Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Let us stand, please, and gentlemen, remove your covers. Prior to the prayer, we'd like to acknowledge the passing of a young resident of White Oak, as I understand it, the son of former Senator Mike Ligon. Excuse me, William Ligon, thank you. We express our sympathy to the family, and after a moment, I'll begin the prayer. Thank you. Our Father and our God in heaven, we come to thee in prayer. We humble ourselves. We thank you for all the many blessings that you bestow upon us. Father, we thank you for the rain. We thank you for the relief that it is giving the firefighters and the families who've lost so much in this event. Father, we pray, as always, for wisdom as we consider the matters that will be brought before us. We thank you for the constituents who've come tonight to express their opinions and show what we need to do as servants for them. Father, as always, we pray for the safety of those who stand between us and evil, those in uniform both overseas and those who are here. We pray for all of the first responders and the people who've been working so hard again. And Father, meet the needs of people who are bereaved. Meet the needs of people who are ill and infirm. And all of these things we ask in thy most precious name. Amen.

Roll call, Katie.

All commissioners are present.

Okay, we have a couple of amendments to the agenda. We're going to add the approval for the charge of Brantley County to the in-county rate of $18.21 per ton instead of the county outside rate of $25.04. Add item nine, which is approval of the same item, and also delete the library presentation, which is the last item on the presentation list. So we have two additions and one deletion. Do we have a motion to adopt the agenda?

I make a motion to adopt the agenda with the addition and deletions as stated.

Second.

We have a motion and a second.

Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. Move on to the approval of the minutes from the April 21st, 2026 work session minutes.

Commissioner, I think we still need to adopt the actual agenda. I'm sorry? I think we actually still need to adopt the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry.

Let's go back to have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended. So moved.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Thank you, Commissioner Smith. Now we'll move on to the approval of the minutes from the April 21st, 2026 work session minutes. I assume everybody's read the minutes. Any entertain a motion to approve the work session minutes from April 21st?

Mr. Chair, I move to approve the April 21st, 2026 work session minutes as well as the April 21st, 2026 regular meeting and public hearing executive session minutes.

Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve the work session and the regular meeting and the public hearing executive session. Do we have any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. Now we'll move on to our presentation section. I think, Mike, you're going to handle that?

Good evening, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. My name is Mike Spears. I'm the Director of Human Resources and Risk Management for the Camden County Board of Commissioners. I've got a few things to go in front of you this evening, and the first one is going to be tough. I'd like to ask the family of Robert Strickland that is willing and able to come stand in the front, please. Yeah, there you go. So this is a proclamation of the Camden County Board of Commissioners honoring the life and legacy of Robert Allen Strickland. Whereas Robert Allen Strickland was born on January the 26th, 1959, and passed away on March 13th, 2026, leaving behind a legacy of service, craftsmanship, and devotion to his family and his community. Robert dedicated more than four decades, 43 years in fact, of faithful service to Camden County through the Public Works Department, where he rose to the role of road superintendent and earned the respect of colleagues and the community alike through his leadership, his work ethic, and his commitment to maintaining the county's infrastructure. Throughout his career, he not only helped build and maintain the roads that connect our community, but also built lasting relationships with coworkers who became like family, leaving a mark on Camden County that will endure for generations. Robert Strickland was known throughout the community as a man who never met a stranger, always willing to lend a helping hand, offer guidance, and share his time with anyone in need, reflecting a spirit of generosity and kindness that defined his life. Whereas beyond his professional accomplishments, he was a devoted husband, sharing 48 years of love and partnership with his wife, Sherry, and a proud father and grandfather whose greatest joy came from spending time with his family, especially his granddaughter, whom he taught, guided, and cherished. Robert was also a man of many passions, including work as a master beekeeper, where he cultivated not only hives, but also knowledge and appreciation for the craft itself. often sharing his experience with others and passing it down through his family. He found happiness in the simple pleasures of life like supporting the Camden County Wildcats, spending time outdoors hunting and fishing, and enjoying quiet afternoons on his porch in Waverly. Moments like that reflected his deep roots and love for Southeast Georgia. Whereas his life serves as an enduring example of dedication, humility, and service, his contributions to Camden County and the lives he touched will not be forgotten. Now therefore be it proclaimed by the Camden County Board of Commissioners, they do hereby honor the life and legacy of Robert Allen Strickland, recognizing his many years of service to the citizens of Camden County. Thank you. I'd like to get the board to come down and take a picture with the family, if there's anyone else that would like to participate in that as well. Any other family? Robert was family to all of us. My favorite memory of Robert, I work in the press box at the football games, and you know the stadium has all these rules, you gotta have a clear bag, you can't bring liquids in, and he's banging at the press box door, and I'm like, what in the world is that? And I open the door, and it's Robert, and he's got this huge bottle of honey, and he's like, here Mike, I brought this for you, and I'm like, how in the world did you get this in here? But that's the kind of stuff he did.

It was clear.

Ooh.

Can I take a minute, Robin?

All right. At this time, ladies and gentlemen, I have the privilege of recognizing the employee of the quarter for 2026. So each quarter, the Employee Appreciation Committee opens nominations to our entire employee base. From those nominations, the committee carefully reviews and selects one individual who truly exemplifies the values and the standards of Camden County. This quarter, we're proud to recognize someone who consistently goes above and beyond in both attitude and performance. And according to her nomination, this employee brings positive and uplifting energy to the workplace every single day, no matter how busy or challenging the day may be. She approaches her work with professionalism, a great attitude, and a smile, although she'll tell you that she doesn't smile much. She has a meaningful impact on her team, not only though through her work, but through the way that she supports everyone around her. Recently, she's also taken on additional responsibilities with the Camden County Public Works taking over parks and public works operations and embracing those new challenges with willingness and willingness to learn and grow. Her dedication, teamwork, and positive spirit have not gone unnoticed and they serve as a great example of what it means to be a Camden County employee. So it's my honor to announce that the employee of the quarter for the first quarter of 2026 is Miss Frankie Hillary Miller, the office manager for Camden County Public Works. All right, so on behalf of the Camden County Board of Commissioners, we want to thank you for your hard work, your commitment, and the positive impact you make every day. So in recognition of this honor, Ms. Franke will receive her certificate of appreciation and a $50 Visa gift card, and her photo, this is the best part, will be proudly displayed outside of the commission chambers for the next six months. So Ms. Franke, for everything you do, we truly appreciate you. Round of applause. Hold on a second. We're going to get one with just the commissioners and we'll have you all come in after. Yes, sir. You just might need to. All right. Come on in, guys and gals. What gives, Marco?

You didn't want to come up? You don't want to come be in the picture? Come on.

Well, here comes Marco right behind you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Congratulations, Frankie.

OK.

I appreciate y'all sitting down there instead of having to go back and forth each time. Gotcha. Okay. All right, Mr. Chairman, the next one that I have, this is a proclamation of the Camden County Board of Commissioners recognizing May the 11th through the 16th of 2026 as National Police Week and May the 15th, 2026 as National Peace Officers Memorial Day. Whereas the men and women of law enforcement dedicate their lives to safeguarding the lives, property, and constitutional rights of all citizens, often placing themselves in harm's way in the service to their communities, The deputies of the Camden County Sheriff's Office serve the citizens of Camden County and the state of Georgia with honor, integrity, and professionalism, working diligently to preserve public safety, enforce laws of this state, and protect the rights of all. And whereas National Peace Officers Memorial Day observed May 15, 2026, provides an opportunity for citizens throughout Georgia and across the nation to recognize and express appreciation for the dedicated service and sacrifice of law enforcement officers. The Camden County Board of Commissioners recognizes the profound sacrifice made by fallen peace officers across the state of Georgia and the enduring impact on their families, friends, and fellow officers. And the board reaffirms its commitment to stand in solidarity with them. The board further acknowledges the vital role that strong partnerships between law enforcement and the community play in maintaining safe and thriving communities throughout Camden County and the state of Georgia. So now therefore be it proclaimed that the Camden County Board of Commissioners hereby recognizes May the 11th through 16th, 2026 as National Police Week and May the 15th, 2026, as National Peace Officers Memorial Day in Camden County. Proclaim this fifth day of May, 2026. Robbie Cheek, Chairman, Camden County Board of Commissioners.

I think we have the sheriff here in the house.

Ms. Brenda. Is Danny here as well? He didn't want to come in.

Can I get one person from that side to go to the other side?

All right, we're halfway through the presentations now. All right, this one is a proclamation of the Camden County Board of Commissioners recognizing the month of May 2026 as Mental Health Awareness Month. This is an important one. Whereas mental health is essential to the overall and well-being of individuals, families, and communities impacting emotional, psychological, and social health at every stage of life, millions of Americans experience mental health conditions each year. Yet stigma and misunderstanding often prevent individuals from seeking the help and support that they need. Whereas raising awareness and promoting understanding of mental health fosters compassion, reduces stigma, and encourages early intervention and access to appropriate care. The theme for Mental Health Awareness Month 2026 is More Good Days Together, and it emphasizes the importance of connection, community, and shared experiences when supporting mental health and improving quality of life. Strong social connections, supportive relationships, and inclusive communities play a vital role in helping individuals build resilience, Navigate challenges and experience more positive and fulfilling days. Whereas community organizations, healthcare providers, educators, first responders, and advocates throughout Camden County work diligently to provide services, education, and outreach to improve mental health outcomes. So now therefore be it proclaimed by the Camden County Board of Commissioners that May 2026 is recognized as Mental Health Awareness Month in Camden County, Georgia. and encourages all residents to support efforts that promote mental wellness, foster connection, and help create more good days together. Proclaim this fifth day of May, 2026. I'd like to ask if there's anyone that works in mental health to come up and receive this proclamation. I think that would be fantastic.

And we have two representatives of the Suicide Prevention Corps.

Oh, fantastic. Awesome.

Thank you. Yes, yes, it is. Last one, though.

All right, at this time, I'd like to ask anyone who is a participant in the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition to please come forward.

Oh, Cambry, you are here.

Yes. All right, this is fantastic, y'all. So good evening again, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. Tonight we have the privilege of recognizing an outstanding group of young women who are representing our region on a statewide stage at the upcoming Miss Georgia's Teen and Miss Georgia State Competitions, which will take place June 11th through June 20th. This year, there are seven young ladies from Southeast Georgia that will represent our communities in this prestigious program. These participants are not only competing for state titles, but also for nearly $80,000 in scholarship opportunities. In fact, and I'd love to see this today, the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition is the largest scholarship program for women in the world. These opportunities that'll help shape the futures through education and leadership, but what really makes this program special, y'all, is that it goes far beyond just the competition. The Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition is built on a powerful mission to empower young women to achieve their highest potential, and it does this not only by providing those scholarship opportunities, but by fostering leadership and encouraging meaningful community engagement. Each of these young women spends months leading up to the competition actively promoting a community service initiative that they're passionate about and these ladies are already making a difference here right here at home before they even step on a stage. This organization emphasizes values that we as citizens of Camden County deeply appreciate. Values like education, leadership, service, integrity, and excellence. It's about preparing young women for not just a competition but for life and for helping them become more confident and capable leaders who will contribute to their communities for years to come. So there's seven young women that are represented in our communities. I'm going to list them out here and we'll recognize the folks that we have here in front of us. So we're proud to recognize these seven young women. So Miss Georgia Coast is Miss Laura Hill. The Miss Georgia Coast Teen, Liza Kate Clarkson. Miss Golden Isles, Bree Hagan. Miss Golden Isles Teen, Katelyn Ebby, Miss Cumberland Island, Katelyn Bailey, and then Miss Cumberland Island's teen is Miss Cambry Battle, right here in front of you. And then Miss Riverwalk's teen is Miss Abigail Kelly. All right. So thank you both for representing Camden County and Southeast Georgia as a whole with such pride, professionalism, and purpose. We wish you the very best when you go on to the state level. I also want to take a moment to recognize the local executive director who couldn't be with us here tonight, Ms. Jean Stanzik. She plays a critical role Behind the scenes, any of you that have been through the high school or have kids there, I'm sure have encountered Ms. Stanczyk. So I want to thank her for leadership and dedication that she provides in mentoring these young women. And then lastly, I just want to say the Miss Georgia Scholarship Competition represents something bigger than a title, than a sash that they're wearing. It's really that opportunity for growth, service, and leadership. And it's helping shape the next generation of strong and compassionate women. who will make a meaningful impact not only here in Camden County, but across Georgia and the country. So on behalf of the Camden County Board of Commissioners, we congratulate you and we recognize you and we want to thank those who support them. Families are here as well, and we wish you continued success. All right, we're going to have the board come up and take some pictures with you, and then we'll have your families after. All right, let's get, hold on ladies. I want to get your families up here. The Kellys and the Dubois are here. It takes a strong family behind these young ladies for them to be able to compete like this. So what y'all do is very important. Thanks, y'all.

Thanks, Mike. Next up is Chuck White. There he is.

The chair is a little low. All right, good evening, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. I'm here this evening, if we can get our slides up. Hey, I'm gonna try to be as brief as I can in talking about one of the most significant wildfires in the state of Georgia's history in terms of its impact on the citizens of Brantley County. So again, I'll try to be quick. If there's a question while I'm presenting and you want to ask it, please do so. I have Deputy Chief Boyette with me so she can be a little more on the technical for the fireside. But this has been an all team effort and I want to try to highlight that as I move forward. Next slide. So roughly 22,500 acres burned, 35 square miles. It is right now 85% contained and that changed today and that's a good thing. There were 112 homes, yeah, absolutely. So 112 homes destroyed, 30 plus damage. Additionally, there was commercial property that was damaged that's not reflected here in this. I wanna put this in perspective and I'll give you a visual just to show you how large this fire was. Next slide. So that red circle represents about the area that that fire would have occupied had it been in Camden County. That's significant. Next slide. So about fire behavior and risk. Initially, this fire advanced towards Camden County. Please make no mistake about it. If you lived up on the northwest end of the county, and I think the sheriff can attest to that, he's shaking his head in the back, I was getting the call from the sheriff saying, hey, we've got ashes and maybe embers that are being carried and dropping into Camden County. It was so significant that we were coordinating with the Camden school system regarding bus operations. So the fire was on the south side of 82 and absolutely pushing off 110, and it was initially, based on wind conditions, it was pushing towards Camden County. Today, active hotspots remain on the fire, but once you get to about 85% contained, forestry will tell you that that's when they start to get comfortable. Potential for reactivation is decreasing daily right now, and hopefully that continues to be the trend. Next slide. So I want you to appreciate just, this is a drone shot of the fire. You're well over 100 feet tall of a wall of fire that's moving rapidly through a lot of fuel, which is basically your ground vegetation and your trees. A significant drought aggravated by Hurricane Helene that put a lot of timber on the ground. All of that was dry. That was still fuel source debris. All of that made for the perfect condition with the state of Georgia being in an extreme drought. This is a significant seed change in terms of our thinking collectively with these southern tiered counties in terms of how we're going to prepare going forward and how we're gonna operate in a unified, integrated way with our local, state, and federal partners. Next slide. So deployment, let's talk a little bit about resources that went. We basically were over there effective April 21. That included emergency management, fire, the sheriff's office. What's not reflected on here is the fact that the city of St. Mary's fire was in the fight with us. And I think they had at least two days on deck over there because I met with them on site. The Kingsland Police also supported this event, and Kingsland Fire remained as the ready standby here, supporting all other agencies as others pushed forward under mutual aid to get a hold of this fire. Resources included tankers, engines, patrol deputies from the Sheriff's Office, the public information officer from the Sheriff's Office, and unified command represented by emergency management on deck over there. We transitioned today, and I wanna highlight this right now, to standing up an immediate needs recovery unit, and I'll talk more about that as we push towards the end of this presentation. Next slide. So I want everyone to appreciate, it doesn't care about your jurisdictional boundary. Not at all, right? And for us, I also want this board of commissioners and our public to understand that we need to engage early. And that is both attack and defend. If this is an adjoining county and if this fire behavior is potentially going to threaten our county, you'd rather us go forward and get in the fight early and often as opposed to waiting passively for that fire to cross our county line. And that's what we've done across the board. resources deployed, pre-positioning for protection of Camden, all of that occurred, and really the situational awareness of where this fire's going. Anybody in the fire business, and I think our sheriff's office, can attest to the fact that it is very confusing. If we had not been engaged at a command level and at a tactical operational level in Brantley County, we would have been in the fog of war and not really appreciating just how dynamic and threatening this fire was. And that would put us at a disadvantage in terms of our ability to protect our own citizens and our own property and infrastructure. Next slide. So mutual aid, how do we go? Well, we have to go with an agreement. We maintain annually a statewide mutual aid agreement that really talks to a lot of different aspects of the legal framework for us to do this, and more importantly, for others to come to us. That mutual aid framework talks to liability, so we are protected. It talks to reimbursement, should that be something we're going to pursue. It gives us the mechanism to do that. So it's an important tool. The state of Georgia, for all 159 counties, pushes having a statewide mutual aid agreement, including the cities. And in Camden County, I've put the city of St. Mary's, the city of Kingsland, Camden County, across the board, we're all signatories to that mutual aid agreement. Next slide. So this is just a quick snapshot of just the command post on site out there. At our peak, we were 1,000 first responders and I'm looking at Commissioner Smith who can attest to the fact because he was there under the Office of Insurance Commissioner and Fire Safety as part of the damage assessment team. This was an all-in, one of the most complex and largest command structured events with air assets coming from Florida, across Georgia, Ground attack, I mean this was a massive lift. Next slide. So immediate needs recovery unit. I'm gonna talk a little bit about as we push into what we're doing for them now. This is a small rural county, okay? And they obviously do not have the capacity and the capability and the organizational structure that we have in Camden County for our citizens. You've got to first and foremost, even as this fire was raging and we had rolling evacuations in Brantley County and that was difficult. We had people that had needs, people that had been over a week held from their home based on fire threat, people whose homes had burned down that needed immediate support that included shelter, food, water, other resources to help them get by. We've got a tremendous amount of partners that we've kind of pulled together from the state VOAD organization that include roughly 40 agencies, and just I'll name a few of the big ones. Red Cross, Salvation Army, and let me stop on Salvation Army. In St. Mary's, our Salvation Army, along with out of Brunswick, were feeding it, one feeding on two sites, 800 first responders. That's a lift that is, I would have never imagined we had the capability to do, but it's a testament to the preparedness and the leaning forward that we saw from all of our partners. And the benchmark for everything were the churches in Brantley County. I can't sing the praises enough for what the churches stood up and did from housing firefighters and families to being points of distribution for goods to everything from taking care of an infant to spiritual to counseling. All of that centered around the faith-based community because it is the single biggest partner in that county in Brantley. Next slide. That's just an example of the Salvation Army standing up and feeding just on first responders. And again, such a tremendous effort to keep everybody in the fight. You know, high caloric intake, right? Get them hydrated, get them fed, get them bunked down, and get them back in the fight. Next slide. So this is kind of these little pop-ups that were very organized in Brantley County by volunteers in the churches that basically did everything in one stop shop. This picture doesn't show you water and Gatorade and everything for infants, children, adults, and someone there to also start intaking needs. But it was a massive lift, some of it very organic, some of it we started organizationally structure and stand up. Next slide. So we did something that we've done in Camden County. We took that and transplanted it into Brantley County. So we did a multi-agency resource information center and that's basically where no matter what your issue was, no matter what your concern was, we put the agency, the organization, the VOAD, the church, the counseling under one roof at the Atkinson Elementary School and we put them there to allow the public to literally move from the noise of social media and press releases and everything else and have a human being that could stand there and address their needs. And it was very well received and it was very emotional for a lot of the folks that were fire victims. Yeah, and this is a quick picture of that. We filled it. We had well over 135, 140 people in there that availed themselves of the services that this resource center offered. Next slide. So operational reality, right? This was long, high-risk operational periods. We initially were working 18 hours a day and trying to grab sleep. And I'm talking about fire, law enforcement, everybody. Very chaotic to start. It started to come together. The organization started to gel. and the Unified Command, and this is a very important point, in the history of the state of Georgia and the federal government that federalized what is called a Type 1 Incident Management Team, there was no experience in doing what is called a hot handoff. We literally went from Unified Command, multi-counties, those immediately around Brantley, who stood up an organizational structure, we started to do a handoff to the IMT-3 from the state, and literally as we're trying to hand off to the state, It was federalized with the IMT Type 1 coming in and also getting into the handshake. Very complex, very high level, and it really, it highlights just how big this was as a national response. Next slide. Lessons learned, right? In Camden County, we've gotta think about rapid escalation. It can happen, right? And we had just worked the Charlton County fire, so we had some experience going into Brantley County. The value of unified command and logistics. We've gotta be ready, we've gotta build the structure, have it in place, exercise it, communicate with all of our partners. We're gonna get lessons learned. There will be an after action report that will come out on this. Good, bad, indifferent. And obviously there were challenges in something like this that where no one really had the level of experience that it takes to just stand up and operate. We are more prepared now for having gone there. Lessons learned. Rapid escalation, of course, I'm sorry, next. My slide turner, great. So I wanna highlight this point. While Georgia has experienced large wildfires, right, we've got nothing, nothing this impactful that we can think historically as, hey, yeah, we've done this before. The governor was in there three times, and that should tell you a lot. And this was just a long slog of a fight. But this is a big deal and there will be a lot of lessons learned for all of the counties coming out of this and we're going to have to think about our business plan in terms of what we do with Georgia Forestry who I want to highlight. Our Georgia Forestry was in the fight and they were a lead agent in Brantley County and I can't say enough about the team from Georgia Forestry here. Next slide. So in closing, mutual aid ensures readiness. Sometimes I think at the commissioner level you go, gosh, man, we're up in Glen County or we're in Charlton County. Well, they're also in our county. And no one is an island. And if we don't work together, when the balloon goes up, no pun intended, but when something happens, we've gotta be ready and we've gotta expect that our partners are gonna come to us the way we're gonna come to them. Disasters do not care about jurisdictional boundaries. Partnerships protect Camden County, and I think we've got great partnerships going forward, and this county and the cities were very well represented on the national stage for one of the most complex incidents in the state's history. Any questions?

Chuck, now that the fire is 78% contained at this point, Now that it's pretty much over, I know you have the faith-based group here as well. I think they're called COAD? Yes, sir. What are they doing now? I know the chamber was taking in food, clothing, and all that stuff. But are you mobilizing them?

Yeah, absolutely. And I'll give you a little bit on the structure over there, right? So all of the national partners, the local partners, Family Connection for Brantley County has a lead role in terms of donation management. But that extends even into Brunswick, where the city of Brunswick, in cooperation with Glynn County, with the fairgrounds, established warehousing. The Seventh Day Adventists came in to operate the warehousing. A local trucking company in Brantley County took over the logistics of when you call for something, whoever you are, on the faith-based family connection, and you say, I need something for the public at a point of distribution, You make one call to the warehouse in Brunswick at the extension there, and it is brought over and delivered. So all of that had to be put together. Nothing existed. But we do have the handover right now happening with the county, with the churches, and with the national voluntary organizations that are coming in.

Thank you.

In terms of preparedness for Camden County, do we have a CERT in place, a Community Emergency Response Team, or is that a program you might consider?

Yes, so we've got, so I'll call it CERT Light, but it may be CERT Heavy. So what we've got is a very well-developed, you heard Commissioner Turner talk about the COAD. That's your Camden County organizations active in a disaster. And we've got everything being done from chainsaw training, strike teams, stand up to support a call center, you name it, point of distribution. This group, which functions like a CERT, but a little bit under different umbrella, is fully up and operating and ready to be activated in support of the community needs for Camden County. But let me take it a little step further. So we will establish, even out of that, we're going to take some functional areas, like the chainsaw strike team, debris movement, tarping of a roof, and move them back under CERT more officially. So that's something that's in process.

Very nice. Thank you. I got one thing, Chuck.

Sir.

How beneficial was the airport in Brantley County to fight this fire?

So if you've seen an aerial of the airport, the commissioner was over there. Had they not had it, and they don't have a whole lot, right? There's just not a lot of infrastructure. But we basically took it over. We included, we even ran air operations out of it for tanker drops on small aircraft and rotary wing helicopters. So just having a staging area, that was huge for us and it became the base of operations for this entire incident.

I can tell you having been over there three different times, the appreciation level that we got from Brantley County for not just us, all the communities involved, all the agencies involved was just astounding. We can't say enough. We appreciate what you did. We appreciate what we've done as Camden County, but we were not the only ones. This shows us where, when disaster strikes, we all team together, no matter where the, what, Republican, Democrat, doesn't matter. We all come together and make things happen, and that's a prime example. We don't want that to be what brings us together, but it did, and it's a It's a great testament what we can do as a community as a whole. Absolutely. We appreciate what y'all did. Yep. Team effort. Thank you. Okay, we're going to move on to the first public comment section. Kay, do we have anybody signed up?

Yes, I have three speaker request forms that were submitted for the record. Those will be included in the minutes. And the first is Tracy Wilson.

Red button, Tracy.

Sorry, can you hear me now? I just wanted to voice our opinion about the upcoming data center. I know that it's been tabled, but I feel like there's a lot of your constituents that are not happy with the possibility of it coming to our community. And I also wanted to know what environmental impact studies have been done along with community impacts. So there's a large amount of people that if you guys decide to move forward and think about this decision, you might want to do some town halls so that you can explain your thought process. And we can also avoid our displeasure or pleasure with whatever you're bringing to our county. So that's very important. There's a lot of people right now that are very unhappy with this. So I feel like town halls might help bring that. And that's it.

THANK YOU.

THANK YOU. NEXT IS RICKY MANNING.

Rick Manning from Bullhead. I'm going to touch on quite a few little things real quick. First, with Chuck, thank you very much. I've been up there several times. I had a sister-in-law that completely lost her house, and her nephew had a lot of damage. It's devastation up there. The team pulled everybody up there. It was amazing. I just want to let you all know everybody appreciates it. Anyhow, all right, letter of support for THICOL. I totally agree with that. I just wanted the board to know. Thank you all for pursuing this and discussing it. Something that needs to be done. Those were heroes out there back in those days. Okay, let's move on. Number seven. Here we go. The moratorium for the data centers. This is a gimme, folks. More than likely, sooner or later, we're going to wind up with a data center. But we need to do it right. There's things that can be done, but if there's no stipulations in place, no rules and regulations, we're gonna screw over the county. Simple as that. Everybody keeps hollering about closed-loop water systems. They're great, they'll save water. But they also come with a price. Price is corrosion inhibitors. Very dangerous stuff in that stuff that builds up. Bacterial inhibitors, they're all in there. So you gotta make sure you get proper containment and all that. Mr. Chairman, you should know about all this stuff. We got to make sure it's done right. If it's going to happen, let's make sure it's right or let's not let it happen. Simple as that. Our citizens and our environment mean a lot more than a data center. Now, we're going to go on the legal notice. Of course, that's a gimme. Let's admit our mistakes, move on, and let's go forward. That's what we should be doing with everything. If we make a mistake, let's get up here and admit it. Be done with it. Let's don't sit here and argue about it. Go to court again about stuff that we know we did wrong. We're never going to move forward as a county until we do this. Thank you.

Ben Goff.

Ben Goff from Harris Bluff. I was very surprised to see in the agenda, the first I knew of it, about Mr. Robert Strickland passing. I didn't know Robert very well, but I did know him from interaction with work that was being done in the bluff area. I first met him, he was on the business end of a shovel And I asked him then, I said, shouldn't some of these younger folks be handling that shovel? He said, they're doing something else. But he was a fine man, and I really appreciate the fact that I did know him for the short time that I did. And I do have right now a jar of his honey at home. Next thing that I want to touch on, is the fact that on March 3rd of this year, I stood at this same podium and asked that you gentlemen consider a moratorium on data centers until we could develop ordinances and rules and regulations concerning them. So I'm glad to see that it's on the agenda tonight, and I hope certainly that we do, in fact, get a moratorium. Thank you.

Terry Keller.

Wow, that's really high. Okay. Oops. Hi, I'm Terry Keller from Kingsland. Thank you for letting me speak before you. Clearly there is huge interest in the topic of data centers. Apparently it is becoming common knowledge that there's something that many city residents don't want for multiple reasons. And let me make it clear at the beginning, we keep hearing that this attempt to put a data center in our fair city involves 700 acres. That sounds like a lot until you realize that 700 acres is about one square mile. And this one square mile is right in the middle of one of Kingsland's most populated areas. I have been reviewing the proposed rezoning of this one square mile parcel near Interstate 95, bought by Kirk Tovey of Jacksonville, owner of VV, VLM, Vivari Farms. It is clear after looking into the subject of data centers, it might be better if Mr. Tovey redirected his interest back to Florida to his own backyard. As St. Mary's Riverkeeper, Emily Flohr, has noted, rezoning to light industrial would establish a framework for a wide range of uses, including warehouses, manufacturing, truck terminals, and potentially data centers. Proponents cite closed-loop cooling system as reassurance, but that claim deserves scrutiny. These systems still require significant water withdrawals, maintenance, and chemical treatment. In a community tied closely to the St. Mary's River watershed, the handling and potential discharge of treated water should be top of mind. Data centers also generate substantial heat that must be discharged. And from what I understand, they don't bring much in the way of jobs. This area that he wants to use sits within a growing corridor of many homes and subdivisions. Kingston is already familiar with flooding and drainage challenges. Many residents have seen these impacts firsthand, and an industrial complex would add more impervious hard surfaces. This is transitional land in an already populated corridor and zoning decisions here will affect nearby neighborhoods and the residents and families therein. I also understand that constant noise could be a serious issue for anyone unlucky enough to live within even two or three miles of this place. Again, thank you for giving this extremely important topic a public hearing. We are all in this together, as Commissioner Cheek and Jeff were talking about, and this is what makes this Camden County a great place to live. Thank you.

Steve Winkle.

Steve Winkle, I live in Harriets Bluff. Your piece of the microphone I'm speaking through, I'm getting my own echo. I want to clarify some information about data centers. I'm not against a data center per se. I believe that like any industry, a data center should be treated no differently than a chicken processing plant or any other kind of questionable business. We need to know much more about it than has been presented. What we have been told by the state about data centers is that the benefits are far higher than the actual proof of the pudding. The state information that y'all have been depending on, I believe, it came from the State Department of Audits, over-quoted the benefits by 70%. And they recently admitted that in an extensive 91-page document trying to explain how they got so wrong on the benefits of data centers. For instance, in the largest county of Georgia, a data center is only required to have 25 employees. And those 25 employees have to be paid 50% more than the average worker in Camden County is already paid, which means they would have to be paid $66,000 in order to meet the state requirement in order to get the benefits of the state tax reductions. has nothing to do with how much Camden County gives a data center or the city of, any of our cities, actually, depending on where they decide to land, okay, because, frankly, the state has discovered that the huge number of tax reductions that they have already given the 63 operating data centers were unnecessary. That by offering those, we caused local counties to compete against each other to win a smattering of jobs. In 2022, Georgia created a law that requires that a county the size of Camden County up to the size of over Atlanta, in other words, Camden County and larger, would only have to have 25 employees in the data center. That would be a smidgen of what Camden County needs to have. And Camden County would be competing against counties with much lower costs for employees for the data center because our average salary in Camden County is inflated by the high salaries on Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay. Because on Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, we have people that not only operate submarines, but they understand the technology of the nuclear power plants and the communication systems and the missiles and the torpedoes that are loaded on those submarines. And so we have very high salaries in Camden County as an average, which would inflate the cost in Camden County for salaries. So we can spend all kinds of money and time wasted on data centers, but somebody who thinks it would be important to come to a data center in Camden County could jump over in Charlton County and save $30,000 a year in salaries per employee. There was a comment made by one of our commissioners about the water use of the now closed Gilman Paper Mill. And the number quoted was not correct. It turns out that I looked up the actual permit And I found the permit that was operating at the Gilman Paper Mill and then later at the Durango Mill before the mill closed. And it was a permit for not 30 or 40,000, but for 40 to 44,000, I'm sorry, 40 to 44 million gallons of water a day. But that permit that was promoted as well that mill was able to use so much water expired in 2005, December 31st, 2005. And that mill, when it closed, was more than 50 years old and obsolete. And I know that as a fact because I was in the paper mill business. And I was head of designing engineering for a multinational company that handled the environmental problems of paper mills, just like Gilman. In fact, that mill bought equipment from us. And so I knew exactly what was going on. And so I know that that paper mill was obsolete. It's already been pointed out at a very high level in the national media about having polluting problems due to poor management. And as we know, poor management leads to all kinds of problems. For instance, when our landfill was closed suddenly by the state, we had 92 percent of the operating equipment at the Camden County Landfill was not operational or was considered by the state in very poor operating condition. And so we have a reputation of not staying on top. Now, we got a fire presentation tonight. And I want to say that I believe that we should all measure up. Camden County as a whole should measure up to our EMA services, to our fire department. This week, while they were fighting the end of that battle, and while they had been distracted for eight or nine days by that fire in Brantley County, I witnessed 15 to 20 firefighter trainees training at fire headquarters, climbing on roofs, learning how to find the beams so they could cut holes through the roofs without causing the roof to collapse, how to climb a roof and put ladders on the roof, and they were all trainees. I was so impressed because while they were fighting fires, they were also training the next batch of people that we're counting on to save our lives someday. That's exactly the kind of forward thinking that we need. So thinking ahead, I'm thinking that every million gallons of water that we save taking out of the aquifer, every million gallons allows us to build another 1,500 homes in Camden County. And that means 1,500 jobs to 3,000 jobs. That means customers for all those fast food chicken and hamburger joints that have opened up. But that's necessary because we don't want a new business to open and an older business to close. We want there to be enough for everybody so that there's a county for success. and for an investment that's going on. And so the way I look at this is not so much how much water we use, but whether we have enough water to go around. Well, that paper mill got its permit before Naval Base Kings Bay was established. How much water is used on Naval Base Kings Bay? How much water is used? That needs to be counted and it isn't in the presentation that has been made. We have had at least 4,000 homes built in Camden County since this permit has expired for the paper mill. 4,000 homes have to have a minimum of 650 gallons for the smallest home, is that correct? Yes. So multiply 4,000, that's a couple of billion gallons of water necessary just for the population that we need. And 25 employees wouldn't make much difference. And so I'm going to finish up quickly, but a number, yes, a number you need to keep in mind is that Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay has 400 times as many employees as a data center is required to have in Camden County. 400 times. You better pay attention to the impacts from the people who don't even know how different the threat is than is actually being presented. Thank you.

I'm gonna go against protocol just a little bit, but just for a show of hands, how many people are here for or against the data center agenda item? Okay. Okay, let's separate that. Who's here for a data center? Who's here against data centers? Okay, how many would like to speak to the board? We have three. Okay, we'll do 10 more minutes if we have three, four. Dr. Gray, were you four? We'll do 10 more minutes. Y'all divide it up however you want. If you get 10 more minutes to speak, please come forward. Run. Run. There you go.

And if you can state your name and just what city you live in.

Good evening. My name is Emmanuel, and I live at the Grove Park Apartments in Middle School Road in Kingsland. I'm glad that at least for now, y'all are considering a moratorium and also that the application for rezoning at the current moment has been withdrawn. And I think that matters. It shows that public attention and engagement can make a difference. But I also want to be very clear, just because the proposal has been withdrawn does not mean the concern has gone away. The scale of what was being considered, hundreds of acres being shifted to industrial use, was significant. And the questions it raised about water usage, infrastructure, environmental impact, and long-term planning are still very real. Those questions did not disappear when the application did. If anything, this shows how important it is for this community to stay engaged early before decisions are already set in motion. Because proposals like this do not happen just once. They come back. Sometimes revised, sometimes renamed, but with the same long-term impacts. So I appreciate that the application has been withdrawn and that the moratorium is being considered. I want it to be clearly understood. This community is paying attention. We are watching how land is being used. We are watching how decisions are being made, and we expect transparency, accountability, and responsible growth. Because these decisions not just affect today. They shape this community for decades. And if this comes back, and it will, we will be ready. Thank you.

Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. What was your last name? I didn't catch it. Last name? Yeah.

Hello. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kat Montgomery. I'm an advocate for 100 Miles, a conservation organization based in Glynn County, dedicated to protecting Georgia's 100-mile coast from Savannah to St. Mary's through advocacy, education, and community engagement. We applaud Camden County as the first coastal municipality to consider adopting a data center moratorium. 100 Miles is urging our coastal communities to press pause on data centers by enacting official moratoriums. Currently, no large-scale data center has been built in coastal Georgia and we need to understand how this resource-heavy industry will impact our unique environment in regards to stormwater management and flooding, marshland habitat protection, and wetland connectivity. Data centers are an emerging issue for local governments across Georgia, and accepting this new industry into your county is a choice that you should not make lightly. While we need these centers to house our necessary information, like our emails, our saved photos, hospital records, and things like that, what we're talking about is a new type of mega data center due to the recent boom of AI models and the large scale centers to support these and other digital endeavors like cryptocurrency mining are straining our real and tangible resources. There are no state level regulations or protections guiding the data center industry to be good neighbors. 20 bills were introduced in the state legislative session this year and none of them passed. That means that for now, local governments like y'all are the only entities able to ensure that negative impacts are mitigated thoughtfully by requiring additional standards and safety protocols on the front end of the planning process. And you do that by establishing an airtight ordinance with explicit language to mitigate the impacts on quality of life, like air, water, and noise control. And your ordinance should also have dark skies operational guidelines, some benefit agreements to ensure that the folks of Camden County don't get the short end of the stick with that. and natural disaster planning, there are many tools that you have to build a strong ordinance. And I want to thank you for being brave enough to say, hey, we actually need some time to plan. So passing a moratorium will set an example of faithful stewardship to the coast, its residents, and its environment too. Previously at your April 21st work session, I provided a sample model ordinance that was created by our on-staff certified city planner and ecology experts. 100 Miles is interested in joining a working group to help strengthen your current draft, and we are also available to host workshops or different events to give more information about this emerging industry. So thank you for your time.

Hello, my name is Defonzio Daniels, and I am from St. Mary's, Quaker River State Park area. I am here on behalf of the citizens. I'm also running for Congress, guys. I just got done knocking doors, so I'm here to talk to you about what was actually going on today in our community and some of the issues that we wanted to address and talk about. And that is basically bringing to the attention of everyone here that 26.1%, Five billion dollars was given to the state of Georgia and Alabama from two southern companies to upgrade the grids. That's upgrade the grids, upgrade the wires, and basically fix all those things. But those grids are being upgraded with your tax dollars. So with the understanding that it's being updated with your tax dollars, you would also be paying for your local taxes that are going to be also taxed again. So why should the citizens be taxed twice? So we have to also realize that, too. And the citizens also wanted to make it clear also that if we're going to bring in a data center, we're going to have some mitigations or some things attached to it. If they're going to bring it in here, we need to actually attach education to it, some school stuff, some roads, anything to make sure that they're actually being looked out for, that we're not left with the smallest end of the stick here. So those are some of the biggest things that they wanted to talk about to make sure that we have some things that's going to make sure that if it's going to affect our health, we don't want it. If it's going to affect our pockets, we don't want it. These are some of the things that the citizens are talking about. So when someone says they want to have a forum or something or a town hall, that's why they want it because a lot of the information that we come here and we talk about today, we will not get that now. So that sit-down, that structured environment, that guided discussion is one of the biggest ideal things to actually negotiate and talk to your citizens. So that's what the citizens are actually asking for. Thank you.

Good evening, Commissioners. Emily Flohr, St. Mary's Riverkeeper, 694 East William Avenue, Kingsland, Georgia, 31548. I echo everything that everyone else has said. I'm going to touch on a few additional points. One, thank you for proposing this. I was at the meeting a month ago where it was initially proposed, and I got tabled to ensure that it fell in line with legal, so I appreciate that. Over the past few years, customers of Georgia Power have seen rate increases multiple times, six hikes in the last three years. A major driver has been the cost associated with the new nuclear facility in Waynesboro, Georgia, along with the rapidly growing energy demand of large-scale users like data centers. In response to public concern, Georgia Power has said it will hold rates steady through 2028. And while that may provide short-term predictability, it doesn't change the underlying issue. Who is paying for this growth? And whether everyday customers are subsidizing infrastructure built to serve a handful of very few large energy users. On the community trade-offs and the long-term growth, we need to be thoughtful about how we grow. Large-scale developments like data centers can place significant demands on our water resources, energy grid, and local infrastructure. If we're dedicating substantial public resources, whether that's water, land, or energy capacity, to a single type of industry, We have to ask, is this the most sustainable path forward? Are we building a diversified economy that strengthens our tax base and community resilience over time? Or are we concentrating risk in one sector that offers limited long-term return? This isn't about being for or against growth. It's about making sure growth aligns with the long-term health of our communities, our natural resources, and our economy. And we should be asking not just what is being built, but who benefits and who bears the cost. Again, thank you for the consideration of a nine-month moratorium and being the first on the Georgia coast to consider one. Thank you.

Very quickly, please. This is about the data center, correct?

This is not about data center. I want to switch gears. That's fine. Perfect. I want to speak about the presentation of your declaration that this is Mental Health Month. I'm Mary Beckman. I live in District 3. I want to take this opportunity to ask you to put your money where your mouth is. Think as you go forward with designing a new jail. Think about whether building a bigger jail is a cost-effective way of addressing the fact that many of the people who are in jail would be better served if there were a mental health court that could divert them to some kind of inpatient psychiatric care facility instead of having to send them all the way up to Savannah if they're in a crisis. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Reverend James Hamm, Kingsland. I just want to say real quick about the mental health. We had an incident here in Woodbine here recently, the shooting. Nobody really said anything about it, but as she just said, most of the stuff that we have is mental health. If we could get the churches and the government to work together, we can get a lot of stuff done. The churches can play a big part in the government. We can work together because most of everybody knows somebody, akin to somebody, or work with somebody, and it's our job. The government can't do it by itself, and the church can't do it by itself. So y'all know I'm all into mental health. I get the call all the time. And I think we're on the right track to getting some things done if we just stay focused. But mental health is the key thing. Our police, our law enforcement, our sheriff people, it's too much on them. And y'all trying to switch money, trying to scratch money, it ain't going to go over so far. But if we communicate and show respect, a lot of stuff can go away just talking to people, just showing, just being nice. A lot of just saying hello can be done. It don't cost a dime. So just... If you serve God, he'll tip you.

I want to talk about data center.

Data center? I want to talk about it. I've got a platform for that.

Okay. I respect your wishes, Chairman. Dawn Gray, Camden County. I want to speak to an agenda item. And that is number eight, the consideration of issuing a retraction in the legal order organ while trying to go through and ensure that the city of Kingsland had followed Georgia law with regards to issuing their ordinances, their public notices with changing the ordinances. it caused me to come across that we actually have a gateway in the state of Georgia that comprises legal notices that you guys put out. And right now, if I were to go through, if you were to go through and to search those public notices, what we still have is a public notice saying that your body actually tentatively agreed to a millage rate increase, which we are now familiar with, that the court ruled that That did not happen in an open meeting. So I just want to echo the support of actually issuing a retraction. So therefore, when people are doing research on what's happening in our county, that we're able to actually get informed information. I also want to echo what Mary Beckman and Pastor Hamm stated. Commissioner Casey, you asked the question, how helpful was that airport in Brantley County? I'd like you to take a survey for those of us that are boots on the ground with social services and mental health in this community and ask us how helpful would it be for us if we actually had a psychosocial rehabilitation center here, if we had wraparound services for our families here. if we had an emergency treatment facility, hey, if we could even have an emergency receiving facility for our population here. So as our suicide rate has come to where it is somewhat manageable, I mean, I would really like for it to have the conversation with regards to if we're looking at how actually having services in place would help in a crisis. Gentlemen, we've been in a crisis for quite a few years here. And as your GBHDD representative, I still am requesting help in that area. We have buildings that you guys own here in this community, one of which used to house our psychosocial rehabilitation center there across from the middle school in Kingsland. It has been done. It can be done. So please help us so that we're better able to help our community. Thank you.

We're going to end the public comment section. Very quickly, I understand our Citizens Academy is in attendance tonight. So if you're in the Citizens Academy, please stand. I think Martin, didn't you, what's the orange story? Never mind, I don't even get into that. But I think the Citizens' Academy itself is a good tool so that people learn what government does. And one thing I've found out since I've been elected and even prior to that is there's a lot of people who are working full-time jobs raising kids. they don't have time to focus on what we do as a government. And we up here in the staff, we think that y'all know what we think and do, but we don't, y'all don't. So the Citizens Academy is a good way to get people involved so that you can take the message back to your people. So I'm a big fan of Citizens Academy. I think it's a great deal and we appreciate what y'all do. Okay, now I'm going to entertain a motion to take a 10-minute recess.

We have a motion.

We have a motion. We have a second.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. We're back in 10.

Second.

I guess we need to vote. We want to vote. I guess we need to vote. Let's vote.

I'm going anyway. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we'll get on to our regular meeting.

Item number one, Cassie.

Good evening, commissioners. Today, I am here on behalf of the Georgia Power Company. They are requesting a 15-foot easement area located on parcel 063052. The purpose of this request is in order to install, operate, repair, and maintain the distribution line for electrical services on an overhead line extension to provide power to the neighboring property owner at 117 Chaney Road. Staff does... recommend approval at this request.

Okay, having heard Cassie, I'll make a motion we approve.

I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries.

Thank you.

Bill? Oh, there he is.

Well, good evening, Commissioners.

I am here tonight to request permission to go forward with the purchase for 10 Harris radios, to have a cache of radios for our mobile command vehicle. And why these radios are important for us is, let's look back to the Brantley County fire and let's look at the Charlton County fire. When they were responding on scene and they were receiving mutual aid from places unknown, and they would show up and they would be unable to communicate. These radios will help us in the event somebody has to come here to us that we can hand them a radio and they'll be able to communicate on our radio system. I also want to point out that our radio system, our 800 megahertz radio system, talks in our surrounding counties. McIntosh, Glynn, Camden, Charlton, Nassau, Duval. Our system is built to the point where we can communicate outside of our county. Our teams, our fire teams, went to Charlton County and went to Brantley County and used our radio system in their counties to coordinate fire efforts. I highly recommend that we purchase these radios to have them readily available in the event we have the same situation in Camden County. Thank you.

Okay, do we have a motion?

Mr. Chairman, I move we approve this purchase.

Second, Mr. Chairman.

We have a motion and a second.

Any discussion?

We spent a lot of money on this radio system through the years. It's well worth it.

I'd just like to say, too, so with the agency I was responding with, we didn't have our own communication set up, and I think it was day three of the fire, and we were being asked to go evacuate. And fortunately, Mr. Chuck White actually had a spare Harris radio in the back of his EMA vehicle, which allowed us to establish communication. So it was extremely helpful. So I could see this being a good use case as well.

Yes, sir. Thank you so much.

Also, this is basically grant money.

It is a grant money.

Yes, from the state home and security grant. Do we have a motion and a second? Any further discussion?

All in favor?

Motion carries.

Thank you. Good evening.

Working on item three.

Good evening commissioners tonight. I have two items in front of you both are action items and they have to do with our work on the naval base Looking for approval of a contract award for parking lot lighting replacement and repair services on Kings Bay naval base The revenues are the expenses of this project would be roughly 1 million three hundred fifteen thousand eighteen dollars and we be looking at bringing in a revenue of one one million four hundred and forty eight thousand four hundred eighty dollars and some change and CAMDEN COUNTY AND THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ENTERED INTO AN IGSA IN 2024 TO HELP SUPPORT INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE PROJECTS ON THE BASE. WE'RE LOOKING TO CONSIDER THE APPROVAL OF THE CONTRACT AWARD TO MUSCO SPORTS LIGHTING FOR PARKING LOT LIGHTING REPLACEMENT AND REPAIR SERVICES ON KINGS VEY NAVALWAYS. The quote received was from Musco Lighting for the purchase, delivery, and installation of the parking lot lighting infrastructure for a secured production facility located on the base. Contract pricing is based off a national cooperative purchasing agreement through SourceWell. And the contract pricing is turnkey and includes all engineering and design services, installation, and a percent off MSRP on all the products. The IGSA also includes a fee schedule to cover all of our expenses. So again, this is a win for the county and the base. The base gets a project that's in better rate of cost than what they would get if they went themselves. And they also get the project done and completed usually a year to 18 months sooner than if they did through their normal process. So for us, we get essentially 10%. administrative fee for doing the work, which then goes back to our capital investments in our equipment. So the first one I'm looking to get the motion to approve the contract award to Musco Lighting Services for the parking lot lighting replacement and repair services on Kings Bay.

I haven't heard the item. Do I have a motion?

Mr. Chair, I move to approve the contract award for parking lot lighting replacement and repair services on Kings Bay Naval Base. Second.

We have a motion and a second. Discussion?

All in favor? You're going to walk away with $133,000.

Correct.

About that, yep.

Yeah, this is a win for the taxpayers all the way around.

And the funds that we bring in from doing this work with the base, helps the unincorporated side in the capital investments of getting new equipment for public works. So we're no longer having to be a burden on the unincorporated tax base for renewing equipment.

We have a motion to second any further discussion. All in favor? Motion carries.

All right, the second item in front of you is very similar to the first, except this was for a project for their athletic field lighting replacement services. They have three softball fields, softball fields one, two, and three on the naval base that they are looking to get new lighting on. They're right actually adjacent to the football field that we did this same project for last year and was very successful. Again, it's the same National Cooperative Purchasing Agreement, same turnkey project with Musco Lighting, This one would bring in, the expenses would be $745,855 and a revenue of approximately $822,401. And again, the motions to approve, we're looking for a motion to approve the contract award to Musco Lighting for the athletic field lighting replacement repair services on Kings Bay.

Do we have a motion? Make a motion to approve the contract award for athletic field lighting, Kings Bay, as specified by Mr. Baudoin.

Second. I have a motion and a second. So, basically, it's a good deal. We get some cash out of the deal.

Yeah, I mean, between the two projects, we're looking at bringing home somewhere around $200,000, which is going to greatly help, you know, the public works getting a new motor grader, replacing equipment that are big buys that would be tough for the county to take on on its own. Awesome.

We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you. Moving on to item five. This is a...

The superintendent had to leave, so...

Okay, Adam, five is accepted for the deed of the old Woodbine School located at 201 Cabinet Avenue, Woodbine, to the Camden County Board of Education. Who's going to handle that?

Did you want me to handle it? I believe you have the deed in your packet. This is to deed... Let me check and see where we are here. The old Woodbine School back to the Camden County School Board. So they would take ownership of that?

The school board is... The school board deeded the county the old elementary school here in Woodbine some years ago. They want it back for historic reasons. And part of their agreement is we have the Opry over there that operates under agreement and some other things that go on. So they're willing to take it back over. And our criteria is to make sure that any agreements that are in place now remain in place. So that's the item on the agenda.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we approve this deed transfer.

I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion?

Yes, sir. Does this protect the Opry? Yes, absolutely.

That's part of the agreement is they're going to own it, they're going to maintain it, but the Opry stays in place.

Very good. Thank you.

So we have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Okay, moving on. Bear with me one moment. Okay, the next item is a letter of support, requesting co-sponsoring of House Resolution 6559, that I call Memorial Congressional Gold Medal Act, 2 to 14, Georgia delegates to the 119th Congress. We've heard Janie discuss this with us. If you want to come up and speak, Janie, real quickly.

That would be nice.

Good evening.

My name is Janie Everett, and I'm the founder of Thack Hall Memorial Project. And this is Ms. Emma Lou Gibbs, the CEO. And we'd like to thank you all for supporting us with House Resolution 6559. This is the first time. It took us, what, 12 years to get this bill to the floor of Congress. And you all supported us last year, writing the president and everyone when we got the Emmy Award. And so everything lifted to the next level. So we went from local to state to national level. Now this bill, we need 290 co-sponsors. But charity begins at home. And so we need those 14 Georgia delegates to step up. We've already written 100 veterans in the 119th Congress asking them to support. So it should have been a code bill introduced in the Senate and in the House, but Congressman Carter, he introduced it in the House. But we needed to move from the finance department to the floor. So any help that we get, we appreciate, and we appreciate you all for supporting us.

Thanks, Jenny. Do we have a motion?

Mr. Chairman. I move to approve the letter of support requesting the cosponsoring of House Resolution 6559 for the Theichol Memorial Congressional Gold Medal Act. I'll second.

We have a motion and a second. I don't know if anybody has been through the Theichol Memorial. Go and see that because... It's one thing to have a disaster, but it's another thing to have a disaster when you call it the patriots. They were doing work for the Vietnam War effort. That makes them patriots of the work they were doing. So if you have not been down, you need to go get with these folks and do the tour. It's very enlightening, and it's a part of our history we can't let go. So we've got a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries.

one interesting thing I wanted to add. We're just back in from Savannah, and today they introduced Apollo 1. And our job today was to go to Savannah, Ms. Emma, and all of the people, some of the volunteers, and make that connection between the February 27, 1965 test at and Apollo 1, how we got to the moon, the bold vision of a president and a nation working together. And Savannah is really supporting us in HR 6559. So when we were invited to help screen, and they did screen portions of our film today, but making that connection in American history two causes two different groups of people. You have astronauts and you have regular citizens taking on a national cause to help us get to the moon. And then working with the US Army. And also these astronauts got the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. We're looking for the Congressional Gold Medal, which is very significant because it comes from the people. of the United States instead of a presidential medal. Thank you.

Okay, moving on to the item of settlements, the resolution for the Camden County Board of Commissioners to establish a temporary moratorium on data centers.

Mr. Chairman, I ask that we go ahead and set a temporary moratorium. Is it a motion? Can I make that a motion?

Yes, a motion, yeah. We have a motion to set a temporary moratorium.

I say 90 days to begin with. You can always extend it.

Okay, let's get the motion in a second, then we'll do the discussion. So the motion on the floor is to move forward with a temporary moratorium on data centers.

For purposes of discussion, second the motion.

We have a motion and a second discussion.

Discussion is I think it needs to be longer than 90 days.

I'll tell you why I said 90 days. You can always extend it. You can extend it every time. I would hate, I mean, I know how slow government is, and I would hate to get to the eighth month and have to do it in a month. I mean, I don't care if you want to go six months. That's fine with me.

What's the difference between getting to the second month and have to go to the next month? It's a period of time. This thing needs thorough study and thorough public input before we do anything with it.

That's fine.

If we do six months and we get our ordinance done before the six months, we can always rescind it. That's fine.

So to be clear, we're working on, Cassie's working on ordinance now, and she brought it to us, I think, last meeting. She's working toward some revision. We're going to have another work session on that. So I think the length of time for a temporary moratorium is driven by how long it's going to take us to get that embedded and make sure we do the right thing from a... an ordinance standpoint. So whether it's 90 days, 120 days, let's just make sure we have the right time frame.

Now, this moratorium, just for clarification, would have no effect on what the cities do. This would just be the unincorporated county. The cities, they do their own thing.

Yeah, and it does not exclude any... property owner or developer coming through to at least explore a data center, even though there's a moratorium. So it doesn't stop that effort. It's just nothing happens until the moratorium is lifted for any permitting or moving forward with the project.

Since you brought up stopping data centers, I do believe it is within our authority if that is something we wanted to do to protect Camden County as far as banning data centers completely and unincorporated. That is within our power. Much like the city of Kingsland can ban strip clubs. So I do think... I do think during this moratorium, and it may be a separate motion, but if we could solicit that input, whether it be through a public hearing on whether that's something the citizens would like us to take up.

I don't think we have an issue with doing a public hearing at all. It's just tonight's agenda is do we do a temporary moratorium or not? 100%.

Absolutely.

But I do think rather than— We can deal with all the other things later. We've got an ordinance coming through. If you want to explore just a complete—we can't have a data center in Camden. That's all part of the process during the moratorium period. So we can explore all those. But for tonight, do we do a moratorium or not? 100%. And how long is it?

Could you just clarify what the time frame on that is, the amount of time?

It's written for nine months. I do think we run into an issue with that length of time. I think like, what is it, six months? I think that's the more like the usual standard moratorium rate. So that might be one addition we need to make. But, you know, while we're exploring an ordinance, I do want to make sure that we also explore the opportunity to just ban them outright as well.

Certainly. We can do that. So another item for discussion is if you look at the draft that's presented, I think there's detail in the draft, like Section 4, Section 5, 6, 7. A lot of that could be covered under the ordinance revision, so I think And I don't know if this is not a motion, but I think we can pare this down to make it more specific to just a moratorium in the time frame around that.

We have a motion to approve it. If you'd like to make a motion to amend it and take those items out, I think we can move forward on this.

I think we have to deal with the motion on the table first.

Is a motion and a second on the table?

But it does not deal with the actual motion. draft of ordinance, or the draft of...

Yes, I would recommend that you amend the motion to include the length of time being changed.

Jim did do that.

He amended it.

He did.

Yeah, he did that.

It's not an official motion, though. The motion was 90 days.

I started with 90. He amended it.

As a second, you amended it to how long?

Six months.

Six months.

Okay. Now, how do we appropriately take the moratorium as written in the packet? My recommendations have the county attorney take this ordinance and pare it down to simpler language where it's just based on the moratorium time frame. Not getting into specifics, meaning to study and evaluation. That's all part of the ordinance.

Are the items highlighted, the ones that you want to take out?

I have highlighted them, yeah.

So what I would do is I would make a motion to strike A, B, or whichever items that you have marked from the current draft so we can get this passed tonight.

So I have a motion and a second. I can't make a motion on top of a motion and a second.

We already have a motion on the floor, so Martin could amend his motion to include that.

He needs to amend the motion.

Okay, I amend the motion to six months. Good enough?

And excluding sections four, five, six, seven on the attached moratorium. We're going in the right direction. We're just going to make sure we do it right.

Let's do this. I retract my motion. You make a motion.

I'll make the motion. Okay. The motion is retracted. So I'll make a motion that we approve a six-month moratorium for data centers with sections four, sections five, section six, and section seven on the attached moratorium document to be excluded.

Second, Mr. Chairman. We have a motion and a second.

Any more discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. As confusing as that was, the motion carries. Okay. Item H is a consideration of issuing a retraction to the legal organ.

Mr. Chairman, I don't believe we specified the six months in your motion. He did. I did, I think. He did. I think I did, yeah.

Item makes consideration of the retraction of the legal order for the legal notice reporting the Camden County Board of Commissioners had tentatively adopted a millage rate resulting in a tax increase.

You want me to touch on it? I believe we're all familiar with the ruling from Judge Harrison. There is a legal notice that the county has put out that still exists in the public record, and I believe us taking action to retract it tonight would correct that public record.

And that's a motion?

And I make that in the form of a motion, Mr. Chairman.

And I'll second that for discussion. So according to the court document, we don't have to do anything, but evidently we have to deal with the legal...

Right. So the judge didn't order us to remove it, but he did say that we did it incorrectly and out of order. The problem lies in that there is an official registrar for the state of Georgia that collects all public notices to hold it somewhat as an archive, and our record is still inaccurate. And I'd like that corrected.

I think we need some legal...

To the extent that the court has made a ruling with regard to how meetings should go forward in the future, this board is obviously well-directed on what the actions are. A statutory notice was published. The language of the notice comported with the statute, and that tracks the legal language of the the statute. So to the extent that the board wishes to make any statement with regard to the notice or actions that were taken before or after, the board can certainly make a statement of it. A retraction is not necessarily the appropriate avenue, but a notice if the board wishes to make a statement, the board can do so.

The language being textually correct, I think was the legal argument, but the holding of the judge's order was that we acted in We didn't do it correctly. And so it was a procedural error even issuing that notice, but that notice does still exist out in the public record, and that needs to be retracted. But we can call the question and vote on it and see what everybody would like to do.

So we have a motion for retraction, and I'll second it. Any further discussion? All in favor? Opposed? I'll abstain. Thank you. Okay, now let's entertain a motion to adjourn the regular meeting and convene the Solid Waste Authority meeting.

Mr. Chair, I move to adjourn the regular meeting and convene the Solid Waste Authority meeting.

Do we have a second? I'll second. Got a motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries. Do we have any amendments to the solid waste agenda? We have none. Okay. Moving on, do we have a motion to adopt the solid waste agenda?

So moved, Mr.

Chair. So moved. We have a motion. Do we have a second? I'll second. I have a motion and a second. Discussion? All in favor? Okay, we'll move on to Solid Waste Authority approval of the minutes from the April 21st, 2026 Solid Waste Authority minutes. Having reviewed the minutes, does anybody have any, do we have a motion to approve the minutes?

Mr. Chair, I move to approve the minutes from the April 21st Solid Waste Authority meeting minutes.

Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries. Okay, moving on to solid waste authority public comment section. Any comments regarding items on the solid waste agenda? Seeing none, move on to the solid waste agenda. Item number one, Mr. Pittman.

Good afternoon, Commissioners. I come before you today requesting a price fee for Brantley County. They suffered the fire damage, and they reached out to us asking if we could take their C&D into our landfill, and that's C&D only. We have an out-of-county price and an in-county price, and we would like to charge them the in-county price of $18.21 per ton.

Mr. Chair, I move to approve the rate decrease for Brantley County for solid waste.

I'll second for discussion. Do we have an end time? On this? No, we don't. Not at this time, sir. Maybe we should consider maybe a year.

They're going to be cleaning up for a while. That sounds about right.

And if it takes longer than a year, we can always extend it. But we need some type of end date on this.

I think we also need to make sure that whether it's monitored in Brantley or here, make sure it's fire-related, not... Anything just, and you know how disasters go. There's always people coming in trying to beat the system. We don't want anything that's not fire damage. The only reason we're doing this is to help the people in Grantland County.

That's correct.

We don't want to go beyond that. So from a time frame, and somebody's got to monitor it, even if we look at the loads and make sure it's fire damage.

We will be monitoring each and every load that comes from Brantley County. They have to come across the scale, of course, and then identify themselves from Brantley County, and we will inspect that load, making sure that it is from the fire.

I think Brantley is setting up a collection area for debris, and I'm not sure. Is Brantley County going to have a contractor on board, or how is that going to work?

Yes, they're going to have contractors. The actual Brantley County leadership reached out to us, and they will be using contractors to collect that debris.

And that doesn't preclude, say someone wants to hire somebody else to bring their debris over, they still get the discount, right?

If it's from Brantley County and it's from the fire, absolutely, they will get the discount. Okay.

I just want to clarify. So a Brantley County citizen with a Brantley County ID can get the reduced rate as well as the contractors for the government over there, correct?

Yes. Mr. Pittman, will Brantley County still continue to be able to stand up some type of solid waste disposal in their own county subsequent?

I'm not exactly sure how they are with the MSW. They're only bringing the C&D to our site, so I'm not sure how they set up with MSW.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean MSW. I meant solid waste.

That's solid waste.

I meant construction and debris. Yes, sir. The disaster-related stuff is what I'm asking about. Do they still have the capacity to manage that themselves?

I have not yet. clue as to how they are managing over there or even if they can manage it. But they just requested to bring what they have that was in the fire C&D and C&D only to our facility.

And I'm certainly in favor of helping them. I agree with Mr. Casey that we need to have an end time on it and we also need very, very strong monitoring. Because while we want to be helpful, we don't want to be taken advantage of.

Absolutely. I can set up a time frame and bring that back to the board. If not, I can bring it back to the administrator.

I don't think we need it brought back. We just need to make sure that we put the time limit on it now, correct?

You'd have to amend your motion.

Oh, is that my motion? Okay. I amend my motion to include a time limit of one year. I'll second that amendment.

We have an amended motion and a second. Further discussion?

All in favor?

Motion carries. So move on to additional solid waste authority additional public comment section. Anybody have any comments? I thought Cyrus was going to have a comment.

I thought you were coming up. Hey, anytime, man.

I can now entertain a motion to adjourn the Solid Waste Authority meeting and reconvene the regular meeting.

Mr. Chair, I move to adjourn the Solid Waste Authority meeting and reconvene the regular meeting. Second.

We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye. Moving on to the regular meeting. Item number nine is approval of the charge, Brantley County, for the in-county rate of $18.21 per ton instead of the out-of-county rate of $25.04 per ton. And this motion will be... For one year. For one year. Would you like to make the motion to carry on your motion?

I guess my question is, if we amend it inside the Solid Waste Authority and then it appears on the regular agenda, is it already amended or do I have to...

I wouldn't say so.

Okay.

Yeah, you have to make another motion. I have to amend it again?

No, you can just make a motion to approve to include a one-year time frame. I move to approve the rate change for Brantley County residents for the period of one year in response to their wildfire relief efforts. Second.

Motion to second. All in favor? Motion carries. Thank you.

There's no changes to the calendar at this time, but we will have a work session regarding the fiscal year 27 budget next Tuesday at 5 o'clock.

Okay. All right. Joey.

Thank you, Chairman. I'll make this real fast, I promise. I also want to recognize our Citizens Academy participants, and thank you for joining us and allowing us your time so we can teach you more about our local government. I also want to echo everybody's... recognition towards the workers that went to Brantley County and our staff that put a tremendous effort into this effort. I also want to recognize their families. Their families are the ones that were left over here to take care of their personal businesses, so I really want to recognize them as well. Also today we had our annual benefits fair for our employees, and I want to recognize our HR department, that Mike Spears is our director, but all the effort that was put in by Amy Kristen, as well as Heather, there's a tremendous amount of effort that goes into this for our employees. So I want to recognize them and thank them so much for everything that they do for us. And thank you all. See, I told you I was going to be quick.

Okay, we'll move on to any other public comments. See, there you go.

Good evening, Commissioners. Again, thank you, Commissioner Smith, for bringing forth the agenda item related to the moratorium. Here's some breaking news for you, though, gentlemen. Out of Bullitt County tonight, you may be aware that they already had a data center moratorium in place. The commissioners voted 5-1 to ban all data centers coming into Bullitt County. And so, again, they had to extend the moratorium to finalize that complete ban on data centers. We sometimes get stuck here with needing to research information. And I just really wish that we didn't feel a need to reinvent the wheel every time something presents itself. I shared with the City of St. Mary's City Council last night We have the Georgia Tech Innovation Program that has an expansive library of ways in which to address ordinances, moratoriums related to data centers. Guys, that's what our tax dollars pay for. So I wish that we would use that. Also, in that, if you would take a look with regards to bans, we can look towards other cities within the state of Georgia who've already banned. And they've banned that under your police powers that are given to you under the Georgia Constitution and under Berman v. Porter, which is a Supreme Court ruling that says that you have the ability and the authority, perhaps responsibility, to protect the welfare and health of us here in Camden County. So I am in favor of a complete ban of data centers coming into Camden County, and I hope that you will take a look at the resources that are already out there and are available so that you're able to go through those. So once again, I thank you for being thoughtful and intentional. We're spending a lot of time sort of going backwards and having to decide whether we need to fix the errors that we're making. It would be incredibly nice if we could just like listen to when your citizens are coming to you and taking a look at the information that's out there, including Georgia law. So once again, I want to thank you for that and for clarifying that retraction. Because once again, had you not done that, we would have been in violation of OCG 36-80-29, which mandates that when a legal notice is published in error, we are to retract it. So again, Commissioner Smith, on a personal note, I know I give you a hard time about some of these issues that I'm passionate about, but I thank you for bringing it forth. And I thank you, gentlemen, for publishing it through tonight. Thanks.

Anybody else? Any final comments from the board?

I'd like to make one. You have one minute.

I got one minute? No, go ahead. That's not going to happen.

You know, when we started with the airport, basically three years ago, I got involved with it. I made the trips to Atlanta. I met with the FAA. I talked with all these people. We did handshakes. They told us what they were going to do. And then at the end of the day, you find out that that's not necessarily the truth. This one here, I don't want to get bogged down for another year or two trying to figure out whether we want a data center or not. I've been making phone calls to people in Virginia because people have told me about these folks, and it did not work out the way they wanted it to. You know, they were told they were going to get that $100 million tax money. They never got it. They were told they're this Virginia, so I'm not sure who they used, but They were told that basically their utilities were not going to go up. They were told they were going to have to pay for the infrastructure, and all of it was not true. That's the thing that drives me nuts. I mean, I don't want to get bogged down for a year dealing with data centers. That's the reason I wanted to do a 90-day. Jump on it, find out what's going on, and then make a decision and move forward. I just want to clarify that. You know, the six months, I mean, that's not that big a deal. But six years, that's a pretty big deal. And that's why I made that motion the way I did. and that that's important i literally talked with a guy today that uh he's getting ready to move from virginia because of data centers and here's what he told me too he says you can talk about the noise all you want the humming noise doesn't bother me but when they start up those 150 to 200 volkswagen sized generators that makes a lot of noise and so those are things and they're little dinky things that we need to to look at he said basically in their parking lot they have five cars taking care of these things so they're not going to create the jobs we want i would rather see a hundred small businesses in this county creating jobs and getting people and working on our tax base to make sure that we end up at that you know 70 to 30 instead of where we are now so just wanted to explain that We didn't really talk a lot about it, so there I am. But six months, that's not too bad.

Anybody else?

Yeah, if we're doing commissioner comments, I like this. Actually, I brought an agenda from the city of St. Mary's, but I didn't have time at the beginning of this meeting. Sure, sure.

Oh, yeah.

So they actually do council comments, and I think this is a good way when people come and have public comments to us before we were prohibited from addressing them or answering their questions.

I think we still are.

Well, it sounds like we're doing commissioner comments tonight, and I'd like to see this actually be a practice moving forward. I think it's a great idea for us to be able to respond when people do ask us questions. And I don't take it to heart, Martin. A lot of the times, and I don't think people understand this, is we don't really talk about any of these items before a meeting. So, you know, I didn't know how you felt about a 90-day or a six-month. I don't hold that against you, sir.

Anybody else? Motion to adjourn.

Make a motion to adjourn, Mr. Chairman.

I'll second. Motion to second. All in favor? Thank you all.

If you want to make a mess while we're doing this.