Commission - Regular Meeting

10th meeting to order. Please, if you'll stand up with the invocation and pledge of allegiance, if you'll bow your heads, the father, thank you for this opportunity to come and serve the Brian County residents, Lord. And as we make decisions tonight, uh just be with us as we make those decisions to please all the folks here tonight in our community as we continue to oversee our community, Lord, and just uh be with our first responders and firefighters as they continue uh to do their job to protect us, Lord, and our military also in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

You may join me in the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We want to thank everybody for being here. Uh we got some elected folks here. Uh we got Mayor Christy Cox, uh Cindia Tala in the city, Steve Scholar in the city. Any other elected folks here? I don't see any. And I would like to recognize actually my wife. She uh I don't think she's been to a meeting. So guys, when you think your wife goes, "Where y'all been? Where you been at night?" Well, I'm here. So, thank you for coming. She rushed up here. So, I I don't know. I think they said she came when I got sworn in. But we have a special award for her.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, y'all she know Everybody knows where I am at night. Right here. She's home. So, thank you. But anyway, we want to go ahead and approve the agenda. Before that, we're going to make a change to the agenda. I'm going to uh change the Westwind presentation by the attorney and public comments uh right after our consent agenda. So, we need a motion for that. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to amend the agenda to move county attorney items one and two. Just two. Just two. Uhhuh. And public comments. And public comment after the consent agenda. Yes.

Second. Second. And the reason we're doing this, I know a lot of y'all here for West Wind are to hear what's going on in the community. And you're welcome to stay after that, but what we'll do is after we do that, we'll have just a five maybe a fivem minute recess. Again, you're welcome to stay if you want to. Uh it's like watching paint dry. But you know, I appreciate y'all coming and and we do really appreciate y'all coming to our meeting. Uh this is big stuff that's happening in the community. And I think from the previous meetings the last few weeks or last week and this morning I I think every we're all on the same page. So just wanted to kind of reiterate what happened this morning. So with that being said, we had a motion in the second. Uh all in favor say I. I.

Okay. We need the approval for our January 2026 meeting minutes. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we approve uh the minutes of the January 2026 meeting as written. Second. Second. All in favor say I. I. We need the approval of the consent agenda. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor say I.

The motion carries. With that being said, uh Mr. Kapler, our council would come up and do this presentation. Sorry if I messed y'all up. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to again speak concerning the West Wind project that is facing our community. Uh last week, of course, we had a special called meeting where we discussed the alleged environmental contamination, and y'all authorized me unanimously to pursue an investigation into that. This presentation is not my findings on that environmental contamination investigation. That's going to take some time. And so what I do have a presentation though you for all is about the various agencies involved in this process. Which agency does what, how it all works together. And then also I want to talk about the bond inducement resolution. That was really the point of me being on the agenda to talk about this. When this agenda was initially set, that's where we were. Then of course things changed last week when Westwind had its town hall. So first, how does the board of commissioners interact with the development authority and how does the city of Richmond Hill interact with the development authority? That was one of the questions I think the public had about how the process works. So short version is this board the elected board of commissioners appoints the board of the development authority and those directors are appointed for specific terms as provided by state law. One of the members of this board also serves as a director of the development authority and that person right now is Dr. Gene Wallace. Um that's provided by state law as well. uh state law specifically says one member of the

local governing authority can be a member of the board of directors of the development authority. So as it pertains to land use decisions which are often some of the most important decisions that this board makes because land use decisions are often permanent. You know you're making changes to the zoning or uses permitted in land and those things are often very hard to change. But your authority and your jurisdiction to make those land use decisions is limited to the unincorporated Brian County. That means parts of Brian County that are not within the city limits of either Richmond Hill or Pimbrook. The city of Richmond Hill is involved in this process because the property at issue one Caesar Stone Drive is located within the city limits of Richmond Hill. Um, so Richmond Hill in this context has land use decisions related to all property located within its municipal limits. That would mean zoning, that would mean permitting, local permitting, and things of that nature. It's important to recognize that this property, one Caesar Stone Drive, is zoned pursuant to a 2013 PUD. Again, 2013 because it was approved in the year 2013. So, what is the development authority? There's been a lot of talk about the development authority and how it operates and what it does. It's a creature of state law. Uh, the Brian County Development Authority is a statutory development authority. That means its powers are derived from state law and those are codified in OCGA 36626. That's often called economic development. That's what they typically do. That's what they typically call themselves as economic development. What that means is they strive and their purpose is to incentivize industry and business to come to our community for various reasons. Jobs, capital investment, increase of the tax base,

improving infrastructure, things of that nature. That's what it does. And there's often tension between economic development and the community because what is compatible with the community changes, right? What's compatible now may not be compatible in the future and what was compatible in the past may not be compatible now. One thing to also note is that sometimes economic developers or development authorities do operate under NDAs or non-disclosure agreements. Those are authorized by state law, but they're supposed to be for limited purposes. So, a business can provide trade secret information. you know, information about their financials that's not otherwise public. Information about its processes that may not be otherwise public. The reason is is so that we can discuss and see compatibility with the purposes of economic development. But it also important to note those NDAs are not intended nor construed nor enforced to be broad blankets of confidentiality over all processes related to it. That's not what they're supposed to be used for. They're supposed to be very narrow on those limited circumstances. So Westwind project Patriot as it called itself. I think we all know now Westwind is operating a nickel refinery pilot plant in law in Oklahoma. The people in law in Oklahoma put forth considerable resistance to the pilot plant. The local tribes put up considerable resistance and the people themselves unrelated to the tribes put up considerable resistance. Notwithstanding that resistance, the law and economic development authority incentivized Westwind to come there. They incentivized them through a variety of different reasons and ways. Westwind promised jobs, not unlike the jobs they promised our community. They promised capital investment, not unlike the capital investment they promised our

community. And they promised minimum salaries in law was $100,000 uh plus benefits. In exchange for these improvements and these commitments to create these jobs and these other things, the Law and Economic Development Authority granted them up to $3 million in loans that they were intended to pay back through a certain process. They also assisted with infrastructure like construction of of water and sewer facilities and things of that nature that would eventually serve this pilot plant. The intention was, at least according to the public documents, eventually Westwood was going to go from their pilot plant to a full-scale commercial operation. And when that leap occurred, that's when these extra jobs were going to be created. And that's when these additional capital investment was going to be made. But that was very short-lived because as early as February 11th of 2025, Lita, the Law and Economic Development Authority, had already issued a notice of default to Westwind for breaches of their development agreement. And then in July 17th, 2025, Lita issued another default notice claiming they also breached the redevelopment agreement. And you can see on the screen the reasons were Westwind allowed a lean to be recorded against that pilot facility. What that means is the contractor or one of the contractors that was hired to build that plant or provide materials for that plant was not paid and so they recorded a lean against the property. That lean was approximately $1.7 million. Um they've also of course failed to complete the pilot facility as shown in that paragraph and they failed to satisfy the minimum employment obligations. In other words, they didn't deliver the jobs that they had told Lawland they were going to do. And of course we know that because we saw in the town hall Westwin indicated they had 14 jobs at that pilot plant. A far cry

from the the promises that they had made. By September 2025, Westwind had elected not to proceed with the development in Lton. So in other words, they were not going to take that leap from the pilot plant to the full-scale commercial operation. And that of course triggered all sorts of things within the city of Lton and that economic development authority, which we'll talk about in more detail in a few minutes. Also at that time, Westwood was already embroiled in a legal dispute with a company called CVMR Corporation and that's litigation is pending in the Western District of Oklahoma United States District Court. United States District Courts are a course of general jurisdiction trial courts in the federal court system. This is a civil dispute, not a governmental investigation, but a civil dispute. The claims that CVMR has asserted against Westwin and some of them also against Miss Long individually include for instance actual and constructive fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets and other things of that nature. Business tors is what people what lawyers in this practice call them. Those claims are pending. There were 10 initially asserted. When Miss Long spoke to our town hall, she said this case was dismissed without prejudice. That's not true. One of the 10 claims was dismissed without prejudice. The other nine, including the actual and constructive fraud claim, still remains pending. One thing about what it means to be without prejudice. That's a legal term. Without prejudice means that it can be brought again. Okay? So, if a case is dismissed with prejudice, it's gone forever. If it's without prejudice, it can be brought again. So even though that one claim was dismissed without prejudice, that does not mean the claim was resolved in favor of Westwind necessarily, just that it was was determined not to be resolved in that court.

So what's happening here in Brian County? Well, on August 6, 2025, Ryan Pervvis, the CEO of the development authority, emails his board, and he says, "I had a call with Westwind this morning along with Dory from the state to notify them that the DABC board has decided to recall the local incentive offer letter. As you can imagine, this was tough news to deliver and to receive." He's sending that to the board. And you'll note at the bottom of the email, there's also another request. Can we come back? Can Miss Long come back to their board in executive session to give more information? Well, Dr. Wallace responds almost immediately and you can see his email back. His last sentence, I think, is particularly astute. What part of no don't you understand? You can tell from these emails there was already discussion being had within the development authority and that the development authority as a consensus as a board determined Westwind was not going to be appropriate in this community. Mr. John Cgraves, he was a chairman of the development authority at the time. He follows up and echoes with what Dr. Wallace says. As you can see here, as Gene alluded to, I do not believe there's anything Kaylee could offer in person to change the consensus. Then Mr. Perver says, I will communicate accordingly. Then in September 2025, Mr. Shawn Register emails the development authority board and inquires about having another meeting and he calls it a quote unquote reset within the community. Well, Jeff Glazier, he's the chairman at this time and the current chairman, he also responds very quickly. This is something that has been discussed and voted on several time. We're moving forward from this again declaring the

very clear message that the development authority was not interested in this project. So after the incentives were recalled, the direction was given by Dr. Walls, by Mr. Cgraves, Mr. Glazier. What happened? How do we now find ourselves on February 10th, 2026 still talking about this? Well, on January 13th, 2026, there was a development authority meeting, their standard monthly meeting, and there were bond documents that were evidently drafted by their lawyers and distributed to the development authority board. Those bond documents called for TERA bonds up to $230 million of those TER bonds. And in a few minutes, I will talk to you'all in detail what a TERA bond is and how it works and why it's so important that the these were brought in this way. They also made a request for DCA cap allocation. So DCA is the Department of Community Affairs and they it's a state agency. They regulate the cap allocation for these TERA bonds or taxexempt bonds. And we'll talk a little bit about that in a few minutes as well. And then it was also added to the February 10th Development Authority Board meeting this morning ostensibly to vote on the bond inducement resolution. Well, that evening, that same evening, the Brian County Board of Commissioners, we had our meeting and there was no agenda item for this board to consider. There was no action item for this board to consider, but a petition purporting to demonstrate support by the community was delivered. And that petition was apparently gathered through the hiring of canvasers who went within Brian County and outside of Brian County to get people to sign this support. Three individuals also spoke in favor of

the project. Uh three members of the public uh two uh members of the public and then one elected official for Richmond Hill. Those draft bond documents call for this board to take action in the future because the way a TERA bond works is eventually once it works its way through the development authority would come to this board for consideration. And that's what I was originally planning on talking to you all about today is how that process works and what it looks like. Well, after that meeting and before we had our town hall and before we had this meeting, Westwind hires some lawyer in Oklahoma and they sent a demand letter to Chairman Infinginger saying, "You need to cease and desist from making defamatory statements about them supposedly." Well, of course, I respond quite quickly and I my last sentence I think says the message, "Your demands are frivolous and without and are hereby rejected." We weren't interested in engaging in a back and forth with them about this because the first amendment of the United States Constitution and the First Amendment of the Georgia Constitution protect free speech concerning matters of public concern, which this obviously is. So then on February 2nd, 2026, last week, Westwind holds its town hall, and they make their statements, their their explanation for what they're going to do. They make allegations about their capital injection into the community, all the money they're going to spend building out that property and creating these different jobs, these minimum salaries, and so forth. They also make these allegations of this significant environmental contamination. And they say among other things, one of which I thought was rather striking was these hazardous waste barrels strewn across the property. Well, that was news to us. So on February 3rd, we had a special call meeting where y'all authorized the investigation and if necessary enforcement of a public nuisance action. The city of Richmond

Hill had a similar meeting. They also authorized jointly with this board to jointly conduct that investigation and that enforcement action. And that investigation has commenced. It's going to take some time, however. You know, it's only been a week and a day. That's not enough time to do an investigation like this. But I have started the process. I gave notice to Caesar Stone that Westwin had made these allegations about it. I quoted Miss Long specifically on what she said and I sent that notice to Caesar Stone so that they know the gravity of the allegations made against them and I gave them an opportunity to provide me information and documentation associated with their operation of that plant and the property in it. They have not yet responded nor do I expect them to have responded at this point in time. I've also begun interviewing other people and experts in this subject matter. So, TERA bonds, what are TERA bonds? Well, they arise under a federal law called the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act. What that means is, and it's a fancy way of saying, these types of bonds can be federally taxexempt. What that means though is that the bond holders, the people who have purchased these bonds and are titled to payments from these bonds, essentially very boiled down, they don't get charged income tax on those interest payments. The idea being if they don't get charged income tax, the interest rate they charge for the bond can be less, right? Because they're not having to take and and pay Uncle Sam a portion of those monies. That's the idea on a very high surface level. Well, private bonds, you know, to support for-profit private industry like WestWin can comply with the TERA bond, but only if TER hearings are held, which are public hearings and opportunity for the public to comment and explain their positions and if the local authority,

the development authority in this case, and this body makes a finding of a public benefit. And some commentary and literature suggests a significant public benefit is the threshold. The idea being the federal government says, "Look, we're in DC. We don't know what this community needs. So, we're going to make those decisions vested with y'all rather than in DC for federal tax exemption." Makes sense. Part of that is that they they also delegate to each state and it's typically per capita by the population. how much money in these taxexempt bonds can be issued because obviously they wouldn't want one state to gobble up all the tax money, right? So they say each state can issue so many dollars of these tax exempt bonds. That's called a cap. The Department of Community Affairs regulates that cap in Georgia and there's also of course state law that governs it. That cap in Georgia is about $1.4 billion. But importantly, if those monies are allocated for some one project, that means they're not available for another type of project. And obviously, different projects have different importance mean different things. And so, it's important for these caps to be properly allocated based on the public needs described and found by the local authorities and the local governing authority. So, let's talk about what Westwind sought in their papers. Again, I believe to be drafted by their lawyers. They indicate they were seeking taxexempt facility bonds under two sections of federal law. Section 142A5 and 142A6. Here's what those sections say. 142A5 is a sewage facility. 142A6 is a solid waste disposal facility, which I found to be notably inconsistent with Westwind statements at their town

hall that they were not going to be generating solid waste. But their papers, draft papers submitted to the development authority indicated that they were seeking taxexempt status because these would be solid waste disposal facilities. So again, to qualify as a taxexempt facility bond, TER hearings must be held. And the purpose again is to find there to be a public benefit, which means are they going to create jobs? Are they going to install infrastructure? Are they going to invest significant capital improvements into the pro into the community so the tax base goes up? Those kinds of things are typically what the economic developers look for and then what this board would often look at to determine. But of course, past performance is a very good indicator of future performance. And so during that analysis, some things that this board could have considered or could consider would be for instance whether or not Westwind previously performed on its promises of jobs. Well, we know they didn't because they breached their obligation with law in Oklahoma. You could look at their financial performance. Have they raised capital in the past? Have they invested capital in the past? Well, we know, of course, that there was a lean recorded on the property for 1.5 million. I said 1.6 six earlier on the screen is 1.518179 and 58 just to be close

precise close

and so one other thing we look at or I would often encourage a body like this to look at is their financial performance and how much capital they have raised so Miss Long indicated at the town hall that they had raised 90 million I think was the number she said they raised in private capital well not all organizations have to file reports with the SEC Right? Because many small businesses aren't fooling with the SEC, nor does the SEC want to fool with them. Well, Westwind is raising capital and they're doing so publicly, but not on a stock market, right? They're they're having meetings and trying to generate investors to contribute. Those are called accredited investors. Typically, got to have minimum net worths and things of that nature. Well, when you do that, you do have to file SEC reports and you have to indicate to the SEC, to the federal government, how much you are seeking to raise and how much you have raised. Well, according to their last filing in 2025, December 15th, 2025 to be exact, they had raised 10,238,333 out of an initial offering of 150 million that was later amended to 125 million. Now, is it possible they raise the additional 80 million after the December 15, 2025 report? Sure. Do we know that? We do not. And then the other thing a board like this would consider as part of the analysis of whether or not there's a significant public benefit. Is there compatibility with the community? And is this use something that would make sense? Does this improve the community? And you can look at its legal struggles or lack thereof. Well, this organization has been in existence for less than 5 years. It's already in litigation with CVMR. It's in litigation with a capital company out of New York called Woods Capital. And of course, it sent you, Mr. Chairman, a cease and desist letter when you were speaking on

a matter of public concern at a public meeting. So now here we are, February 10th, 2026. The development authority had a meeting this morning and I was had previously asked to speak to their board also about the TERA process and I was going to walk them through the same things I just walked through y'all. Uh some things changed. I still didn't meet and speak to the development authority board this meeting and I went through a very similar presentation at the end of that presentation just to give this entire board an update. A motion was made by Dr. Wallace that uh asked the board to approve ceasing all further negotiations with WestWIN, withdrawing and rescending any pending bond offer or incentive package that might already be out there. And then also, I think importantly, to cease and resend any allocation requests for those bond allocations we talked about that Georgia has a finite number for. That motion passed unanimously this morning. So, that's where we at we're at now. And the question of course is what happens next for this board. Well, I'm going to continue my investigation to the environmental contamination. And again, that's going to take some time. And once I've completed my investigation and I determine the truth about what exists on that site or doesn't exist on that site, I will make a very transparent report to this body and I will make a very transparent report to the city of Richmond Hill and we can have all the facts out in the open and we'll know what exists and what does not exist. If there is contamination out there and if it was caused by the current owner of the property, we will hold that current owner to account to clean up that property and failing to do so, we can bring a public nuisance action to enforce it. So, if you don't have any questions, that's all I have. I'm happy to answer any questions this board might pose.

So, let let's so be clear on the the cleanup out there of Caesar Stone. Caesar, they couldn't they could never sell that property saying, "Hey, we're going to sell it to this somebody and somebody says, "We're going to clean it up for you."

So, public nuisance actions, which is what this type of case would be, are actions that affect title. What that means is there's a there's a document that gets recorded in the property records that says, "Hey, there's something going on here. There's a public nuisance proceeding pending and everybody in the world is on notice of that. Could a person still theoretically purchase it over that title? People do crazy things, right? Is it possible? Sure. Do they get what's called good and marketable title? The answer to that question is no. And what most people probably don't know when they're just buying a house, a big part of a transaction is called title insurance. And what you're doing is you are ensuring there's a company, there's two or three big ones out there. They ensure that what you're buying is actually what you're getting. You know, the building, the land, the meets and bounds and all that kind of stuff. And so title insurance also exists for commercial properties. They are ensuring that when you pay the monies to buy this property, you're getting that property. Uh, I would be wager a guess there's no title insurance company that would issue a clean title insurance policy on this property if there's a public nuisance proceeding pending. And what that means is the policy itself would say everything's fine except watch out for this public nuisance action. Um, typically investors and other sophisticated parties would not accept title to a property of that nature. Okay.

Does anybody else have questions uh for Thank you, Erin, for explaining that? Thank you. That's in layman's terms. That's correct.

All right. Thank you. Thank Thanks y'all for listening, too. U We're going to go ahead and do Yeah, I can say that's our attorney. Um we'll go ahead and do public uh comment now. If you'll bring uh Lori, bring me that sheet. Um, we're going to give everybody three minutes to speak if you would like to. I think there were some speakers this morning. It was lot last time, so I don't know how many we have this time. Thank you. All right.

Uh, Corey Foreman up first. and you've been to every meeting, so we know you. But if you'll state your name for everybody for the record. Corey Foreman.

All right. So, I'm not gonna I'm not going to be too overdramatic right now, but I'm going ask some things of you. All right. So, proactive planning number one. when we get past the the little west wind thing, right, and and that mess, making sure things like this doesn't happen in the future, you do have a lot of power outside of the development authority, such as if they they go to issue a bond, you control those pilot programs, tax abatements, and so on. You also have the ability to set any policy to try to prevent the the development authority from trying to incentiv incentivize things that you don't want here in the county. So in the future having some type of guard rail so these authorities kind of have something to check them like hey if we do incentivize these the county already said they're not going to approve x y and z so we don't waste time also to the authorities as a whole stop making authorities unless you absolutely need an authority you were elected to represent your residents I want y'all to make the decision the authorities clearly and I'll keep dropping Trip Addison because it's a nightmare trip with the airport authority with the development authority. Clearly, they don't care what you say. And he pretty much told you to your face that he doesn't care what the county commission says because he's a state stateowned authority. That's a problem. So, you guys lose a lot of power. And a guy like him needs to be controlled. When it comes back to these appointments, please push out more advertisement to apply for these positions. Try to actually have interviews. If you know them, who cares? They can go somewhere else. They can apply like everybody else. And make sure you have the right people in these authorities. I told you I'm not going to beat you up too bad, so I'll give you the minute and 18 seconds. I'm gonna go back over there, but please proactive planning. Thank you guys.

All right, next up, Amy Mitchell. This is historic preservation. So, not the nickel refinery, but that's okay. We'll give you three minutes.

Thank you. Hi, my name is Amy Mitchell. I think this is my eighth month here to talk about historic preservation. Um, I've been asking that you create a historic preservation ordinance for the county. Um, the city of Richmond Hill already has one and I would like to see one for the entire county. Um, for anyone that hasn't been listening in or paying attention the last few months, um, there was a change.org petition that circulated. Hundreds of residents signed in support of that um, being created. And then um also uh you did a survey which we've talked about wasn't really necessary, but thanks for doing it. So you put out a survey and um I'm not sure if you've had a chance to review it. I guess not because it's not on the agenda, but uh 90% of the people that responded said that they support a historic preservation ordinance being implemented. 90% of the respondents. There were only two people that said it wasn't necessary. So, that was your own survey. Um, you know, I'd love to not have to come here each month and ask the same thing over and over again. My husband's going to start getting jealous. We canceled our anniversary dinner reservation tonight for me to come. Um, I would really, really ask that because people have responded. They've said that this is what they want. I don't know what other way to ask. I've emailed you and you haven't emailed me back. I don't know what you need to put this forward, but I'm asking that you please consider it. Um, this is obviously important to the people. So, I know we have a lot going on otherwise, but

you've done a really good job of looking out for our future. I wish you would consider our past and protect that, too. So, Commissioner Floyd put on Facebook um a a contest for a poem for Valentine's Day, and I wrote one for you. Um, roses are red, violets are blue. Our history matters to apparently everyone but you. Prove me wrong. Prove me wrong. You kidding me? Thank you. Oh, that was good. I didn't think it was funny, but it was good. That's right.

All right. Uh, and like you, your husband's looking, and my wife always knows, well, I'm here and you're here. So anyway, uh Deborah Power, come up, ma'am. We'll give you three minutes. You got it. Is it working?

Good evening. My name is Deborah Power. I would like some written um response to my questions that I'm presenting to you. I have asked some of the city as well. So, I'm going to include you as as well since you're a different entity in Richmond Hill. Um, I just had concerns regarding the environmental compliance monitoring of Caesar Stone while it was in operation and while it's been laying dormant until this present time where we are with Westwin. Um, I would like for that to be answered as to who in the city and our county officials were responsible for that environmental compliance monitoring all this time. Also, the public had been told uh several times that the current contamination at Caesar Stone was unknown, but recent open records request acts have indicated that the EPD was made aware last year by county officials that there was contamination. Why were no immediate remediation efforts receiving that information? If current authorities and personnel are not keeping empty buildings in compliance for commercial or industrial um hazardous type sites, then how are citizens expected to trust in your ability to keep Westwin or any other hazardous waste producing facility held to monitoring and compliance regulations? These are some concerns that have been expressed by many residents, many citizens across the area and a tri county area and we would like to know who to um address to be held accountable for the lack of monitoring. Thank you so much. I can provide you my information at the end of the meeting.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up is that Susie Stock. Did I get that right? I didn't intend to speak tonight. Are you sure? Okay. Excuse me. Are you Janet Johnson? No. Oh, okay. Okay. I called your name, not your name. Okay. All right. Janet Johnson. No. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I didn't know I was signing obviously.

Do Do you want to speak? You don't You don't Okay. Yeah. Come on. A lot of times people get confused. They think they're signing in. We don't do a signin sheet, but if you want to speak, you sign for public and it says public comment signin sheet. So that's okay. Okay. And just state your name for the record and we'll give you three minutes.

My name is Janet Johnson and I am a resident. In fact, I live one we're right at two miles away as the crow flies from Caesar Stone building. I'm older and I'm raising I've adopted two of my grandchildren and I have grandchildren and a son and a daughter about three miles on the other side of Caesar Stone. I don't have a lot of money and I'm trying to do the right thing. I love my home. I love the community. I love the church I'm involved in. I thought that I would die in the home that I'm living in right now. I don't want to die of cancer. I don't I don't want my children exposed to cancer or anything else. And I appreciate getting involved in this, but I wish I hadn't had to. And I appreciate what I'm hearing from people like you who represent us. I think that you do have our best interest in mind and I really appreciate that. and I want to die of old age at 166 Cranston Bluff Road.

Okay, that's right. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Uh, is that Taylor Johnson? That's Jackson Johnson. He's one of my grandsons. Oh, okay. Would he like to speak? Okay. All right. Thank you. Uh Tom Seaman, frequent flyer here. Come up, state your name. Will you three minutes?

Thank you, gentlemen. We appreciate all your work on this. Thomas Seaman with an update, election integrity update. We've been tracking this for 5 years and there's some big news happen this year. Two things. Number one, December 9th, 2025, Fulton County publicly admits before the Georgia State Elections Board that they counted 315,000 uncertified ballots. So context 2020 election observers turned in hundreds of signed affidavit testifying to election fraud, but Secretary of State Raffensburgger certifies the election anyway, saying Biden wins Georgia by 11,779 votes. Officials in Washington DC say this is the most secure election in American history. For the next 5 years, mainstream media keeps repeating over and over again there is no evidence of election fraud. Fulton County runs a big huge cover up operation not allowing access to the ballots. And now 5 years later, the truth comes out. Fulton County admits to massive election fraud. They counted 315,000 ballots. That's 20 times the number required to take the state. So the crazy conspiracy theorists were right. There was massive election fraud. President Trump was right. The election in Georgia was stolen from him. And here's the big one. 22,000 people in Bryant County who voted got their votes erased by illegal ballots in Atlanta. Yeah, that's the bad news. Number two, January 20th, there was a 7count slog file analysis that failed state admission standards. This is a slog file are the files on the Dominion machines. They went back and inspected them in seven counties, both rural and uh rural. Bib, Cherokee County, Fyet County, Floyd

County, Grady County, there's five of them. Every county, all seven failed to meet the federal and state accuracy standards, which means there's systemic software issues. This is not isolated human errors in seven counties. This is a problem with Dominion machines. For example, 872 ballots reviewed, there were 716,000 errors. Okay. 222,481 QR code signature mismatches which is called a security error. 299,000 ballot reversals misfeeds which means 27% of the ballots misfed going into the machines that counted our ballots. Okay, this results extreme non-compliance. This is an error rate 52,000 more than allowed by federal standards. Okay. And these findings violate the federal election code 52 USC S210815 and Georgia's election codes OCGA21-2-374. My time up.

Yes, it is. Okay. There's more more details here for you guys to read. Thank you. Thank you. Here's a copy of the original report and here's a few more facts about this class. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. Jeff Barnes.

Just come up, sir. State your name for the record. We'll give you three minutes. I'm Jeff Barnes, a uh retired environmental protection agent. spent two decades in the coastal district um regulating if not facilities exactly like this sometimes similar thousands of those facilities and in in that two decades I never once not one single time observed 100% full compliance with the permits issued by the state of Georgia. Uh, and in this case, most of the expertise is now housed in Atlanta and not in our local coastal district office. Um, we had a great deal of expertise at one time. Uh, a lot of the oldtime guys uh retired around the time I retired in 2011 before uh, Caesar Stone. I don't allege any specific knowledge of Westwind or um uh this particular facility, but I do know everything we drink in the coastal district is groundwater. And if we don't protect our groundwater and the air we breathe, we're sunk. We're just sunk. We have no viable surface uh water plants available. And spills uh while may be avoided, they're almost inevitable over a given amount of time. Once something spilled to the ground, it's very hard to take it back. Especially if all the expertise and

oversight resides hundreds of miles away in Atlanta and not in our local district offices. Um, we at one time had very, very good environmental oversight here in this county. I do not feel confident that we have that today. And I uh just want to voice my opposition to this supposed nickel refinery plan. uh these kinds of industries um uh are just fraught with all kinds of of heavy metal problems. The heavy metals are PBTs, persistent bioaccumulative toxins. They build up in livers. If you don't believe me, look at the Turtle River down near Brunswick. We don't want any anything like that in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Uh Carrie Cook. Carrie Cook. She's the last one on our list here.

Thank you for having everyone here tonight. I really appreciate all your efforts. I wanted to touch base on my personal experience meeting Kaylee Long at the uh meeting last week. Uh I mentioned earlier today that I pressed her on her account of the CBMR lawsuit. She continued to reiterate her misinformation. talked to a colleague who also gave the same account called who I think was supposed to be her attorney also gave the same account. So all in all that was four times that that they lied just about that one thing that night. I continued to press her on some other details. I um I asked her about a $ 1.4 $4 billion deal that they signed with Traxxas, who is a huge mineral um sourcing and supply company. Right before that came out, um a global witness investigation uncovered evidence that Traxxas was responsible for buying 90% of Colan, another uh conflict mineral, out of the DRC. It's been smuggled into Rwanda. Why that's important is because Kaye Long has made it her mission to say how much she loves the Congalles people and wants to stand up for the DRC. And yet she's doing business with somebody without due diligence apparently um who's been um credibly accused of severe human right of dealing with someone with um who commits severe human rights violations. I mean millions of people

um being killed. Um I also asked her how she is qualified to lead the company. She literally looked up and had to think about it and she said, "Hm, what are my qualifications to lead this company?" And she said, "Well, I've run businesses before." And um I said, "Yeah, I know about your meat packing business and your um you know, other small businesses." I said, "But didn't you really get here because most of your history is in politics and you're very politically linked?" And she kind of backpedled on that. And I said, "Well, what about all the people on your board um who were politically linked?" And I named there were six different people all in politics. none of them had any um metallurgy or refining experience and she said they don't work for her anymore and one of them in particular she mentioned had been fired but um at the end of the day that's it

that's it thank you thank you Mr. Thank you. Um, does anybody else that came in late or anybody want to make a comment? Yes, sir. Can I come up or Yes, sir. And just come up and you'll state your name for the record. And we'll give you three minutes if you need that much. I need one.

Okay. So, my name is Barry White. Uh, been a resident for a long time. My family started moving on to Jericho River in Cranston Bluff back in the 70s. We built five houses. I learned to fish and shrimp on that river. And when you look at the satellite photos of the Caesar Stone plant, there's a huge tailing pond um that's probably within half a mile of the Jericho River. Um real close to the wetlands. All that mixes in uh with numerous uh smaller tributaries until it goes into the midway. I've never heard anything from Liberty County. And if this site goes into place, there's a very good chance if we ever have another big flood like last year, uh things will mix out of that tailing pond into the marsh. So that's the first question I got. And how on earth did they get a tailing pond permit that close to the wetlands in the first place? Um, so that concerns me. I've been out in the mountains where they do have them at mining facilities and there's some ugly stuff that goes in those ponds. Um, that's pretty much all I got.

Okay. Thank you. And and just so you know, I have been in contact with Donnie Love, the chairman in Liberty County. I spoke with him several times this weekend. He had a commissioner here this morning. So, we are in contact because they're concerned, too. Do Do they get input into the permits or anything like that? Um, I guess they can make public comment just like anybody else, but but I did want to let you know we are in contact with them. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, Mr. Ch. I'm sorry. All right. Nobody signed up now. You know, sorry. You state your name for the record.

My name's Amber Pendell. Um, I spoke with the city council last week. Um, thank you for giving me a couple of minutes of time to speak tonight. I was kind of letting everybody else um, get their voices in because I think that's important. Um, I just want to share a couple of things. I was at this morning's meeting at 8:00 um, with the development authority and one of the things that Mr. Um, Addison spoke about was the safety and having, you know, our fire department trained in hazmat. Um, I'd encourage everyone here to listen to Echoes of Conjurs on Spotify or Apple um, radio. It talks about the Bolab fire that happened in Conjur, Georgia back in September, I think 2024. um a friend of mine, actually an ex-coworker that I worked at a manufacturing plant here in the area with um several years ago. He happened to be I think he was an ops manager there, but um he was um doing his damage assessment after the fire and um you know had clearance to go in and do the assessment for the business um but he had a stroke three weeks later. So, you know, while we can train our fire department and we can talk about, you know, giving all this um giving making Westwind do this extra stuff to keep our community safe, I want to I want to just encourage you guys as these decisions come before you. Maybe it's the TERA hearing later on, you know, because now we don't know whose hands it's in. It's in the state. The state says it's with y'all. You know, it's kind of back and forth. But, um I would just encourage you to think of those people, you know, like him and his family. They live here in Richmond Hill. you know, he doesn't want to speak about it, but um you know, it's it's real for them. And it wasn't that he was there on site because, you know, that guy in Canada died being on site. Um but this was an after effect. And you know, they've linked it to the toxicity that he was exposed to in that site. Um you know, we mentioned this morning everything's mechanical. If you've ever worked in a manufacturing plant, you know that that's a a real possibility and that's why we take a lot of safety

measures and we wear PPE and you know you have to stay in the yellow lines and everything else. So, um I would just encourage you to really think about the families that could be affected by this potential refinery coming here and then what do we want Richmond Hill to look like down the road? you know, do we want it to be like New Jersey or some of the other area cities that we have that um have a lot of heavy industry in them or do we want it to be where we call home and we go we can travel to go to work? I mean, like I said last week, I'm not opposed to industry and I'm not opposed to business and growth. I know every every area that's good is going to grow, right? People want to live here. Um but they want to live here for specific reasons. So that's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? I think I saw him. Yes, ma'am. Oh, wait a minute. If you just come up and state your name for the record, please.

My name is Katie Plant and thank you for having me here. Um, my husband and I in this last year relocated from Massachusetts and I'm a retired nurse. So, I can only speak to my experience with um issues when it comes to water pollution. Um I lived on Cape Cod for 10 years and Cape Cod has a very very huge problem with PAS in its water forever plastics. I have held the hand of too many people who have had terminal illnesses, glyopblastoomas, cancer, kidney disease, liver disease um directly as a result from environmental hazards and those things happening. um cancer, those types of diseases, they don't care who you are, where you're from, your income, your color, any of that. It just it affects everybody. And I just don't want to see the area that we're living in now go through what I had to go through on Cape Cod. Um it's hard to deal with it. It doesn't just affect the person who is terminal or ill, it affects their family, it affects the community. My hope is that going forward once this whole Westwind debacle is behind us and hopefully they do not get the plant roots here um we start having more conversations about how we're keeping our coastal region free from those types of things. Um I am all for economic growth. I have had an extremely hard year finding a job. Um but and I see all the people that are moving in here, the new apartments that are being built, the houses. Um and I wonder how we're going to employ a lot of those people. Um so economic growth absolutely needs to happen but I think we really need to be smart um and reasonable about what we consider for growth for economic um for for generations economic health um and just our well-being as a community. Um water

is important. People don't think about it. I had one year when I had six people between the ages of 55 and 65 come with glyobblastoomas, brain tumors. Um those are all direct results of what we have in our environment. It's what you put in your body and people don't think about that. Um so I just wanted to state the importance um of considering long-term communication and conversations about how important it is to you know be the be the person responsible for taking care of our our environment. Um and that's all I had to say. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. I think that's all the comments. You have a comment. Yes, ma'am. If you'll just come up and state your name for the record. Give you three minutes. Hello. My name's Kate Lucy. I just Kate Lucy. Okay. I thought I would just go ahead and throw in what I

found out in my research about West Wind. I thought why not look to see who this chief tech officer is. The guy behind the refining science. He's a Russian scientist uh whose vapor metallurgy innovations inc company doesn't show up in a Google search, but it kind of hops over to this company that you mentioned earlier, the CVMR. Uh so I looked to see who they were and um they are a Toronto-based multinational national corporation on a mission to build refineries all over the world. um their CEO has Middle Eastern roots and is uh online talking about how all of their ventures are funded with crypto currency. So again, you know, it's just probably as we're looking at the um business ends of things to also consider the science behind it and maybe do the chase the money, you know, where does the money lead because crypto um you know may seems a little sketchy. Um, I'd also just add that um to go on um Katie's conversation about the importance of industry to uh support the growing population that perhaps a discussion could begin about the community building infrastructure to be offered. I for one would love a swimming pool as I've told Dr. Wallace in the past. Um, I have to drive drive to Hinesville for the nearest swimming pool which is the YMCA and it's built in the

90s. It breaks down a lot. So, just putting that out there. Thank you. All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you for all y'all's comments. Um, Mr. Mr. Chair, can I get uh Mr. Kappler up here for a second and ask him a question to clarify about Ceda Stone? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Long as you don't put him on the spot. Yeah. could Yeah, he can handle it. That's right. Could you clarify some of the recent findings that Caesar staying with with their um like EPD and stuff? I know there was studies done recently.

So, yeah, sure. So, one of the interesting things and why I thought the Westwind's presentation of the town hall was so striking is because the November there's a November 2025 report that was commissioned by the development authority on the site. And what's notable about that report is that there are no recommendations for remediation of arsenic or anything else. There's no notification or or identification of these hazardous waste barrels or anything of that sort. In fact, what that report says is that the sample that was was out there, I guess drawn from a a test well was had excess turbidity, which basically means there's too much soil in the water to accurately test the water's arsenic levels. And so that report did not conclude there was contamination. And so when Westwind comes on February 2nd and says there's this toxic wasteland over there, this board rightfully took immediate action to find out what's the truth. And so sitting here today, we have the report from the development authority saying there's nothing. We have the Westwind saying there's toxicity out there and these hazardous waste barrels. So my role is to figure out the truth and and hold those people who if there is contamination and I say if for a reason if there is contamination to make sure it's cleaned up.

Does that answer your question? It does. Yes. Good. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Um, again, you know, we we represent y'all. We hear you. We're working with the city on this. Uh, we will get to the bottom of it. Contamination or not, we'll work through it. It's going to take some time, but this is y'all. This is our community, y'all's community, and we do listen. And I think by now, y'all probably realize that there's some things we can say and can't say. I mean, I was threatened with a lawsuit for saying something that was true. So, thank goodness I got a great lawyer there that can take up for me. But anyway, we appreciate y'all coming. We're going to take about a 10-minute break. Now, you're welcome to stay and go through the rest of our meeting, but just gives a chance for everybody that that wants to leave can leave. Again, you don't have to, but we're going to take about a 10-minute break to offer that. Thank y'all. We'll be back in 10 minutes.

So, we need a motion to close this meeting and open up our public hearing. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to close this meeting and open a public hearing. A second. Second. All in favor say I. I.

All right. We are in our public hearing. First item up is the second reading of an ordinance to amend section 114-511 authorized uses in residential districts in session 114-512 residential districts use conditions of the UDO. And just so everybody knows what we'll do. We hear this public item, take comments, close, and then go back and vote on this since it is second reading. Thank you, Amanda. Mhm. So, this ordinance proposes amendments to sections 114-511 and section 1114-512 of the Unified Development Ordinance. And specifically, it proposes to allow the keeping of small farm animals as an accessory use within the R15 zoning district. Um, and as well with that, it um proposes some supplemental use conditions that must be abided by in order to do so. And so specifically whenever we're talking about the keeping of small farm animals in the R15 district, we're talking about chickens. Um however, the ordinance is written to prohibit roosters. And then for the supplemental use conditions that we have, it would limit um the number to four chickens per property. And as it's currently written, that is regardless of size. It puts limitations on being able to keep them for personal use only. So you can't raise, keep, or use them for commercial purposes. And then also it sets requirements for them to be kept in a secure enclosure that meets the zoning district setback requirements. Um, and so that is as the ordinance is currently written and proposed. Um, we do understand that there has been some interest in potentially looking at making some revisions to this proposed ordinance in order to consider incremental increases in the number of chickens that could be kept based on a property size. Um, particularly if there's an R-15 zoned property that's more than one acre. Um so staff would

recommend if it is the um desire of this board um to see those type of adjustments made uh that we do uh look at maybe deferring the item so that staff can present those revisions and also take it back to our planning and zoning commission um for their input on those changes as well. Okay.

All right. Anybody have any comments on this item in the public? All right, Corey, come on. All right. Y'all playing with my chickens. Okay, so Savannah, just so you know, and and Jean touched on this a little bit, Savannah allows up to 30 chickens as a maximum inside city limits, and it's based off square footage requirements, just so you know. But I told some of my country neighbors up there in the sticks in North Brian about this uh this whole four chicken thing, and boy, I thought they were going to burn North Brian down. So yeah, I I really I really appreciate you guys looking at it again and I appreciate if you go through and come up with a reasonable number or a size change and then just understand I don't know who has chickens, who's ever raised chickens. I'm a little bit country. Okay. Um but at the end of the day, four chickens, one people feed their families with the eggs. Two, you know, chickens die, some chickens don't lay. Um there's a bunch of things that go into it. So for just too small to be realistic, but I'll leave you at that and thank you for looking at it.

All right. Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

I'm so sorry y'all probably sick of me. If y'all are going to revise it, maybe consider using the term hens instead of chickens because technically roosters are chickens. They're just male chickens. Roosters are chicken noodle soup. That too. So, if you're going to revise it, maybe consider using the word hens instead if you only want to allow female. Just an idea. All right. Thank you. Anything else, staff? Where's the majority of our R15 properties?

Um, so the the R15 zoning district, we do have um R15 zoned neighborhoods in both the south end and the north end of the county. Um, I would say if we're looking at the majority or the the most number of lots, we'd probably see them in the south end. Um, and just to be clear, we are talking about the R15 zoning district only. And so typically under our zoning standards, um we're looking at lot sizes of 15,000 square feet. Um the rural residential districts um do already have allowances for the keeping of of chickens and other small farm animals that would not be impacted by this ordinance revision. Thank you.

All right. Any other comments on that? If not hearing none, we will take a motion since this was the only item. A motion to close our public hearing and reopen our regular meeting. Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to close this public hearing and reopen the regular meeting. Second. Second. All in favor say I. And we're back in our public or excuse me, our regular meeting and we will vote on this. So, we need a motion to authorize use of residential districts. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion that we take

Sorry, Mr. Chairman, the if your desire is for staff to take this back and consider some amendments and then bring it back to the planning and zoning, the motion should be a motion to direct staff to bring it back to P&Z and then back to y'all once the PNZ makes it recommend as opposed to tableabling it. Yes. Yes. Okay. A continuation is correct. Motion for continuation. Um make a motion for continuation for this to go back to staff. Um, let us try to work things out a little bit and then bring it back in a in the next meeting or sometime shortly. How about after PNZ makes his re recommendation? Yeah, that sounds good, too. And no ostriches. No, I'll second that. Second. Any discussion on that?

And no ostriches. No ostriches. Yeah. All right. Hearing none. All in favor say I. I. All right. Thank you. That motion passes. Now we'll go down to our community to ballot non-public which will be voting on a couple of these. not the uh let's see I believe we have um item number one which was tabled by this board and I just need um the chairman to announce it to bring it off the table and then formally withdraw it say that again please the item number one under non-public hearing it is not up on the um it's not up on the screen but that was the uh proposed ordinance revision yeah we're going to

yeah I just need you to announce it bring it off the table so I can do a formal withdrawal of that number one, which is the ordinance amendment regarding um pvious and impervious. Yeah. Jeff, you want to make that motion to table that? No, you're bringing it off the table. Bring it off the table. You're just announcing it that it's off the table so I can Okay. Work on it some more. Okay. Number one, we need a motion or just announce it. Just read it. Okay. We're going to we're going to take that one off the agenda. We're going to consider item number one on non-public community development. Okay. Is that what we're doing? Yep, that's all right. Thank you. Thank you. And now I'm announcing that we are formally I know we need a motion on that. Sorry about that.

Yeah, I'm announcing we're formally withdrawing this item for consideration. So I do not need a motion or anything on that. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. First up won't be voting. It'll be a first reading of an ordinance to amend zoning map for 12.95 acres parcel 034-015. Robert Mccoral. Um this is the first reading for a reszoning for approximately 12.95 acres um located on highway um 280. The property is currently zoned RR1 rule residential and they are requesting to reszone to I1 light industrial. Um this is the first reading only. The public hearing will be planning and zoning um this month on the 17th. The second reading will be in front of you all um on March 10th and I can answer any questions you have.

Anybody any questions for that hearing? None. All right. Thank you. All right. Next up is the adoption of revised 2026 subdivision and zoning fee schedule, which we will vote on.

Yes, this is an action item. Thank you. Uh, as you know, you adopt your fee schedules with your budget each year. We in the community development department include our subdivision and zoning fee schedule which was adopted. uh after it was adopted, we're uh we realized through some updates we're doing into our doing with our online portal for permitting and project management that we were not very clear on final plats. And so this is just a small amendment to distinguish between final plats that are amended that require public hearing versus uh those that do not. So we're just asking that you approve this provision. Okay.

Need a motion on that one. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve a resolution adopting a revised 2026 subdivision and zoning fee schedule as presented. Second. Second. Any discussion on that? All in favor say I. I. All oppose. The motion carries. Thank you. Mr. Taylor, you're up.

Item one is a sports lighting replacement at Timber Trail Award. Uh this is a project uh we Timber Trail Park uh and uh it involves a replacement of a lot of the baseball fields in the area. We really need it. Uh our recommendation is approved staff to award a contract to Graham Electric LLC in the amount of 1 million $210,550 for the Timber Trail Park ballfield lighting replacement project. Okay, we need a motion on that one. Y'all,

Mr. Chairman, I move to authorize staff to award a contract to Graham Electric LLC the amount of $1,210,550 for the Timber Trail Park Ballfield Lighting Replacement Project.

Second. Second. Any discussion? All in favor, raise your right hand. All opposed. That motion carries. Thank you. Next up, Rightway mowing contract. Next up is the rightway mowing contract uh consideration extension consideration. This contract was awarded to Service Land Management back in March of 2023. As part of the contract, a provision was included to adjust the annual rate by a percentage equal to the uh CPI uh as calculated by the US Department of Labor. Staff would like to extend the automatic renewal through 2026 contract year with a contract amount of $464,9421.

Okay, a motion on that one. Mr. Mr. Chairman, I move to authorize the chairman to execute a contract uh contract addendum number two to the service land management for rightway mowing in the amount of $464,9421. Second.

Second. Any discussion on that? All in favor, raise your right hand. All oppose. That motion carries. Thank you. Next up, the appointment of planning and zoning. Next up is the consideration of uh appointments to Brian County Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment. The terms of Ronald Carwell and Stephanie Falls on the Planning and Zoning Commission Board of Adjustment expire February 28th, 2026. Mr. Carwell and Mrs. Falls have applied for reappointment. If reappointed, their terms will begin on March 1st, 2026 and expire in February 28th, 2030.

Mr. Mr. Chairman, I move to appoint Mrs. Stephanie Falls and Mr. Ronald Carwell to the Brian County Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustments for terms that begin March 1st, 2026 and expire February 28th, 2030. Okay, second. Second. Any discussion on that? All in favor say I. Okay. Thank you. Next up, the gas line relocation. I forgot to vote, but I just didn't vote. You forgot to

I'm an I was in the zone. Item four is gas line relocation. This is part of our US 280 Wilma Edwards roundabout uh intersection project. Approximately 2,000 ft of 4-in steel gas line belonging to Claxton Glass needs to be relocated for construction operations to proceed. The cost of this re relocation is estimated to be at $235,424.40. Uh we'd like to go ahead and authorize staff uh and the funds to Claxton Gas to facilitate this gas line relocation so the project stays on schedule.

Is there a possibility to put a not to exceed number on that? uh that would be the amount that you authorize and it will not exceed that and we're also in talks with uh G dot a baby um making them um so that that 235424 is a good not to exceed number or but that is a good number that is a good number okay all right Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to move funds to Oh, it's a little messed up, but just Yeah, I got you. To to Claxton Gas to facilitate the gas line relocation for the US 280 Wilma Edwards Road roundabout project not to exceed $235,424.40.

Second. Second. Any discussion on that? All in favor, raise your right hand. All opposed. Thank you. Next up, pen.

Item number five is a contract extension for disaster recovery and FEMA public assistance. Back in 2024, staff issued a request or RFQ for consulting services for disaster recovery and FEMA uh public assistance. A total of four bids were received. Goodwin Mills and Kwood GMC received the highest score and the one-year contract was awarded with the option to extend for uh four additional years. The current one-year contract expires uh February 10th, 2026. Staff would like to execute a first one-year extension for services to extend until that date of next year as well. They're still working on some FEMA of reimbursement pro projects for us. So, our recommendation is authorize staff to proceed with this one-year extension.

Okay, Mr. Chairman, I move to authorize staff to execute a one-year extension for the contract with Goodwin Mill Kwood for consulting services related to disaster recovery and FEMA public assistance. I'll second that. Second. One one question on that. Uh any update on on the FEMA money for us? We do know that the projects have been approved um and the money is supposed to be on the way. So, we do have some light at the end tunnel there. Okay, good news. Yep. And it does take a long time to get that FEMA to move. So, okay, we got a motion in a second. All in favor say I.

Opposed? Okay, that motion carries. Next up is the Harris Trail Pedestrian improvements bid award.

Item six is a joint project between the city of Richmond Hill and Brian County. Uh, as you recall, this is tied into the Richmond project. This is Harris Trail Pedestrian improvements bid award consideration. project involves a pedestrian bridge connection along Harris Trail from Timber Trail or across the Sterling Creek which connects up to a pedestrian connection along Harris Trail Road uh from Timber Trail to Brisbane Road. And of course, this is a uh prefabed bridge. We had bids low bidder and most qualified bidder was Astra Group LLC with an amount of $1,495,640. Our recommendation is to consider awarding the Harris trail pedestrian improvements project to the load bidder and most qualified bidder of Astro Group LLC for that amount. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to award the Harris Trail Pedestrian Bridge improvements project Astro Group LLC in the amount of 1,495,640.

I'll second that. Second. Any discussion on that? Uh yeah, real quick. I I do want to thank staff, your whole staff for working on this. This went out to bid previously. Uh it was extremely expensive. Um and they did some good work to go bring that cost down. I think over a million dollars if I'm not mistaken. So, thank you guys for for getting that done. This is important project. So, y expensive, but it's a a lot less than a

lot less was. Yeah. And this will loop Brisbane Road across the bridge where it's real narrow there into timber trail so kids can walk safely. Well, not the school anymore right now, but go back and then tra traverse back and forth through those neighborhoods to the park. So, and thank you Glenn and your team for working in Kurt and was that Prisman Road is a good project. So, anyway, no more comments. We had a first and second. All in favor, raise your right hand. All oppose. Okay, that motion carries. Thank you. All right, the uh next up, North Bryant Watershed Protection Plan. Item seven is the state requirement for uh the uh operation of the North Brian water reclamation facility is a conditional based on Brian County adopting implementing a watershed protection assessment plan. The WPP is designed to prevent degragation of existing water quality as wastewater treatment plant service area begins to develop. The wershed protection plan was was developed because uh of an EPD approved uh wershed monitoring plan and wershed assessment. The waterershed protection plan was then developed to help prevent future impacts to existing water quality within that area. The county plan, which was approved by EPD on January 23rd, must be evaluated each year by the county along with a progress report generated to EPD, which includes long-term monitoring data. Our recommendation is to adopt the North Bryan wastewater or wastewater protection plan dated December 25th revised January 26 or 2026 and authorized staff to implement the plan in accordance with EPD regulations.

Will county staff be administering that protection plan or what's the what's the plan like the actual sampling and the preparation of the plan? Yeah, county staff will either do it themselves or contract that work out to do so.

Okay, we need a motion on that. Mr. Chairman, I move to adopt the North Brian WRF watershed protection plan dated December 2025, revised January 2026 and authorize staff to implement the plan in accordance with EPD regulations. Second. Second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor say I. All oppose. Okay. That motion carries. Thank you. All right. Next up, uh we have our 2025 lame road resurfacing project change order.

Yeah. Item B is uh the consideration of approval of the change order for the 2025 road servicing project. Back in March of that year, the board of commissioners approved contract with Platinum Pavement and Concrete uh for that Elmeig program. During the course of this project, additional repairs were seen to a section were needed for uh a section of Mill Run Road. After consulting the engineers and Teraccon Geotechnical Services, it's been determined that additional repairs will be required at an additional cost $166,456 0 to the project total. Uh our recommendation is consider the approval of staff to execute a change order for additional repairs required by Mill Run Road. Mr. Chairman, I move to authorize the chairman to execute a change order for additional repairs to Mill Run Road is part of the 2025 road resurfacing project for an additional cost totaling $166,456.

Second. Any discussion on that? All in favor, raise your right hand. All oppose. Okay, that motion carries. Thank you. Uh, next up, county attorney item. So, and we did move the uh his comments to the beginning. So, he's got one item. Um, Mr. Chairman, this is the item concerning the annual compensation for the chairman and the district commissioners. Uh, this was previously you all directed me to advertise a legal notice associated with this adjustment in compensation. That advertise was run And now is the opportunity for you all to vote on it. What it does is is it increases the compensation for the chairman to 29 thou 29,500 inclusive of all cost of living adjustments previously mand mandated by state law as and the district commissioner to 22,500 inclusive of all those state law mandated cost of living adjustments. So a little bit of background, state law imposes cost of living adjustments. Y'all's compensation has not been adjusted for quite some time. I think over 10 years.

Yeah. 2011. As a result of that, you have all of these kind of bakedin cost of living adjustments imposed by state law. What this does is it kind of consolidates them. It eliminates them as of now, actually as of next year, so that they're no longer included. And so th those numbers will be inclusive of all other adjustments imposed by state law. If you were to approve this, it does not take effect until January 1 of 2027 next year. And I think as an ordinary course, every four or five years, I think this ought to be evaluated so that we don't bacon all these cost of living adjustments. Okay, we need a motion on that.

Mr. Chairman, I move to approve a resolution authorizing the adjustment to the board of commissioners annual compensation. Second. Second.

Any discussion? And I I will say what this does is cleans it up too. So going back to 2000 to make it even simpler than you said. So going back to 2015, if you get elected in 2025 or 2030, they would go back and add all that cost of living onto your salary from 2015. I I don't know why the law was written like that, but this cleans it up because like our commissioners here got cost of living increases back from 2015. And when we realized that we wanted to clean it up and this cleans it up moving forward. Any other discussion? All in favor say I.

All opposed. Okay. Thank you. Um do we have any public comments? Anybody decide they want to say anything? Nope. Uh fire chief back here. We did have an accident uh with fire truck. Glad everybody was okay. Um appreciate you letting us know about it. And I guess we will need a new some kind of fire apparatus coming up in the future. Maybe a little training for those guys. Uh commissioner comments around I I have comments. You can start my three minutes if if you if you don't mind. Um I got your three minutes.

Thank you. Uh part of the you know part of the format of of public comments is that there's no back and forth between the commissioners and the public and that keeps you know the meeting to a to a nice level. appreciate everybody's comments that they've made. Um I I just want to point out I feel compelled to point out that there were some comments made about some folks who do volunteer for different boards, what their motivations might be. There's been a lot of talk of that based on these issues. I I just want to say that these folks, they do represent this board. They also represent you. They're your friends. They're your neighbors. You go to church with them. They coach your kids. uh and and I feel like they have the best interest of the county at heart and everything that they do. Um that being said, I don't ask that they always agree with everything that I might ask of them and that's why we seat a diverse board of multiple members that have different thoughts and different opinions and then they can inform us and make decisions and and that's the beauty of of what uh you see here in front of you and I think it's working. So, uh, just want to say thank you, uh, for everybody being involved and, uh, I'll yield back my time.

Yep. Anybody else? Hearing nothing else, we'll take a motion to adjurnn. Make a motion to because we don't have executive session. Yeah, we don't need Yeah, we don't need executive session. Second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Our meeting is