Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'm calling to order the Columbia County Board of Commissioners June 2nd, 2026 meeting to order. Asking Commissioner Carraway to open us with the invocation, please.

Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and this opportunity to serve the citizens of our great county. As we approach the matters at hand, help us to have the wisdom, to see things clearly and to make decisions that are pleasing to you. As always, I ask you to watch over our employees and to give special protection to our police officers and our emergency service providers. I also ask you for special divine protection over our servicemen and women as they are risking their lives for the good of our nation and for the well-being of the people across the world. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Please join me for the pledge.

of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Let the record show we have a full quorum of commissioners. Commissioners, you have the minutes from the May 19th, 2026 meeting in your packet. If you've had a chance to review them, I'll accept a motion to approve them.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to approve these minutes as presented.

I'll second.

Any questions? All in favor, raise your right hand. They are approved. Any changes to the agenda?

Ready for your approval, Mr. Chairman.

It is approved. No special recognition, so we go straight into the consent agenda. Commissioners, you have the consent agenda in front of you. Each item on this agenda has been through the necessary committees and received the necessary votes to be placed on the consent agenda. So if it meets with your approval, I'll accept a motion to approve them all.

Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to accept all these consent agenda items as presented.

I'll second that.

Any questions? All in favor raise your right hand. Motion carries. On to the debate agenda. Commissioner Malir, I believe you have the first item.

For this first item of unfinished business, I make a motion to approve the request to allow the applicant to withdraw without prejudice.

I'll second.

I'll take this one, Mr. Chairman.

This is just a request from the developer. It was an RA to PUD for an unfinished piece of Calari, and the developer has just asked to withdraw this application at this time.

Any questions? Is the motion second on the floor? All in favor, raise your right hand. That motion carries. I believe Commissioner Couch, you're up next. Excuse me, Steve. Sorry. My bad. All right.

I make a motion to approve resolution number 2613, dedicating the new Columbia County Park on Hardy McManus Road in honor of former Commissioner Don Skinner, Sr. Second. Second.

Yeah, this is a request that came from the Board of Commissioners to dedicate the new park on Hardy-McManus Road in honor of former Commissioner Don Skinner Sr. I don't think there's any additional information, but I believe Commissioner Carraway may have had some words you wanted to add.

I would like to call him up and present him with a... Do we need to do that after the vote?

I would think so. Okay. There's a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand. All opposed? Motion carries.

Today, I have the distinct pleasure of honoring Mr. Donald Skinner as outstanding individual and public servant. Don was a commercial banker for over 40 years, earning numerous awards and accolades for his work. During that time, he enjoyed coaching recreation department, football and baseball, teaching young men these respective sports, but most importantly, life-improving qualities like hard work, teamwork, and good sportsmanship. his character and integrity from his family and his faith. And he is an active member of this sanctuary church. Don has also made his mark in the public service arena. Before coming to Columbia County, he served on the Richmond County Tax Assessors Board. Since settling in our county, Don has given much of his personal time and utilized his expertise in a variety of areas for the citizens of Columbia County. He was a member of the Recreational Advisory Board, the Tax Assessors Board, and a Commissioner of Planning and Zoning. He was elected to District 2 Citizens to serve as their County Commissioner, a role in which he continued to distinguish himself. For this service and so much more, I'm proud to present that the next community park in District 3 will be named in honor of Mr. Don Skinner, our fellow public servant. Well observed. Thank you, Don.

Next up, I believe we do go now to you, Commissioner Couch.

Yes, sir. I make a motion to approve resolution number 26-12, adopting an annual budget for all funds of Columbia County, Georgia for fiscal year 2026-2027. Second.

I'll give you a brief overview of this. We have Ms. Reese here if we have any specific questions that we need to have answered on behalf of the board. We have gone through this budget process. This is a process that we began at the beginning of the year. So we've been working now almost six months on the budget. We do use zero-based budgeting method in Columbia County. We went into this understanding that there would be no property tax increase and And if possible, we would want to decrease property taxes. So we went into that as conservatively as possible. Overall, you do see an increase to the general fund. But we're very proud to say that that increase to the general fund this year is 1.95%. That is less than what it was last year. I believe we had a 3% increase last year. But... Even though we were able to keep it at 1.95%, we have to understand that Columbia County is still facing significant challenges, significant growth. We're having to keep up with everything that we're building and doing and the service requests from our citizens. So we have been through the budget. I'm not going to go through everything specifically. There are a couple of things that I do want to highlight specifically. Although we're talking about all funds, and we do have all funds balanced here for you tonight, I did want to point out that we had about, I believe we had 22 new positions in the general fund. Those range from... deputies for the jail uh to we had i believe when we had one in finance we had after hurricane helene we realized we needed some help in ema i believe our um uh parks and recreation department adding new parks we're having to cut the grass so those are just examples of the county continuing to grow so the fact that we were able to come in with with this and have a balanced budget uh in the general fund uh in the in the total amount of 105 million 925 401 dollars I think, is a good testament to the hard work of the team here. We do have a contingency of 2.51%. Our goal is 2.5%, so we're able to hit that as well. A couple of other things that we said that we would bring up if there were any changes to the budget after we presented the last budget hearing. There's really no... Big changes that you will see. We did want to point out that our employee medical contributions are going up. So as a result of that, they're going up on the employees and the employer. So there is a 10% increase in that. There is included in this a 3% cost of living adjustment for all eligible employees, and there was a very modest increase to our county attorney rates. You'll see those there as $20 for partners. This is a per-hour fee. The same for associates and paralegals. Again, we've not asked for an increase in that for some time. And then one other thing that I wanted to point out is that we did – move roads and bridges completely from the general fund to the insurance premium tax fund that is an allowable expense to use insurance premium tax the fund was able to support that so in the past it was it was funded i believe 50 50 or it was partially funded roads and bridges partially funded from general fund and iptf but that helped us to balance this year's budget by moving it completely to iptf and again those funds are restricted for certain uses Outside of that, all other funds are balanced. I do want to give kudos to the staff and our elected officials for the hard work that they put into this budget, and I'll be glad to answer any questions you have.

Any questions?

Thank you, Mr. Johnson. I assume that we're still in good stead with all the constitutionally elected officers. They've been through the budget process, and we've accepted some requests, denied some, but we're all We're good.

Will do.

There's a motion to second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries.

I make a motion to accept the additional CUI 2026 ARPA grant funds for the judicial circuit in the amount of $71,420. Second.

Again, this was an acceptance of a grant that the court put in. This item did not go to committee. You'll see that the total amount of that is $71,420. I believe ours is 10%. I have to look at it and see if it's 10%.

Yes.

10%?

No. Any questions? That's a motion. Second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand. That motion carries. Commissioner Malheur.

I make a motion to approve the request for the conditional use for the therapeutic massage for property located at tax map 073C, parcel 053.

I'll second.

So this is a request for conditional use authorization for massage therapy at this salon. This salon is existing. They previously offered this service. However, during COVID, they quit offering it. Our code changed, so therefore they have to now come back in front of this board and ask for conditional approval to have Again, it's an existing salon. There will be one massage therapist at this location.

And it was there before?

It was. During COVID, they lost a lot of their staff. So when they went to bring it back on, our code had changed regarding massage therapists. And since they were gone for more than a year, they have to bring their new massage therapist has to come into conformance with the current code. So conditional use required.

Any questions? There's a motion to second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. The motion carries.

I make a motion to approve the request for rezoning from P1 to CC for property located at tax map 073, parcels 366B and 366C for proposed commercial development subject to the condition enumerated in the May 21st Planning Commission report.

Second. So this request is to go from P1 to CC. The CC request is to allow a bank with a drive-thru to be placed in this parcel. I believe we have a non-binding concept in the packet, if you'll go forward, Renee. Maybe not. I guess it doesn't make it to it. It'll be on this parcel here. There it is. You see the bank, the far left, the drive-thru in the rear of it. They are meeting all requirements for the Evans Town Center Overlay District. The parcel to the left is also included in this rezoning. We do not have a concept at this time, but they'll have to follow the same standards, Evan Townsend's standards. Again, non-binding concept, but this is their plan at this time.

They still have to come back through, though, and resubmit, correct? This is non-binding, so we don't have officials.

So the board does not have to approve a concept plan for this? I know we don't have to approve this. So they'll have to submit through staff. We'll go through all the checks and balances, make sure they meet all the code, correct?

Perfect.

Motion and second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. That motion carries. Seeing no legal matters, request for review by committee. Do we have any public comments? No public comments. We'll go straight to the executive session. We have three issues. Commissioner Carraway.

Yes, sir. M1A, I make a motion to accept the donation of a portion of parcel 026-016B from the Eubank Family LLP for the right turn lane at the elementary school located off Ray Owens Road.

Second.

As he mentioned, it's the right-of-way needed for the right turn lane built by the Board of Education for the new school of Frey Owens.

Any questions? Motion to second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. The motion carries.

M1B, I make a motion to approve $79,000 to George Newman and Cheryl Newman for parcel 072-242 to obtain right-of-way and or easements for the Hereford Farm Road widening project.

Second. Second.

Last one. It's been a long, long path. Thank you, Rich.

All right. Good work.

This is our normal acquisition. We do have some sewer issues that we have to overcome with this one. That's the special provisions that are listed here. But currently on the septics, we've got to do some modifications to their septic system. And so we have to maintain that while we're doing the work. So I wanted to point that out. Very good.

Motion and second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand quickly so we can be done with that one. Yes.

Okay, M1C, I make a motion to accept the donation of additional easement from David Byrd and David Byrd Enterprises LLP from parcel 029011 for the Harlem Forest Main Project.

Second.

So as part of this Forest Main Project, we ran into some issues with construction. Stacey was able to find an alternate route, and the Byrd family was willing to donate the land for us to build this for less money.

What's the timeline still?

Word of

December 20th. Good deal. I know the Harlem folks are ready. There's a motion and a second on the floor. All in favor raise your right hand. That motion carries. Seeing nothing else on the agenda, I only need one more motion.

Make a motion to adjourn.

Second.

We are adjourned.