Commissioners have productive retreat
Published 8:00 am Thursday, August 14, 2014
The Greene County Board of Commissioners discussed a number of items at a July 22 retreat—the first offsite retreat since January 2013.
While taking place at Reynolds Landing, the meeting was open to the public and advertised as legally required. Additionally, the meeting notice was sent to the Herald Journal, Lake Oconee News, DOCK 103.9, and a distribution list of citizens that have given their email addresses at previous County meetings.
The only items acted on by the commissioners were unanimously approved, including the adoption of a new organizational chart, the purchase of three new patrol cars for the Sheriff, and entering into a contract for Hug & Associates to be the architect for the new Greene County Economic Development Building & Visitor’s Center. There was no need for an executive session.
Most of the retreat was spent informally discussing ongoing issues to reach a consensus of the commissioners and give further direction to county staff and the county attorney.
Citing the high number of personal care homes and similar facilities in Greene County and a concern for life safety of the residents, the commissioners generally agreed that the county’s zoning ordinance needs to be changed to better regulate personal care homes and similar facilities via the county’s enforcement of the fire safety codes.
County Attorney Donald Cronin then brought the commissioners up-to-speed on the hospital’s request for more indigent care funding. The county proposed a contract to the hospital in fall 2013 concerning indigent care funding, but the hospital’s counter offer only came in about a month ago. The two sides are far apart, but the commissioners opted to have the county attorney minimally change the county’s original contract and send it to the hospital as a best and final offer. The county attorney advised that no payments for this year or next be made by the county until a contract is in place.
The commissioners also noted that there are other areas of the County Code of Ordinances in need of revision, and County staff advised the Commissioners that such changes are already being worked on and will be available for the Board’s consideration soon.
County Manager Byron Lombard updated the commissioners on his evaluation of the fiscal year 2015 budget and that a large portion of the tax digest is under appeal — making it hard to finalize the budget and move forward. Regardless, the budget and adoption of the millage rates will have to be done by September 30.
Lombard also gave the commissioners updates on each of the SPLOST projects recently approved by the board. He noted that the lowest bid for the resurfacing project came in roughly $250,000 below normal due to the contractor E.R. Snell already being in the area for other projects.
Finally, the commissioners agreed that the signalization of state Route 44 and Carey Station Road was very important. The Chairman agreed to send letters to all relevant elected officials and DOT officials to encourage the speedy approval of the traffic light.