There was some discussion about the Board of Equalization (BOE) and the inability to get new members trained. There are three members trained now and appeals can be heard as long as all three of those can attend. Mr. Billy Lee and Doug Miles will work to put together a plan to get the BOE members trained, or request that they be replaced by the grand jury. There is one vacancy on the BOE at this time.
• Approved the purchase of a new police car which, will be leased through Southeastern Bank.
• Agreed to use the specification defined in the recreation project engineering for paving of Baker Creek Road, as the specification to take out for bid on the new style of paving that the County believes can be done for about $0.20 on the dollar of standard DOT paving projects.
• Approved moving forward with an agreement with the “fuel lock” card system that the County reviewed two months ago. This system would allow for the fueling at various locations around the County using a personal fuel card that requires the operator enter the vehicle number, Personal ID number, etc. so that information can be reported on the monthly bill as to who is using fuel and how much. This is at no cost to the County. The County Manager was assigned the role of defining this process and getting it established and launched.
• Approved the modification to a number of dumpster sites. The County will be installing a few trash collection sites that will more closely resemble central trash collection sites in other Counties. The user drives up an elevated ramp and drops the trash into a larger can that is at ground level. The larger cans reduce hauling and other costs. The rear of Brantley sites will be fenced to keep out dumpster divers. Utilizing inexpensive camera technology will provide 24x7 security so that 911 dispatchers or jailers who are already monitoring camera or other systems around the clock can dispatch deputies to locations where there are issues. These sites will be much neater and less expensive to maintain. Construction can be done mostly by in house resources without a lot of costs. Sites in Waynesville, 259 South, Hortense and Schlatterville will be constructed to start as County property is available. Others will follow. Over time, adjacent dumpster sites will be consolidated to these central locations.

• Approved a request from the Road Department for the heavy equipment operators to report to the County barn to work every day so that they can participate in safety meetings, uniform service and other activities.
• Set the costs of installing County culverts to $450 for one 30 foot pipe, up to 30 inches in diameter. If additional pipes are needed in that culvert, an additional charge would be levied for the additional pipe(s). At times two pipes are needed to allow adequate water flow through one culvert.
• Allowed a request from the Nahunta Fire Department to use their remaining 2008 Fire Tax revenue to participate in a 50% matching grant to purchase fire equipment needed to help get the ISO rating down. Since this is fire tax dollars, it will have no impact on the general fund shortfall.
• Accepted a proposal from Southeastern Bank to finance / lease the new E911 equipment with all payments to be made from E911 fees that are being collected from land line telephone service. Once the new E911 equipment is in place, this will allow the County to start billing for the $1 per cell phone that is billed to a residence in Brantley County. These, and existing proceeds, will more than fund the 911 operation so that no property tax dollars are used for this department.
• Agreed to the service contract with Satilla Community Services to bring their help for mentally challenged inmates to the Brantley County jail, instead of Brantley having to haul inmates to Savannah or Atlanta. The cost to the County was $4,800 which will be paid from the jail fund.
• Voted to hire two laborers and one heavy equipment operator on the Road Department. These included Rick West, Bobby O’Berry and Brian Herrin. These men were interviewed by the Road Department Working Lead Men, the County Manager and Mike Edgy. Cumulative scores were kept independently and tallied by office personnel. There were over 3 dozen applications received for these postions.

BTC video by Robby Thomas