EXTRAORDINARY SESSION
The
Board of Commissioners of Spalding County, Georgia, held their extraordinary
session on Tuesday, January 18, 2000 in their office in the Courthouse Annex in
the City of Griffin, Spalding County, Georgia, beginning at 6:00 o’clock p.m.
with Commissioners Earle Childres, Martha McDaniel, Merrill Massengale, Johnie
McDaniel and Michael Kendall present. Also present were County Manager Mike
Ruffin, Deputy County Manager William Wilson, County Attorney Jim Fortune and
Executive Secretary Phyllis Doane.
I.
OPENING
(CALL TO ORDER) – Chairman Childres
II.
INVOCATION
- Rev. Randy Valimont
IV.
PRESENTATIONS/PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITION
VI.
PUBLIC
COMMENT
1.
Mr. James
Kay, 116 Kay Road, stated that he did not have too high esteem about some of
the actions of the Board and feels like that some of the members of the Board
should apologize to the people of the community for some of their actions. He
said that the Board had not acted in the best interest of the community in
making some of their decisions. He said
some people sitting on this Board had tried to deny him the right to be at
meetings, but he had the right to be here.
2.
Mr. Horace
S. Kelley, Jr., 153 Dunlap Circle, spoke on planning. He attended the Chamber of Commerce Community Relations
Governmental Affairs a couple of weeks ago and Mr. Chaffin introduced the new
City Planner and the conversation was about the plan that the City is
implementing and going forward on. He
said that he had concerns that the County is not participating in this future
plan and stated that he would like to see the County Commission work with the
City Commission on an organize plan for the entire community.
3.
Mr. Allan
McCallum, 2831 Williamson Road, spoke about enhancing the 911 systems for
Spalding County with the EMD Program.
He said that he was shocked to find out that we did not have an enhanced
911 system with our County being as big as it is. He said that the County should implement the EMD Program
regardless of the cost. He asked the
Board to implement this EMD Program.
Mr. McCallum was told that the 911 systems is enhanced already and has
been for nine (9) years.
4.
Mr. Zachary
Holmes, 357 Moreland Road, asked that the County do a better job in Public
Relations. He said that he did not
think that the people were really educated in some of the things the County has
done with the SPLOST money. He
mentioned the ad that has been running in the Griffin Daily News showing
what has been done with this money. The
public needs to hear how the money is being spent.
1. Consider approval of the minutes of
Regular Meeting of January 3, 2000 and also Closed Meeting of December 21,
1999. Upon motion by Commissioner Childres, seconded by Commissioner Johnie
McDaniel the minutes were unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.
Commissioner
Kendall made a motion at this time to amend the agenda to move Items 1 and 2
under New Business in front of Items 4 and 5 under the Old Business. Commissioner Massengale seconded the motion
and motion was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.
1.
Consider
approval of Financial Statements for the Six Months Ended December 31,
1999. Ms. Jinna Garrison was present to
answer any questions the Board might have.
Upon motion by Commissioner Childres, seconded by Commissioner Martha
McDaniel Financial Statements were unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.
2. Consideration of request from State Court. The request is to pay a Judge and Solicitor
Pro Tem to try the State v Belinda D. Holcomb case that will take approximately
one (1) week. Judge Tim Cramer
addressed the Commissioners regarding this.
He said this was an old case and needed to be tried. He said that he could try this case but
would not be able to try any other cases on the calendar. Judge Cramer suggested that he could hear
civil cases this week and let the Solicitor prosecute this case before a Senior
Judge. This would allow us to have only
one jury pull for both courts going on.
Motion made by Commissioner Kendall that the County hire Judge Whalen, if available, or some other Senior Judge at the state rate per diem to try this criminal case and Judge Cramer will assign Mr. Trey Howell, Solicitor to prosecute this case and Judge Cramer will prosecute civil cases. Commissioner Martha McDaniel seconded the motion and motion was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.
3. Consider budget for the implementation of
Emergency Medical Dispatch Service of 911.
Ms. Trudy McDevitt was present to discuss this.
Commissioner
Martha McDaniel said that she felt like that we were trying to “put the cart
before the horse”. She said that she
would feel uncomfortable handling the situation this way because Ms. McDevitt
needs more time to take care of and initiate what you need to do. Ms. McDaniel said that she was more
interested in Pike County having “911” at this particular time and partnering
with us which is a great concern about 911 counties around the state. She said this is a good program but we are
going at it the wrong way. She said
that she felt like Ms. McDevitt should come back after she has a plan to
implement this program in the best way.
Ms. McDevitt stated she was not against implementing this program but it needed to be done slowly and there needed to be a plan to implement this program. She said that she had four (4) new employees that were in training trying to learn the present system. She said that the dispatchers want this and she wants this for them but they feel the most uncomfortable with is doing CPR over the phone. All her dispatchers would need CPR training first before training to learn the cards, which have to be read verbatim. Ms. McDevitt said that she was not against this but just needed some time to do it.
Commissioner
Massengale suggested that Ms. McDevitt have one EMD certified person per shift
to start with. Ms. McDevitt stated that
would be a possible way to start this program slowly. Mr. Massengale asked Ms. McDevitt what was her plan. She said first of all to get Dr. Webb to
support her in this program, seconded is the CPR training by EMS and then send
training director to a “train the trainer program”. Ms. McDevitt said she felt like it would take at least one (1)
year to get everyone trained.
Commissioner Kendall asked Ms. McDevitt to commit her plans to paper in her time frame and bring back at the February 21, 2000 meeting. Commissioner Massengale and the rest of the Board agreed to his recommendation.
4. Consider full-time State Court Judge. Judge Tim Cramer also addressed this. Chairman Kendall stated that we were at the
crossroads; either do now for wait four (4) years. The cost in salaries alone for State Court would increase from
$124,133.10 to $296,912.87 with Solicitor still being part-time. This is an increase of $172,779.77. The salary for State Court Judge would
increase from $37,008 per year to $105,171 per year. Mr. Kendall stated that the way the caseload is going he feels
that we should get in front of the bottleneck.
Judge Cramer was asked if he feels that we need to have a full-time
State Court and he answered yes. Judge
Cramer stated that bench trials are backlogged for several months on the
calendar. He said if you want to have a
good court for the people, then it is time to have a full-time State
Court. He said that he would run for
the seat of full-time State Court Judge as he likes the Court and he likes
Spalding County. He also said that the
State Court would pay for itself. It
was also noted that there would have to be a full-time Solicitor as well;
however, the Solicitor seat could not be made full-time until his present term
has expired in year 2002. Mr. Kendall
commented that we would probably have to enhance the salary to hire on a
part-time basis to help out the Solicitor for the next two (2) years where the
judge can have a full-time State Court.
After a lengthy discussion motion was made by Commissioner Kendall to have legislative council to introduce a local bill to change from part-time State Court to full-time State Court. Commissioner Massengale seconded the motion and motion was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.
5. Set qualifying fees for the upcoming General
Primary and General Election. Upon
motion by Commissioner Martha McDaniel, seconded by Commissioner Childres
unanimous approval was given to set the fees as follows:
Office Salary
QualifyingFee
County Commissioner
$10,350 $ 310.50
Probate Judge
$41,737
$
1,252.11
Clerk, Superior Court
$46,398
$
1,391.94
Tax Commissioner
$45,567
$
1,367.01
Sheriff
$58,084
$
1,742.52
Judge, State Court $37,000
$
1,110.00
Coroner
$10,000
$ 300.00
Chief Magistrate
$38,221
$
1,146.63
Member, Board of Education $
4,200
$
126.00
6. Consider request from Tax
Commissioner. Ms. Sylvia Hollums was
present to address her request which is to take her two (2) vacant part-time
Office Assistant positions and hire a one (1) full-time position Tax/Tag Clerk
I to work in the tag office. She said
that she had sufficient funds in her salary portion of her budget to cover the
cost for the remainder of the fiscal year. There will be an additional cost of
$3200 in next year’s budget.
Motion made by Commissioner Martha McDaniel to approve her request. Commissioner Childres seconded the motion and motion was unanimously approved by a vote of 5-0.
7. Consider appointments to Boards,
Authorities and Commissions for January 1, 2000.
Chairman
Kendall stated that we had a book full of nominations. Commissioner Martha McDaniel asked to make a
comment before appointments were made.
She commented that the Board had asked for volunteers from the community
to come forward for these appointments and we indeed had some people who did
this. She said that she had included all
these people as citizen volunteers in the nomination book. Chairman Kendall stated since all the
nominations were made the same date, he would call their names out
alphabetically and the procedure will be the first two that gets three votes
will be the appointee.
BOARD APPOINTMENTS
FOR TERMS BEGINNING 1-1-00
A. APPOINTMENTS
BY THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS:
1.
Spalding County Board of Tax Assessors
a.
To succeed H. Edward Beall, Six-year term to expire 12-31-05
b. To succeed
Timothy J. Whalen, Six-year term to expire 12-31-05
Chairman Kendall stated that Commissioner Massengale
nominated Mr. Ed Beall and Mr. Tim Whalen.
Commissioner Martha McDaniel nominated John Noel, a community
volunteer. He said that we have three
(3) nominations and two (2) seats. Mr.
Beall received three votes (Kendall, Johnie McDaniel and Massengale), Mr. Noel
received two votes (Martha McDaniel and Childres. Mr. Whalen received five votes (all commissioners). Mr. Beall and Mr. Whalen were reappointed to
these two seats.
2. Spalding
County Library Board of Trustees
b.
To succeed
Virginia Shapard, Four-year term to expire 12-31-03
Commissioner
Martha McDaniel nominated William S. McDaniel.
Commissioner Massengale nominated Nora LaSalle Sackett and Lisa H.
Kelley. Commissioner Johnie McDaniel
nominated Belton Plowden. Chairman
Kendall stated that we had four (4) nominations and two (2) seats. Mr. Plowden received one vote (Johnie
McDaniel). Ms. Kelley received one vote
(Massengale). Mr. McDaniel received
three votes (Kendall, Childres & Martha McDaniel). Ms. Sackett received five votes (all
commissioners). Mr. William S.
McDaniel and Ms. Nora LaSalle Sackett were appointed to these two seats.
3. Spalding
County Board of Zoning Appeals
a.
Post 3 to
succeed Keith Dryden, Three-year term to expire 12-31-02
4. Spalding
County Personnel Appeals Board
a.
To succeed
Sherry Maddock, Three-year term to expire 12-31-02
b.
To succeed
Wayne A. Smith., Three-year term to expire 12-31-02
Chairman Kendall stated that we have two seats and two nominations. Commissioner Massengale nominated Wayne Smith and Commissioner Martha McDaniel nominated Mrs. Mate W. Youngblood, a citizen volunteer. Both received unanimous approval from the Board.
5. Griffin-Spalding
County Hospital Authority (Health Care Commission)
a.
To succeed
J. Henry Walker, Four-year term to expire 12-31-03
Chairman
Kendall stated that we had two nominations in the book and only one seat. Commissioner Martha McDaniel nominated Mr.
J. Henry Walker and Commissioner Massengale nominated Horace S. Kelley, Jr. Commissioner Massengale withdrew his
nomination of Mr. Kelley. Mr. J.
Henry Walker received unanimous approval by the Board for reappointment to this
seat.
6. Griffin-Spalding
County Development Authority
a.
To succeed
Ray Dender, Three-year term to expire 12-31-02
b. To succeed Rosa Lee Stewart, Three-year
term to expire 12-31-02
Chairman Kendall stated that we had two
nominations and two seats. Commissioner
Massengale nominated Ray Dender and Rosa Lee Stewart for reappointment. He called for a vote to accept these two
appointments and the Board gave unanimous approval. Ray Dender and Rosa Lee Stewart were reappointed to
these seats.
7. Butts,Henry,Lamar
& Spalding County Development Authority
a.
To
succeed Phil Shaw, Three-year term to expire 12-31-02 – This appointment was
tabled upon motion by Commissioner Martha McDaniel, seconded by Commissioner
Massengale and unanimously approved until recommendation is received from
Griffin-Spalding Development Authority.
8. Griffin-Spalding
County Airport Commission
a.
To succeed
Ivan Taylor, Three-year term to expire 12-31-02
b.
Joint
appointment to succeed Steve Woodall, Three-year term to expire 12-31-02
Chairman Kendall stated that we had three
nominations and two seats to fill.
Commissioner Martha McDaniel nominated Mr. Neal Herl, a citizen
volunteer. Commissioner Massengale
nominated Fred Gordon, a citizen volunteer and Ivan Taylor. Chairman Kendall called for the votes. Mr. Gordon received four votes (Kendall,
Massengale, Childres and Johnie McDaniel).
Mr. Herl received two votes (Martha McDaniel and Earl Childres. Mr. Taylor received three votes (Massengale,
Kendall and Johnie McDaniel). Ivan
Taylor was reappointed to his seat and the Joint appointment was given to Fred
Gordon.
9. Spalding County Board of Health
10. Community
Service Board for Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse
a.
To succeed
Jeannie Mullins, Two-year term to expire 06-30-01
This appointment has to come from a recommendation from the Board of Health. Motion made by Commissioner Childres to table until 2/7/00, seconded by Commissioner Massengale and unanimously approved.
11.Regional Mental Health,
Mental Retardation & Substance Abuse Board
a.
A
Three-year term to expire 7-31-02 – Tabled upon motion by Chairman Kendall,
seconded by Commissioner Childres and approved by a vote of 4-0-1 (Commissioner
Martha McDaniel was out of the room at the time of the vote).
12.
Spalding
County Water & Sewerage Facilities Authority
a.
To succeed
Fred Edwards, III, Six-year term to expire 12-31-05
b.
To succeed
Robert McIntyre, Six-year term to expire 12-31-05
c.
To succeed
Bennie Owens, Six-year term to expire 12-31-05
Chairman Kendall stated that there were
three seats to fill and we have three nominations. Commissioner Massengale nominated the reappointment of Fred
Edwards and Robert McIntyre and the appointment of Ed L. Cole. Bennie Owens did not seek reappointment to
this seat. Unanimous approval was given
by the Board for these nominations.
13. Jail Population Management Task Force
a.
A Six-year term
to expire 12-31-05 (seat of Loretta Johnson)
b.
To succeed
Chester Milner, Six-year term to expire 12-31-05
Chairman Kendall stated that we had two
seats to fill and only one nomination.
Commissioner Massengale nominated the reappointment of Chester Milner. Mr. Milner received unanimous approval by
the Board. Upon motion by Commissioner Kendall, seconded by Commissioner
Martha McDaniel the other appointment was tabled at this time.
14. Board
of Appeals & Adjustments Unsafe Building Abatement Code
a.
To succeed
Charles Penny, Four-year term to expire 12-31-02 – This seat was erroneously
placed on the list as Mr. Penny was reappointed in 1999.
15.Keep Griffin/Spalding Beautiful, Inc.
a.
To succeed
Riley Fenley, Two-year term to expire 12-31-01
b.
To succeed
Penny Hunter, Two-term to expire 12-31-01
c.
To succeed
John Ballard, Two-term to expire 12-31-01
d.
To succeed
Kim Slaughter (Sunny Side Rep.) Two-term to expire 12-31-01
e.
To succeed
Paula Kelly , Two-term to expire 12-31-01
f.
To succeed
Gary Reid, Two-term to expire 12-31-01
g.
To succeed
Louise Tipton, Two-term to expire 12-31-01
h.
An Orchard
Hill Representative, Two-term to expire 12-31-01
Chairman Kendall stated that there was only two nominees in the book for these seats and they were John Ballard and Louise Tipton nominated by Commissioner Massengale. None of the other members had contacted the office to state their desire to serve or not serve again. It was also noted that the Orchard Hill representative and the Sunny Side representative nominations would have to come from their respective councils.
Upon motion by Commissioner Childres,
seconded by Commissioner Massengale and unanimously approved John Ballard
and Louise Tipton were reappointed and the other four seats were tabled
until Ms. Doane can contact these individuals and see if they wish to serve
another term.
16. Community
Relations Council
a.
To succeed
Fred Edwards, III, One-year term to expire 12-31-00
b.
To succeed
Emma Jean Foster, One-year term to expire 12-31-00
c.
To
succeed Ruth Daniel, One-year term to
expire 12-31-00
d.
To succeed
Andrea Mathews, One-year term to expire 12-31-00
e. To succeed Horace S. “Bud” Kelley,
One-year Term to expire 12-31-00
Chairman Kendall stated that there were
only two nominations in the book and these were Fred Edwards and Horace S.
“Bud” Kelley nominated by Commissioner Massengale. Upon motion by Commissioner Martha McDaniel, seconded by
Commissioner Childres and unanimously approved, Fred Edwards and Horace
S. Kelley were appointed and the other three appointments were tabled until
individuals can be contacted to see if they wish to serve another term.
17.Local Law Enforcement
Block Grant Advisory Commission
a.
Bill
McBroom (Prosecutor’s Office), One-year term to expire 12-31-00
b.
Fred Roney
(Court System), One-year term to expire 12-31-00
c.
Tootsie
Powers (School System), One-year term to expire 12-31-00
d.
Marvin
Brooks (Private Sector), One-year term to expire 12-31-00
The four above names were in the
nomination book nominated by Commissioner Massengale. Upon motion by Commissioner Kendall, seconded by Commissioner
Childres the four above individuals were reappointed by a unanimous vote.
18.
Board of Directors, McIntosh Trail Regional Development Commission
(County’s year to appoint)
a.
To succeed
Chris Piland, non-elected citizens appointee
b.
To succeed
Leola Hill (Minority Representative (elected or appointed or private citizen)
c.
To succeed
Frank Thomas – Additional Appointment (for counties with a population exceeding
25,000)
Chairman Kendall stated that there were
only two nominations in the nomination book.
They were Chris Piland and Frank Thomas nominated by Commissioner
Massengale. Upon motion by
Commissioner Kendall, seconded by Commissioner Johnie McDaniel Mr. Piland
and Mr. Thomas were reappointed by a unanimous vote.
Motion made by Commissioner Kendall to
table the seat held by Leola Hill until she can be contacted to see if she
wishes to serve another term. Motion
seconded by Commissioner Childres and unanimously approved.
19. Griffin-Spalding Area Transportation
Planning Coordinating Committee
a. To succeed Bill
Westmoreland, One-year term to expire 12-31-00
b. To succeed Dr.
William Nesbitt, One-year term to expire 12-31-00
Chairman
Kendall stated that we have two seats to fill and there are three
nominations. Commissioner Martha
McDaniel nominated Bill Westmoreland and Commissioner Massengale nominated Dr.
William Nesbitt and Allan McCallum.
Chairman Kendall called for the votes.
Allan McCallum received one vote (Commissioner Massengale). Dr. William Nesbitt received five votes (all
commissioners) and Bill Westmoreland received four votes (all but Commissioner
Massengale). Mr. Bill
Westmoreland and Dr. William Nesbitt were
reappointed to these seats.
Commissioner
Massengale asked the Chairman to call for a five (5) minute recess and he did
so.
Chairman
Kendall called the meeting back to order.
B. COMMISSIONERS AS MEMBERS OF APPOINTED
BOARDS: All One-Year Terms
1. Griffin-Spalding
County Health Care Commission
Ex-officio, to succeed Martha McDaniel –
Chairman Kendall reappointed Commissioner Martha McDaniel
2. Griffin-Spalding County Development Authority
Chairman or designee voting
member, to succeed Martha McDaniel - Chairman Kendall reappointed
Commissioner Martha McDaniel
3. Spalding
County Parks and Recreation Commission
Ex-officio,
to succeed Merrill Massengale -
Chairman Kendall appointed Commissioner Johnie McDaniel
4. Griffin-Spalding
County Airport Commission
Ex-officio,
to succeed Mike Kendall – Chairman Kendall appointed Commissioner Johnie
McDaniel
5. Spalding
County Board of Health
Chairman
or designee voting member, to succeed Earle Childres – Chairman Kendall
appointed himself
6. Spalding
County Water & Sewerage Facilities Authority
Chairman
or designee, to succeed Earle Childres – Chairman Kendall reappointed
Commissioner Childres
7. Board
of Directors, McIntosh Trail Regional Development Commission
Chairman,
voting member, to succeed Merrill Massengale – Chairman Kendall reappointed
Commissioner Massengale
8.
Downtown Council-Main Street
Advisory Board
Voting
member, to succeed Martha McDaniel - Chairman Kendall reappointed
Commissioner Martha McDaniel