Cassandra Mikell led the public comments portion of the Bulloch County Board of Commissions meeting on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. Mikell spoke in opposition to the recently proposed clear bag policy which would affect local Splash in the Boro park-goers. Likewise, Lawton Sack voiced opposition to the clear bag policy as well. He stood in support of Mikell, agreeing that the policy would be unnecessary and burdensome.
Bulloch County Recreation and Parks Director, Eddie Canon, expressed that all of the opposing view shared were appreciated. Canon and his team will be pausing and revisiting the clear bag policy to see what other measures may be available for water-park safety at this time.
Additionally, four local scouts from the Bulloch County Boy Scouts 935 troop attended Tuesday night's BOC meeting. The four scouts were Westin Skrak, Evan Taromina, Richard Newell, Grayson Oglesby. They were accompanied tonight by troop parent, Judith Oglesby.
Senior troop patrol leader, Taromina, stated that in order for the troop to receive their merit badges, they must attend a local municipal meeting. Taromina further stated that "we are very thankful we get to sit in on these meetings and learn more about our community and how we can become more productive citizens in the future".
ALL APPROVED - CONSENT AGENDA
1. Minutes Approval: Tuesday January 31st, 2023 10:00 AM
2. Minutes Approval: Tuesday February 7th, 2023 05:30 PM
3. Minutes Approval: Tuesday February 21st, 2023 08:30 AM
4. Motion to approve Neal's Plumbing & Electric to replace the plumbing in the BCCI dorm bathrooms for
$64,000.
This project is to replace all plumbing inside of each dorm located in the bathroom area of BCCI. The current copper piping is corroded and very difficult to repair. This replacement will lessen the chance of service issues in this critical area. Several contractors were contacted for price quotes on this project. Neal’s Plumbing & Electric, Inc. was the only contactor to respond with a quote. The other contractors were not interested in the job, they did not want to have to follow the prison’s rules about having their tools inventoried.
5. Amendment to the budgets for Fiscal Year 2023 by appropriating amounts in some funds for various activities.
Staff is requesting a mid-year budget amendment to appropriate monies needed for various operational and capital activities which are needed to complete organizational objectives. Adjustments are necessary to modify budgets at the legal level of control per O.C.G.A. Chapter 36, as only the Commission has the
authority to change spending levels. Though O.C.G.A only requires an amendment for over-expenditures, Staff is also recommending increases to some estimated revenues due to revenue sources that became available during the year.
6. Easement to Georgia Power Company in Consideration for $935.00
Georgia Power Company has requested Bulloch County to execute the attached easement and, as indicated in the attached offer letter, has offered to pay Bulloch County $935.00 as the fair market value of the easement. This easement is on the property where the Clito fire station is located. Public Safety Director Ted Wynn and Fire Chief Ben Tapley have both looked at the easement and see no problem with it. Georgia Power is requesting the easement as part of a project to rebuild the existing Deal Branch - Sylvania 115kV Transmission Line (Clito Tap).
7. Purchase new management and reporting software from First Due in the amount of $27,650 for the Bulloch County Fire Department.
After reviewing each product, it has been determined that First Due is best suited to manage our department moving forward. It provides the tools we are looking for to manage all aspects of the fire department with easy to use tabs that improve mobility inside of the software. The alert module that can be used by all firefighters, career and volunteer will show the firefighters point to point directions, and give the pre-incident plan information to them as well. It displays AVL positions for other units to track. Currently, the firefighters are being alerted by eDispatch costing Bulloch County $4,440 a year. This service could be canceled once First Due is purchased and online.
8. Purchase of Grapple Truck from Solid Waste Applied Technologies, Inc. in the Amount of $278,950.00.
Price includes all parts, delivery and warranty. SWAT was lowest bidder. Sourcewell Contract #040621-HMC.
NEW BUSINESS
APPROVED - Approve and Ratify an Economic Development Agreement by and among the Development Authority of Bulloch County and Joon Georgia, Inc.
The Development Authority has entered into the attached Economic Development Agreement with Joon Georgia, Inc. regarding a project in Bulloch County. The Development Authority and Joon Georgia, Inc. are the parties to the Agreement, but the Board of Commissioners and Board of Tax Assessors have been
requested to acknowledge the Agreement and agree to applicable provisions. You will recall that the Board of Commissioners and the Board of Assessors previously approved a Memorandum of Understanding related to this project in December of 2022. In order to meet the closing deadline for the bonds, it was necessary to execute the Agreement prior to this meeting.
APPROVED - Discussion and/or Action to Change Road Name from Siggers Road to Nadine Way
The attached petition has been submitted requesting that the Board of Commissioners change the name of Siggers Road to Nadine Way. Section 4-78(g) of the Code of Ordinances provides that upon receipt of a petition requesting the change of an existing road name containing the signatures of the owners of not less than 75 percent of the parcels of property abutting the road, the Board of Commissioners shall take under consideration but be under no compulsion to grant the request. The attached petition meets the 75% threshold and has been signed by the owners of all abutting parcels except one. The one abutting parcel for whom a signature has not been obtained is not addressed to Siggers Road and, therefore, changing the name of the road to Nadine Way would not require a change of address for this parcel. This is a private road, and the name change has been requested by the family living on the road to honor a family member.
APPROVED - Approve Change Order in the amount of $42,232.00 to Lavender & Associates, Inc. for additional work on the North Main Annex renovation/addition project.
The original contract for the North Main Annex renovation/addition is $1,867,038.00 and the project was awarded to Lavender and Associates on September 19, 2022, with construction beginning on November 12, 2022. Once construction began, staff realized the existing stairs at the Building and Zoning entrance where the new handicapped ramp will be located has a need for improvement. Once the flooring was removed in the foyer inside the door, it still left a 3-4 inch incline from outside the door and thru it. Since this will be the ADA entrance that was determined to be an excessive amount. Also, the current stairs are steep and are not code compliant, and the current handrails are rusting and are not up to code. After seeing all the issues with the current stairs, the staff asked the contractor to provide a cost for updating the stairs by raising the top landing to be more wheelchair accessible and building the steps to be more code compliant. Also, while making those changes, further additions for compliance will be needed, such as installing new handrails on each side of the stairs. We believe this will make for a safer access as this will be the main access into the building.
Also, included in this change order is some additional new floor covering. There would be only two short sections of hall that would not have the new LVP flooring once the renovation is complete. They are the short hall located at the current conference room and the hall outside the HR Department. These sections of hallway have a relatively high amount of traffic due to the HR Department. Also, since we are proposing upgrading the flooring in that hall, it was determined that the HR Department should be upgraded to the new flooring at the same time.
The total price for the change order is $42,232. 00, which would bring the total contract price to $1,909,270.00.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Cassandra Mikell and Lawton Sack spoke against Splash in the Boro clear bag policy.
CLICK HERE for full agenda and supporting documents
Live stream of full meeting
