Brantley County has completed an update of the Brantley County and the Cities of Hoboken and Nahunta's Solid Waste Management Five-Year Short-Term Work Program which is on file in the County Commissioners' Office and at City Hall in Nahunta and Hoboken. The plan will be adopted by the Board of Commissioners on August 9, 2011, 6:00 PM, at the County Courthouse.

Hortense VFD Substation Construction‏

The Hortense Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) substation on highway 110 North on property donated by Enoch Smith is almost complete. Some equipment is in use at the station and the basic function of the substation is in use. The Georgia DOT permits were recently acquired for the ramp that leads directly out onto the State highway. That ramp is now in place and the concrete will be poured in
coming days to complete its construction.

The completion of this station will help residents in the Atkinson and Hortense areas. The fact that the Hortense and Waynesville VFD departments have substations within 5 miles of each other will also allow for special automatic aid agreements to be put in place that will help lower both departments ISO ratings.

All of these efforts and investments made via the fire tax funds collected by the County, will provide lower ISO ratings to virtually all of the residents in County. Residents in the Atkinson, Raybon and Hickox areas have already reported lower hazard insurance premiums for their homes. If you haven't checked with your insurance carrier, it might be a good idea to put them on notice that improvements are possible in place or at least forthcoming.

Waynesville Substation on Central Browntown Road‏

The Waynesville Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) substation in the central portion of Browntown Road on property donated by Eddie Hunter is coming along nicely. The outer shell of the building is complete. The electrical, concrete apron and fixtures inside will be installed in the coming weeks.

The completion of this station will help residents in this area, as well as those residents near the original Browntown station. Once the central Browntown Road station is complete and inspected, the fact that it is within 5 miles of the Waynesville Main Station will allow the ISO rating of the central Browntown Station to be lowered. With that central Browntown station being located within 5 miles of the original Browntown station north of 32, this will allow the ISO rating to be lowered at that station as well.

This will potentially provide lower ISO ratings to virtually all of the residents on the east side of the river in the Waynesville VFD District. Residents in the Atkinson area have already reported lower hazard insurance premiums for their homes. If you haven't checked with your insurance carrier, it might be a good idea to put them on notice that improvements are possible in place or at least forthcoming.

Brantley County July 2011 Commission Meeting

In the regular meeting of the Brantley County Commission, the team approved the minutes of the June 2011 meeting and dove straight into the regular agenda. Since the work session had been cancelled due to the July 4th holiday, there was no consent agenda.

The first item on the agenda was Krista Hale who wanted to discuss animal control inside the city of Nahunta. She lives in the Nahunta Housing Subdivision and is concerned about there being so many stray dogs in the neighborhood. Her young son is terrified of dogs and has a disability that causes her great concern. The Commission explained that this topic has been discussed many times in the past. The challenge is that when the County gets involved, the clock would start clicking on these animals the day they would get picked up. If they weren’t adopted, the process does not end well. The cost of the process puts it out of reach for the County at the moment. It was suggested that she reach out to Max’s Animal Rescue in Hoboken or the newly formed BARC team that is now meeting in Nahunta. Both are private efforts that are under way to deal with stray dogs and cats.

The County Manager presented an updated copy of the Saddle Club agreement that has the changes that were discussed in the last meeting. They were minor changes. The Commission approved the new lease unanimously. The Saddle Club is working to migrate their corporation back to a non-profit. The County will work with Loren Lane and their team to bring this to closure.

Next Carey Lamb, Chief Tax Appraiser, came to the Commission to discuss the Homestead Tax local legislation that the Commission enacted some time back. The TA came asking for clarification. For those people who have businesses in their homes, the TA was asking how the homestead tax exemption language should be interpreted and was asking if the Commission could clarify the language. The existing exemption is framed in local legislation so it was approved by the State legislature and the language cannot be modified. During the discussion, the Commission all agreed that the “intent” of the legislation was to freeze home values for local homeowners who had filed homestead. There was no discussion about homes with commercial enterprises in them. The County attorney will search OCGA 48-5-40 to see if there is any help in clarifying the homestead definition. The TA will research counties around us that are believed to have the same legislation that Brantley has to see how they interpret these situations. One alternative is to replace the current local language with a more straight forward “home stead tax credit” that would be a straight dollar deduction set annually by the Commission that would be used to reduce the taxable value of homestead property. This would eliminate all of the interpretation about property values and property usage and provide a clearer more manageable credit process. More discussions are scheduled for meetings this year. Nothing can be done until the legislature meets next January.

The Commission next approved the move of the Hoboken voting precinct from the current little grey building next to City Hall to the newly constructed Hoboken Community Center down Raybon Rock Road opposite the Hoboken Elementary School. The Commission also approved $27,000 for the construction of office space for the Voter’s Registrar at the St. Illa motel. This will create about 1,380 square feet of office space at just under $20 per square foot, which is a good price. These funds will all come from budget funds for construction at the St. Illa or unused capital outlay funds from the courthouse. Mrs. Christine is in need of more space and more parking for early voting and the associated equipment needed for same. All of this is available at the new location. Since the move will have to be registered with and approved by State and Federal Agencies, the process has to get under way while she is in between elections.

The County approved a resolution adopting the FAA flight approach restrictions for buildings in the general flight plan and approach for the new Lulaton Airport.
The Commission also approved the annual contracts for the Satilla Community Services Annual Contracts for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Services for Inmates at the County jail.

The Commission had three appointments to the planning commission for positions coming up in August 2011. The Commission voted to replace Gary Johns who has to come off as he’s served two consecutive terms with Mark White. They reappointed Jamie O’Steen who will be starting his second consecutive term and will have to come off on the next rotation. Joe Dixon who has to come off for the same reason in the by-laws will be replaced in the August meeting after conferring with the Planning Commission.

The County Manager gave his update. The Waynesville Road project is complete with the final bills being processed and DOT reimbursement funds are also being processed. Buster Walker and Mt. Calvary Road have had the clay installed and both contractors for each are waiting on the GaDOT testing labs to report back with the percentage of soil cement that will need to be used to mix the concrete as the base layer on the roads. Then the surface treatment can be installed with grassing and striping which will complete the projects. The roads are also getting asphalt installed at critical intersections where large trucks and high volumes of traffic will be twisting and turning. The first projects that the County completed showed that problems could arise in these areas. So to be proactive, these areas received asphalt. For the same reason (extensive school bus traffic), the entire section in front of the Upper Elementary School in Atkinson was installed with asphalt.
Speaking of Atkinson Upper Elementary, the new School Crossing Lights have been installed on Highway 110. The OREMC representatives working on the project have filed for the GaDOT permits to install the electrical lines on GaDOT right of way. Once this is approved, the lines will be installed and this project will be complete. The Commission worked hard with local and State agencies to ensure that these lights were installed prior to the next school year starting in August and it appears that this objective can easily be met.

The County Manager explained that the DNR permit comment period for the Atkinson Boat Ramp project will end Friday July 8th. The County will then be able to move forward with the construction of the boat ramp. The Commission has polled and will continue to poll multiple contractors that the DNR has approved to work on this project. The best proposal received to date is approximately $27,500, with the County completing some items to keep the costs down. The Commission approved the County Manager and Chairman to move forward with this proposal if none better can be found once the County is ready to move forward. The goal is to get the boat ramp in while the river is down and prior to October, which is the deadline for the grant funds to be dispersed. An extension is possible, but the river will rise in the fall so the County has to get to work

The County Manager explained that the County had “heard through the grapevine” that the Waynesville Nature Trail Grant would be awarded to the County, but no formal notice has been received. No progress can be made on that project until October 2011 anyway, due to restrictions on the grant process. Commissioner Edgy was going to see if he could get something formal on the grant award, as he’s been working on this heavily from the start.

The County approved a letter to be issued allowing the release of E911 addresses and their associated GIS data. The County’s E911 database was established as a “private database”, according to 911 Addressing Committee Chairman Billy Lee. He explained to the Commission that if a letter were drafted to the consultants that assisted with the addressing, they could distribute the County's E911 addresses and their associated GIS data to Internet search engines and navigation companies. This will allow Brantley County addresses to show up on “Google Searches” and “Tom Tom” style navigational systems. A letter will be provided and a time line for distribution will be requested.

The formal SPLOST referendum was presented by the County Attorney. The language was consistent with the motion approved earlier by the Board. The County Manager and Clerk had worked with the County Attorney to draft the resolution that will, when approved, provide $4.2 million dollars to build and pave more roads, $800,000 for Recreation and $3 million to continue to make the payments on the new $8.5 million jail which carries a payment of $162,000 per quarter or $648,000 per year. Were the SPLOST to not pass, the local budget would have to be increased by $648,000 per year or approximately 2.4 mills to make jail payments. So let’s keep those sales tax dollars in use.

The Commission discussed the jail water bill which was rumored to have topped $8,000 last month. A letter was delivered to the City of Nahunta Mayor and Council members explaining a compromise that the County would like for the City of Nahunta to entertain. Since the City has performance issues with the sewage treatment facility, the County is offering to install its own septic tank and purchase water from the City at a predetermined per gallon rate. This would allow the City to be compensated for their treatment expenses to the water and allow for some revenue from the County, but the County would no longer pay for sewer services as they would have their own septic system. At the going rate, the payback on the cost of a septic system for the jail would be reached in a few months. The County Manager was asked to reach out to the City Clerk to check the status on this discussion. The Chairman had talked previously with the Mayor and another Council Member who supported the initiative. Hopefully an agreement can be reached that is beneficial for everyone.