Satilla Fields is Taking Shape

The Satilla Fields Recreation Park near the Georgia Forestry on Baker Creek Road is really coming to a completion.  The baseball/softball fields are ready, the football and soccer fields will be ready before the fall and just this week the restroom, concession and scoring building at the center of the complex started taking shape.  This is being managed closely by the County so that we complete the project with the funds we have remaining in the Recreation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST), capital outlay and other funds.

Some signs will be sold for the outside fence, so if your business is interested in one, please call the Recreation Director's Office, which is located at the park, or the County office at 462-5256.

Remember, the SPLOST proceeds make projects like these possible.

Ronald E Ham
Chairman - Brantley County Commission

Press Release by Brantley County Airport Authority

The long awaited opening of Brantley County Airport is now a reality. The first flight into Brantley County Airport was two weeks ago and there have been more since. In fact, pilots have been able to use the airport following the runway completion, including runway lights, proper safety markings, and apron tie-down locations.

The Brantley County Airport Authority, the airport operator, is planning a grand opening (ribbon cutting ceremony) on Saturday, May 7, 2011 as a full day event. There will be food and fun for everyone. An invitation is extended to all interested parties and a special invitation will be sent to all of who worked so hard behind the scenes to make this reconstruction project a reality. Former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s AirGeorgia Grant program gave the momentum needed to make the renovation project come to life. Brantley County received a $2,923,406.00 grant with some local matching funds and it now has an excellent facility to promote general aviation and associated businesses in southeastern Georgia.

BCAA (Brantley County Airport Authority) will immediately issue an RFP (Request for Proposal) seeking bids to contract with a professional aviation company to provide aviation services such as an FBO, fuel farm, hangars, etc. 

Anyone interested in bidding on any or all services needed at the airport may do so by contacting the BCAA website to retrieve necessary RFP information.

Future plans include more hangers, flight instructor for pilot training, and more industrial and/or aviation related industry sites.

Issued by Brantley County Airport Authority Members:
Mary Gibson, Chairperson
Billy J. Lee, Vice Chairman
Sonny Stokes, Secretary
Jack Cathcart, Member
Andy Hickox, Member

Brantley County Commission March 2011 Regular Meeting

The Commission started off the meeting presenting Mrs. Peggy Justice with a Resolution from the Georgia State Delegation recognizing her continual educational service of Fifty-Three (53) years. Mrs. Justice and family members were in attendance for the presentation. She is a wonderful lady who deserves recognition for her years of unselfish service.

The Commission approved the following items by approving the Consent Agenda:

1. Adopted a resolution approving the submittal of an application to obtain Fy2011 Community Development Block Grant Funds for Public Facility Improvements (Facility for Satilla Community Services); Board Members declaring that there was no conflict of interest;
2. Approved the purchase of two (2) Striker Power Lifts for the Emergency Medical Service at a cost of $6,000 each;
3. Reappointed Andy Hickox to the Airport Authority;

On the Regular agenda, the Commission started by discussing the Dump Truck Bids. The Board had placed an item on the consent agenda to award the bid for the dump trucks that will be purchased via USDA grant and loan proceeds to Yancey of Blackshear for International trucks. The County had received an objection from Freightliner of Jacksonville, Florida. The International trucks were $4900 more expensive, but Commission members, during the work session, cited concerns over getting service and parts from Jacksonville. Plus, there was an additional fluid that is now required on the Freightliners (and many other diesel trucks) that is not required on the International. The Commissioners also expressed concerns over new and extra routine operation and maintenance costs and procedures. There was a concern about one of the specifications but it did not apply to the International, as it has a different environmental system than the Freightliner. The Board voted to continue with the purchase of the International dump trucks. The USDA will provide $50,000 in grant funds and finance the remainder at lower interest rates than the County has seen on these types of purchases before. Once these are operational, the County will likely liquidate one of the older trucks. The funds for the payment of the dump trucks are budgeted in this year’s Road Department Budget.

Glenna Strickland came before the Commission asking for assistance with issues at the Big Z event that is held twice annually at Twin Oaks Park in the Calvary Community. The concern is for those folks that use the County right of way (right up to the edge of the paved road) for flea markets or yard sales on the day of the event. It causes public safety issues with the inability to exit the road should there be an accident or other need to use the right of way (ROW) for its intended use. The Board asked County attorney, Dean Strickland, to review the local ordinances that were in place and if there was nothing in the State or local code that addressed this issue, please provide a draft to the April Work Session. Private security is provided at the event and the local law enforcement is used to assist with traffic on the public roads around the event.

Mr. Billy Lee of the Brantley County Airport Authority came before the Board asking for the approval of the resolution and RFP that was presented at the work session. In this resolution, the County is giving the Airport Authority the right to submit a request for proposals (RFPs) so that independent companies can bid on the processes of leasing the a portion of the airport for the purpose of building a terminal, fuel Island, hangers, etc. The County nor the Airport Authority would spend ANY MONEY for this construction. The winning proposal will provide their own funding and use the revenues from their operation to pay for their construction. The Airport Authority will have other opportunities to lease facilities at the airport as well.

The Commission discussed the Saddle Club and the opportunity to work with them to provide a facility for equestrian events throughout the County. Lorne Lane came before the Commission on the topic. The County attorney had researched the item at the Board’s request and found a process that Ware County and other counties use to work with entities like this. The Clerk and Attorney were instructed to put together a package for the April meeting for the Board's review.

The open records policy was again discussed. The County attorney explained that there are a number of laws being debated at the legislative level that are referenced in this policy. He advised that the County might consider waiting until after the session to review the policy to see what laws are changed that are referenced in the policy lest it be found outdated or obsolete. The Commission tabled the item until after the legislative session.

The Commission discussed the renewal of the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) in a November election. In the current SPLOST the voters previously approved $4 million for payments on the jail over 5 years, $2.5 million for road, street and bridge improvements and ½ million for recreation. The Board discussed options with the potential funding on the next SPLOST. The Board agreed that the focus needed to remain on making jail payments and paving roads and discussed alternatives with the recreation funding. Should the voters approve the next SPLOST, the Board discussed letting bonds to bring funding forward to take advantage of these slower economic times that are allowing the Commission to stretch Road SPLOST dollars further than normal. In the April meeting, a bond attorney and bonding company will meet with the Board to review the process and see if this is a direction that the Board wants to go should the voters approve the next SPLOST.

The Commission voted 4-0 to extend County Manager Parrish Barwick’s contract by two years effective September 29th of this year.

The County manager gave an update on the current road construction projects. The County teams are making repairs to Randall Crews and the Dewey Road, which have issues remaining from the fire from last week. Likewise, contract teams are working on Buster Walker installing three (3) six foot culvert pipes that will manage the water through a lower section of that road. For this reason, the road will be closed off some in coming days. The Waynesville Road project is still underway and will be coming to a close this spring. The certification from Georgia DOT came in on the Mt. Calvary Road showing that there were no wetlands issues. Work will begin there in coming weeks.

The County manager gave an update on the recreation park. The concession stands are well under way, so that bathrooms and concession stands will be ready for mid April play. The County approved the purchase of bases, pitching mounds, bleachers, some portable fencing for little league play and a commercial grade lawn mower to keep up with the 4 new baseball and two new football/soccer fields. The score boards will be provided by Coke. as they have been in the past.

The County approved the closing of the old Atkinson Volunteer Fire Department checking account with those funds transferred to Waynesville Volunteer Fire Department as they took over that region. The amount was $1,852.08.

After a brief executive session, the Commission approved the County attorney responding to an ante-litem notice.

BTC Video by Robby Thomas

Brantley County Commission – March 2011 Work Session

The Commission was given an Airport Project update by Billy Lee of the Airport Authority. Mr. Lee explained that the runway project was coming to a close. The paving, lighting, marking and other primary improvements to the widening and expansion to 4,000 foot runway are complete. There is a very small punch list that the team developed in the final check out this week with the authority, contractors and engineers. The next step is to submit a request for proposal (RFP) for a fixed based operator (FBO) to come in, lease some property from the County, through the Airport Authority, so that the FBO can build a terminal, fuel island, hangers, etc. This lease will help drive revenue for the County. The sale of fuel at the fuel island will help drive sales tax for the County. Commissioners asked Mr. Lee what the FBO process would cost the County and his response was nothing. The company will lease the property from the County for a multi-year contract and they will incur the capital expenses of the aforementioned improvements. The item was placed on the regular agenda.

Two year long discussions about ways the County can work with the Saddle Club were revisited. The major sticking point is the insurance, liability when events are NOT in progress and the public’s use of the property. The new County attorney explained some of the legal challenges. The Chairman requested the representatives from the Saddle Club contact the Clerk and set up a meeting with the County attorney, one of the Commissioners and the Chairman to see if we can get to the bottom of this. The item was placed on the regular agenda.

The draft open records policy was reviewed in detail. The County attorney spoke to the hundreds of open records that the County has responded to over the past 18 to 24 months. The policy helps define the procedure for all departments and agencies within County Government and makes sound recommendations to the Constitutional Officers on ways to standardize their process. The Policy makes clear the person in charge of records for each department or agency, a standard form to document each request, the communication between departments of the other records agents to streamline requests and other such items. The item was placed on the regular agenda.

The bids for the dump trucks were reviewed next. After much discussion, the Commission placed an item on the consent agenda to purchase two 2012 International 7500 6x4 18 yard dump trucks from Yancey Truck Center for $94,965.47 each. The USDA loan grant program will be used for this purchase, which has been in the works for over six months. The USDA has preapproved Brantley County for $50,000 in grants funds so the two dump trucks will cost about $69,965 each. The funds for the payments were budgeted in this year’s budget.

The Commission approved placed a CDBG conflict of interest resolution for the Mental Health CDBG grant on the consent agenda. This just declares that no Commissioner has any conflict with any part of the grant process or the transaction.

The renewal of the SPLOST was on the agenda. The Chairman explained that the Commission has a great deal of documentation, meetings, inner governmental agreements, postings, etc. to get in place prior to a possible November election. The existing SPLOST is scheduled to expire in 2012, so this fall is none too early to let the voters consider the next SPLOST. The Board will consider the definition of the next SPLOST. The jail payments will likely dictate much of the next SPLOST, as they have the last SPLOST. The Commission discussed possibly selling bonds on the SPLOST, as the school board has done on many occasions. This would allow the Board in 2012 to bring the SPLOST money forward, if the voters approve it. This would allow the Board to continue to take advantage of the low costs of projects in the current economy and stretch SPLOST dollars. Many road projects are getting completed for 60-70 cents on the dollar. The item was placed on the regular agenda.

The County manager discussed extending the County manager’s contract, which expires in September of this year. The issue of a 2 or 3 year contract extension was discussed and the item was placed on the regular agenda. All agreed that the County manager has played a crucial role in the retirement of operating debt, the increased efficiency of our local government, including the selection of key personnel. His experience has proven extremely beneficial for Brantley County.

The Commission placed the purchase of two used electronic stretchers on the consent agenda. The funds for this are in the budget. The number one injury among EMTs and Paramedics is back and shoulder strain. These units will help eliminate that with the two remaining units. One unit was purchased last year.

The County Manager gave an update on the road paving projects. There is a very large pipe that completely crosses the road that will have to be installed next week so the road will be closed for a day or so.

An update was also given on the Satilla Fields Recreation Park. The block work is complete, rough plumbing and wiring are being completed and framing will start next week. The goal is to have restrooms and concessions working by the start of baseball the 2nd week of April.