Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everybody. Good to see everybody here. Thank you for coming to the first monthly meeting of the Liberty County Board of Commissioners. Just for your information, we meet twice a month. First Tuesday and the third Thursday. First Tuesday at 6, third Thursday at 5, and you're welcome to attend all those meetings. Just as a point of information, we are... In fact, I happen to see some changes in the way Poole is doing this, but you may go to other government bodies' meetings, and there's open public participation, but we do ours differently. You have to make an appointment, and then we meet you in our conference room with all those. the subject matter expert people, so you get to have us to yourselves. That's how the Liberty County Board Commission does it. And we've been told time and time again by a county attorney that's within the Georgia state law. So just a word of information. Mr. Mosler, has the meeting been properly advertised? Yes, sir. Thank you so much. At this time, Pastor Larry Murray is here. He's going to come and lead us in our invocation. Good to have you, sir. If you come and state your name for the record in the church, we'll... We'll move on from there, sir.

My name is Larry S. Murray Sr., Senior Pastor of the Fellowship of Love Church of God in Christ. Let us stand, please.

Application followed by the pledge.

Let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank you again for another day that we've never seen before. We thank you for our lives, our health, and our strength. Thank you for this board of commissioners, and we thank you for Chairman Donna Lovett. We ask, Father, as we begin this meeting, that you will be with us. Bless every member. We thank you for the... members of this community. Father, your word says to us that we should always acknowledge you in all that we do. And so we acknowledge you on today. We ask you for your guidance. We ask you for directions. We ask you, oh God, that the things that will be done and said, the decisions that are made will be in alignment with your will, your ways, and your word. We thank you and we love you. And it's in your son Jesus' name we pray. Amen and amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

We welcome Commissioner Walden on the phone. I heard his voice. I heard his voice again. I'm here. Yes, sir. Commissioners, on the advice and recommendation of our county attorney, we need to add item 7D, which would be appeal to the impact fee ordinance. And our county attorney would lead us into that. Item 70, appear to the impact fee ordinance. Chair, I take the motion to make that adjustment, please. I move, Chairman.

Second.

Second. Further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All right. Commissioner Gill, you good? Yes, sir. All right. All right. Thank you so much. Approval for the minutes for the month of May. Who can't believe the May is gone already? Got to have time to review those.

Yes, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion we approve the May minutes that are presented.

Second. Motion to second, we approve the minutes May 5th, 21st, 19th. Any further discussion? All in favor, once again, show of hands. Minutes are approved. Thank you so much. Do I need to do a... I include all those under that motion. I need to do separate for the amendment? Yes. Okay. All right. Chair, I'll take a motion for the amendment then. Now, I'm looking at a typo that says March 19th at the top of that amendment. Okay, thank you so much. Okay.

Was that under the B, summer foods? Yes, ma'am. Did you have a highlight? Yes, ma'am. Mr. Chairman, I make a motion. We approve the mid-month meeting March 19th minutes revised. Okay.

Is there a second? Second. Motion to second. We approve the amendment to March 19th meeting. Thank you so much. All in favor show of hands. Okay. The amendments for March 19th also adopted. Ladies and gentlemen, if you can see, we have a pretty lengthy agenda, so I'm going to ask everybody to be on their best behavior and everybody to be as concise as you can be so that we might not make this an all-nighter. I want to hear everybody attend to the business of the county, but please, ma'am and please, sir, I'd like everybody to please let's move expeditions through the agenda. Starting right away with recognition to keep Liberty beautiful. Dr. Karen Bell.

Good evening, sir.

Commissioners, how are y'all today? Good. Dr. Karen Bell with Keep It Beautiful, the executive director. I would like to just highlight some awards and some recognition that Keep It Beautiful got for 2025. Rivers Alive at the... Oh, huh. Rivers Alive, a division of Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Kepler Beautiful was selected for the 2026 Rivers Alive Coastal Cleanup Award. And this is a coastal award is presented to an organization that hosts a outstanding cleanup. And we did this on St. Simon's. The next one is our 2025 Governor's Award, and that's this one here that we got from Keep Georgia Beautiful. Again, this is Achievement in Community Beautification and Environmental Award from Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation, and it's presented for Outstanding Performance in Litter Reduction, Waste, and Community Greening. The Trailblazer Award of Tomorrow for Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation. And this celebrates a member of the Rivers Alive community who use creative approach and solve challenges. We got it for our Earth Day hands-on activities, community-driven events. With 2,119 volunteers, a 15% increase from the previous year. Community cleanup collected over 10 tons of litter and debris. Recycling participation in local events rose by 15% also. And we do... monthly newsletters, and we actually go out into our schools and did 42 programs throughout the year. The President's Circle is from Keep America Beautiful. That's our national award, and that's presented for accommodations from Keep America Liberty Beautiful upheld Keep America Beautiful mission values and their vision. And then our last award from Keep America Beautiful was congratulations to Ms. Ina Wilson and her Girl Scout Troop 30002. And that's their four Girl Scouts. They were earning their silver award, and they inspired us. the mobile garden where they planned and executed over 50 gardens, self-sustaining, and they gave the gardens to families, seniors, neighbors facing transportation barriers through empowering the family to grow their own food while promoting health and well-being. And then one that is close to Keep Lear Beautiful is our official of the year, and that goes to Commissioner Blunt for his dedication in his cleanups that he's done with his community and the Beach Suite. So we appreciate that.

Come on up, everybody.

Bring your respective... Did you want to do proclamations?

You want to do that? Yeah. All right. Move right on down.

World Oceans Day 2026 Proclamation. I'm going to read it in short form. Whereas oceans cover more than 7% of the Earth's surface and are critical to life on our planet, providing over half of the world's oxygen to regulate our global climate, and whereas our ocean ecosystems are under threat from climate change, pollution, biodiversity loss, overexploitation of marine resources, Ocean ecosystem services offer opportunities to help address global climate crises through carbon sequestration and mitigate climate hazards such as flooding, ocean acidification, and shoreline erosion. Now, therefore, I, Donald L. Lovett, and the Liberty County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim June 8th, 2026 as World Ocean Day throughout Liberty County, so declared on the second day of June 2026 proclamation, and encourage all Georgians to work together to clean our oceans.

You have two opportunities. One is this Saturday, June 6th. We'll be leaving from Sunbury Boat Ramp at 7 a.m. So if you know a boat captain, have a boat, can help. It's just a cleanup. We're going over there to clean up. St. Catharines and Sunbury Boat Ramp. So it should only take about two hours. We should be back. And then on June 8th at the Liberty County Community Complex, we invite everyone to come in. It would be like a round robin, which is like a hands-on activity, family and friends, where we will have about 10 to 12 different activities that you are able to participate in. And that's from 9 to 12. And the lovely Miss Mia Wilson will be cooking, so we will feed you some hot dogs. She didn't know that. Hot dogs and hamburgers. So come on out. The whole community is invited.

Okay. You will send that invite to us via email, please, ma'am? Yes, sir. Okay. If you would just hold steady there, Ms. Bell, let's hear the amateur radio proclamation from Mr. Clint Stanley.

Good evening. Um, I'm here today for the amateur radio, uh, 2026 amateur radio week proclamation, which is June 21st through the 27th with our field day taking place on June the 27th. Uh, as I told you in our work session, amateur radio group, uh, who's here with me tonight is very pivotal in our emergency operations at the EOC and, and helps me do my job. They, they keep us in touch with the rest of the world. Um, if we lose communication. So I'm going to turn it over to our club president, Jeremy. If you have any questions, are you going to say anything?

Do you have any questions? That's okay. Amateur radio is the last line of defense when it comes to communications during an emergency. In Western North Carolina, what was that, last year or the year before, it was the only link that the community had to FEMA to get the support that they needed when all else fails, amateur radio is there to make sure communications happen.

Thank you for saying that. I would not have known that. All right, Mr. Mulvaney.

Proclamation amateur radio week. Whereas amateur radio operators are celebrating over a century of the miracle of the human voice broadcast over the airways. And whereas amateur radio operators have also provided countless hours of community services, both in emergencies and to other local organizations throughout these decades. And whereas the state also recognizes the service services, amateur radio people also provide to our many emergency response organizations, including the Liberty County emergency management agency. And whereas the, ARRL amateur radio field day exercise will take place on June 27th through 28th, 2026 and is a 24-hour emergency preparedness exercise and demonstration of the radio's amateur skills and readiness to provide self-supporting communication without further infrastructure being required. Therefore, be it resolved that I, Donald L. Lovett, Chairman and Liberty County Board of Commissioners do hereby officially recognize and designate June 21st through 27th, 2026 as amateur radio week in Liberty County, Georgia.

Would you do it separately in unison with, I know you got several different awards. Okay, all right, okay, all right. Okay.

I did miss, but it's not St. Simon's, it's St. Catherine's. I know. When I heard that, I thought.

So please come out to St. Catherine's.

Yeah, when I heard that, I thought.

Would you like to hold that? All right. Show your awards now. Don't let your awards be hidden. Can you all see the Girl Scouts?

Pat? Yeah, I can see them.

I can't see Commissioner Blount, though. Is somebody behind me?

Commissioner Blount.

Commissioner Blount.

I can't see it.

How are you?

Hey, how are you?

Good, good. Good to see you.

Dr. Bell, since you did the commissioner blunt, Let's see. Yeah, let's do one for him. Yeah, let's do that. All right, let's do that. Yeah, don't call me off guard.

Well, sir, you came in right now.

We appreciate that. This is just for Mr. Blanchard. Oh, sorry. Ready on that? Ready. One, two, three.

God bless you, sir. God bless you, sir.

Thank you. All right, my radio personnel.

So my question was, is this sort of like walking dead?

You walked walking dead. No, I was just joking. No, but you did get one. We appreciate it. Y'all are going to keep us. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like walking dead. All right. I think they can't see Justin. Commissioner Page, there you go. Thank you, Commissioner Page. There you go. One, two, and three. One, two, and three. One, two, and three. All right. Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. Appreciate that. Appreciate that. That's what the board pays for, is they go out and set up all these versions. I feel safe already.

Thank you gentlemen for your service, for doing that for our community. Public hearing for Conditional Use 2026-21LC. Chair, I'm taking a motion to go into public hearing. Second. Mr. Rickerson, good evening.

Good evening, Chairman Lovett, members of the board. Our first request tonight is a request for a conditional use. This is conditional use 202621LC. This is a request that's been submitted by Stephanie and Jacob Jones, the owners of Jones Creek Farms for a retail space. This property is located at 799 Old Grass Island Road in the unincorporated area of Liberty County in District 1. And here is the ad in the Coastal Courier and the sign on the property advertising tonight's public hearing. And here is a vicinity map. You can see Old Grass Island Road here. The property front's on that, but it's also off of Isle of Wight Road here. Otters Grove Subdivision, the former Steve Berg Airfield over here. So this is just kind of the general location. And you can see here this property is a 20-acre piece of property. It's zoned AR1, which is an agricultural residential zone. And the future land use plan calls for this to be low density residential, which is in keeping with what it's zoned. The narrative, we request approval, this is from the applicant, we request approval of a conditional use permit to establish and operate an agricultural farm stand and retail space with integrated local vendor space. This use will not only allow for the sale of retail items, but products grown on the site, but also provide a platform for other farmers, cottage food producers, homesteaders, small scale producers, and local artists to sell products directly to the community. and this is their concept plan. This is the 20-acre piece of land that I showed you earlier on the map. You can see that most of the property is either farm or wooded, but the area where they want to have the small indoor space is located right here in a shed, basically in the center of the property, and there's some parking immediately adjacent to Old Grass Island Road that's associated with this fairly small building. I think the applicant told me it was 700 square feet, so it's a small indoor retail stand. And there's a picture of the inside of the stand. You can see it's relatively small, but they have a variety of products in there. Some are grown on the property, and some would be from other vendors and other locations. And this is a picture of the building from the outside. And just other pictures from around the property. This is the building where the indoor retail is, and you can see some of the plants that are grown on the property outside. And it's just looking at the property, into the property from Ogress Island. You can see the indoor retail and the parking that's already established and some of the farm areas over here on the right-hand side. And the six criteria that we have to look at for you to consider a conditional use review are number one, the use shall not adversely affect the economic values or the physical appearance of the neighborhood or areas surrounding the site or lot in question. We conclude it will not. Number two, the use shall be consistent with the comprehensive plan and with the purpose and intent of the land use district. Yes, it is consistent with the plan and the purpose of this district is to provide land primarily for small farms with a residence. Number three, the establishment, maintenance, and operation of the use shall not be detrimental or endanger the public health, safety, or general welfare. It will not be detrimental. Number four, the use will not create an undue burden on transportation, including streets, transit schools, utilities, or the provision of public safety. It will not. Number five, the design shall minimize adverse effects, physical, environmental effects on adjacent properties, including adverse visual effects. Buffer zones where necessary to shield any adverse factors shall be considered. There are adequate buffers all around the property. As I said, it's partially wooded, and you can pretty much just see into the site in limited areas. And then number six, there is no additional need for additional parking, landscaping, or other measures. So Planning Commission heard this at their May meeting, and they recommend approval with standard conditions. I'd be glad to answer any questions, and the applicants are here as well.

Applicants are here? Let me meet them. Come on up. Could you set your names for the record, please?

Stephanie and Jacob Jones.

Good to have it. I heard from Mr. Rickerson, you all gave us a little overview of your business.

Well, we're just a little farm stand, and we're trying to support community by having local vendors, artists, bakers, other producers. We've got a dairy that delivers milk, so we're just trying to get the conditional use so that we can continue on.

Okay, thank you. Any questions from the commissioners?

No, I've been out several times.

And I want to say publicly, I appreciate what I've heard from our staff about how cordial the conversation has been. So we appreciate that, especially when we're all trying to work together to make things right.

Yeah.

So thank you for that. Thank you. Might make you the role models for some other examples.

Chair, this is the first time we've come in conference with zoning like this for Stan?

To my knowledge, it's been a while. I think we've had some other approvals for conditional uses of retail in the Ag residential zones, but it's been a while. It's been a good while.

Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Mr. Stevens? I make a motion that we follow the recommendation of the LCPC.

Is that second? Second. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. Good to go. Thank you so much. Thank you. You got to come visit.

Yes, please.

Come by and check it out. Just so you know, too, we found out that GREST has been incorrectly spelled for a lot of years. The correct spelling is G-R-E-S-T. You will hear something about that later where they're going to correct the spelling of that name. Really?

I was wondering what dress was. Yeah.

It was a plantation, but it's G-R-E-S-T, not S-S. Really? But it sounds like S-S, so somebody spelled it that way. Just FYI. You know, I'm sorry. I didn't see any names. Okay.

All right.

All right. Mr. Rickerson.

Okay. Move the bluff. Chairman, our next... Our next item is to ask you to confirm a decision that the LCPC staff made recently on subdividing some lots in an existing subdivision. On a daily basis, we are presented with plats in our office to approve, and most of them we approve, can approve over the counter, but there is a provision in the UDO that provides that when there is a subdivision of lots in an existing subdivision, subdivision that the County Commission must approve those. So I'm bringing you this tonight to ask you to confirm a decision that we've already made on this particular case. The lots in question are in Bermuda Bluff located between Bermuda Bluff Lane which is here and Cattle Hammock Road here. These are two one acre lots that have been split in half into two lots each. So this kind of shows you a blowup of that. You can see Bermuda Bluff Lane here. Bermuda Bluff was approved by the Board of Commissioners in 2007, so it's almost 20 years old. And you can see that these are odd-shaped lots. They're all long and deep lots that include some marsh. But, of course, this is one of the interior lots. Each one of these lots is roughly about an acre each. And what the owner did was divide them in half, and I'll show you that on the next plot. property zone are 12. So each lot has to have a minimum of 12,000 square feet. These lots, uh, these four lots that are recreated as a result of this each have about a half of a half acre, which is about 20, uh, 24,000 square feet of land. So basically it's just, uh, they, they drew a line down the middle. So there's a lot, uh, two lots facing cattle hammock road and two lots facing Bermuda bluff lane. And that's really, uh, all I got to say about it. I just want to ask the board of commissioners to, confirm our recent approval of this. And I had another picture here, but this pretty much says all I needed to say. I'd be glad to answer any questions that you have about it.

Do you think any more subdividing will be?

Any additional subdividing in Bermuda Bluff will definitely come back to you before we approve it. But in this case, our staff approved it. I understand that, but I just mean, are you anticipating more? Well, I guess I can show you. Like 26, right? There's one more right here that could possibly get approved, but I think that's owned by somebody different than this. So it possibly could, if these are successful, they might buy that one and try to split it in half or two. These are actually the three lots that had double frontage. I mean, these have double frontage too, but they're kind of irregular shapes. So it's possible that there might be another one or two right here, and we would bring that back to you.

Commissioners of the District 1?

Yes, sir. So this came under Section 501-6. That's right. Which would be under the major amendment, correct?

It would be, yes. Any subdivision that adds lots into an existing subdivision would have to come before the Board of Commissioners for approval.

So this one slipped by you all? It did.

It absolutely slipped by us.

So did this go before your LCCP Board of Commissioners, or this was just staff recommendation?

This is staff recommendation. On a daily basis, we are presented with plats throughout the county on rural roads that maybe somebody's cutting an acre out of a five-acre piece of property on an ag piece of property. That doesn't have to go to the Planning Commission or the Board of Commissioners. I think the purpose of that is convenience of the landowners. A lot of times you've got families that are cutting off an acre for a child or a parent or whatever. So the intent was that the Board of Commissioners didn't have to see all. But Trent explained to me that the reason why this is in there is because In the old days, the Board of Commissioners had a limit. I think you could have up to 10 lots on a dirt road. So people would come in, they get their 10 lots approved, and then they come in after the fact and start cutting off more lots on a dirt road. And this was put in to stop people from working around your system and getting more lots than they were intended to have on dirt roads. We've got other provisions in place now to prevent that. So this is just a legacy in the UDO that probably could go away. For now, it's there, and we need to honor it, and that's why we're here in front of you tonight.

I don't have a problem, but like I say, it's a good, it's a plus and it's a minus, because at least we get a chance to collect four different impact fees instead of two.

You absolutely do. That's right.

But from now on, let's make sure your office pays close attention, because we don't want this to be a trend throughout the whole entire county.

Right. We are aware of this provision, though.

Thank you.

Mr. Chairman.

Yes, sir.

I make a motion that we go ahead on and approve these two parts of land which have been divided into four different parts of the land.

Second.

Motion second. We approve the presentation as presented by Mr. Rickson, LCPC. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All right, so Mr. Rickson now. Thank you. Thank you for bringing it back to us. Now, can I turn him?

Green.

Good evening, sir.

As everyone knows, our impact fee ordinance allows applicants the opportunity to appeal assessments to the Board of Commissioners, and I believe we have our first such appeal this evening. Ms. Dodie O'Dell has concerns regarding the assessments on new residential units she would like to place in an existing mobile home park, and so I would invite Ms. O'Dell to present her concerns to you.

Okay, and I think you've advised Ms. O'Dell that there won't be any decision-making today, am I right?

That's right. Okay, all right.

A couple of them. Please state your name.

I should note Ms. O'Dell has provided me with some written materials, which I'll supplement the record for your consideration. All right.

Ms. O'Dell, would you be so kind as to state your name for the record, please, and let us hear from you.

Okay. This is new to me, and I don't like being in front of everybody.

You and a lot of people, too.

Good. So I did get bit by an ant earlier, so if I'm fidgeting, You all know what happens in Georgia, so that's what's happening. Okay. Anyway, first, thanks for having me here and serving on the board. Appreciate that. Again, good evening to the commissioners. My name is Dodie O'Dell, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you regarding the application impact fees of Palm West Park, a manufactured home park owned and operated by Carolyn Wells. my father, which had passed away, Guy Wills. Before discussing the facts of the appeal, I would like to acknowledge the purpose of both Georgia Development Impact Fee Act and Liberty County's impact fees ordinance. Liberty County's ordinance state that impact fees are intended to ensure new growth and development bears and propitiates shares of the cost of new public facilities needed to serve them, which is in the ordinance, uh, section nine dash four. And again, I did supply all that, so y'all, okay. I agree with the purpose. New development that creates new infrastructure demands should contribute towards those costs. The question before the board is whether Palm West Park constitutes new growth and development, or whether it is an existing development manufactured home park that has already been established, recognized and served by existing infrastructures for decades. I respectfully submit the Palm West Park is existing development. Liberty County's own records classify the property as manufactured home park, MHP, and recognize multiple mobile home spaces on the property. The property has constitutionally been recognized and taxed as manufactured home park property. The park has operated in the county for more than 40 years. Existing roads, utility systems, septic infrastructure, which has already been, um, inspected. And they did say, which I was great to hear that they were one of the cleanest ones. So who knows why, but that's a good thing. Um, The park, I might go back because I think I don't want to miss anything. So the septics infrastructure and design spaces were developed long before the adoption of the current impact fee ordinance. The appeal does not involve the creation or a new manufactured home park. It does not involve expanded density. It does not involve converting undeveloped land into new projects. Instead, it involves the placement of replacement homes within an existing manufactured park. The distinction is important because Liberty County own ordinance recognizes replacement situations. Council for the property previously indicate in identified, excuse me, the ordinance provision exemption exempting. replacing a dwelling unit or units with the same or fewer number of dwelling units on the same lot or property. Attorney J. Patrick Connell also noted that the permit request involved placing a home on its existing pad with existing utility hookups. and that the infrastructure serving the property existed years before adoption of the Impact Fee Ordinance. Manufactured home parks naturally experience turnover over time. Older homes are removed, sold, replaced, upgraded and modernized as part of normal operations. A temporary vacancy of the individual space does not change the underlining land use of the property. We're getting close. A useful comparison can be found within the impact ordinance itself. The ordinance provides that shopping centers and strip retail centers are assessed as a single use without regards to individual tenants. The principle is similar here. Individual homes may come and go, but the underlining development remains the same. The roads remain, the infrastructure remains, the utility systems remain, the septic systems remain, the designated spaces remain, and the manufactured home park remains. Additionally, Liberty County ordinance contains provisions regarding grandfathered projects recognizing that existing development and infrastructure should not automatically be treated the same as newly created development. Council previously noted that the site work and the infrastructure serving the property existed years before the impact fee ordinance was adopted. Georgia law also provides that zoning procedures exist to assure due process when local governments regulate the use of a property OCGA 36-66-2. Throughout this process, my goal has simply been to understand the standards being applied and to ensure that this existing development property is evaluated according to the intent of the ordinance and the facts surrounding its long standing use. I am not asking Liberty County to create an exemption. I am asking that the ordinance be applied within written. For these reasons, I respectfully request that Palm West be recognized as an existing development property rather than a new development for purposes of impact fee application and that the impact fees associated with these replacement homes be removed. Thank you for your time, your service, and your consideration.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. I know you've been in contact with Attorney Davis as well as your attorney. Yes. The information that you just read, is he?

Yes, I made him copies. I was going to make all of y'all copies, but.

We can get them.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right. New business and government lighting agreement with GDOT.

Are we still in public here?

I look like Joseph today. So I'm standing in for Joseph on this one because this is really mine. So back last March, we agreed to the Department of Transportation that we would enter in a lighting agreement for the roundabout.

Did we come out of public hearing? No. We didn't? All right. Okay.

Did my commission come out of public hearing? Second.

Got a second? Second. Okay. All right. All in favor? All right. Thank you, Commissioner Frazier. Yes, sir. Okay.

Sorry about that. No, you didn't do anything. I should have waited for your lead. I apologize.

You didn't do anything. No, no, no.

So back in last March, we agreed to enter into a lighting agreement for the streetlights that will be around the roundabout at 17 Barrington Ferry and Louis Frazier. We're getting closer to the – we've gone through the preliminary report. preliminary field plan review. We're working on comments on that. Part of getting to the next step is executing our maintenance agreements and our lighting agreements. So it's time to get the lighting agreement up, and I'll probably be coming to you next month with the maintenance agreement where we have some landscaping in the middle of the island that we'll need to maintain. But they've given us the agreement to execute now, so it should be in your packet. We just need... everybody to go ahead and vote to give the chairman the authority to sign that agreement.

Any questions for Mr. Long? Would this kind of agreement require legal review? or pretty much your engineering expertise, sir, is that so? Okay.

Okay. I mean, Kelly can review it, but, you know, DOT doesn't like changing it, so, you know. Okay. So, in other words, it is what it is.

I've reviewed similar agreements. They have kind of a standard form. Okay.

Okay. All right. So, we need to hear. I don't have the objection. All right. Thank you, sir. Got a question for you in a minute, too, Mr. Davis. All right. Chair, intend a motion.

So, I move, Mr. Chairman, I make that motion. Second.

Second. Second. Thank you. Make sure Ms. Monica's getting everybody. Okay. Further discussion. All in favor, show of hands, please. All right. Thank you. Commissioner, Commissioner, Attorney Davis, if you come, when I'm observing, my only reference is the city of Hinesville. Mayor Riles does not require a motion and second to come out of public hearing. He just says the public hearing is not closed. That's what he says. And then they move on.

Each jurisdiction, I think, has their own procedure, and some follow a parliamentary procedure more closely. I think ours is more informal, like most jurisdictions. And so I guess I think the idea of convening a public session by vote and adjourning a public session is a little more formal procedural matter, but it's entirely appropriate, and that's kind of been your historical procedure that you rely on. So I see nothing wrong with it. Yeah, that's what I need to hear. Thanks, sir.

In other words, we could save a vote, sir.

Contract for preparation service with the Coastal Regional Commission. Mr. Misha Hunter.

Good evening, commissioners.

Good evening.

We have a contract on the table to contract with the Coastal Regional Commission for them to write a grant on the county's behalf for the addition to the EOC building. And it is the CDBGDR grant that was released in response to the Hurricane Helene event. And we ask for your approval for us to move forward with the agreement.

I wish you remember that Mr. Dodd discusses with us some funds that are available for... entities that have been affected. Is that a good word?

Yes, sir. Whether or not it was a situation where you had drainage that was not taken care of by FEMA or if there was an issue that was identified due to the event. And so Mr. Dodd has identified the need to have more space in the EOC with all the different entities being in the event when we have an event. Right now, we're looking at, I think, a little bit over $3 million for the addition and the build-out. But how this grant works is we would not have to pay the CRC. They would get grant administration funds if we were awarded.

It would be one, I'm sorry.

They would have grant administration funds in the grants, and so the grant would pay down. We wouldn't have to pay down.

Okay, okay, okay. Is it a matching?

There is a match from what we're working at, those final costs now, so we'll bring that back to you.

But right now you just need to...

To contract with the CRC. Yes, sir.

Chairman, I'll make that motion. Is there a second to that?

I can't motion second. We'll proceed with the contract.

And the grant is due in September.

Okay. I guess, Mr. Chair, just one more question. So, we don't know how much. Will those numbers come back to us before?

We can make sure that they do. I'm sure if it's over a certain amount. But right now, even in working with that, they're doing work without knowing that we would work with them. Because at this point, we could still switch and work with another grant writer.

Right. Absolutely. There we go. Thank you. Lock them in.

All right. All in favor, show of hands, please. Just so you know, we're also using them to help us with some other grants, so we're hoping to have a fruitful... Experience with CRC when it comes to grant writing.

Yes, sir.

Thank you Good evening again, I'm here to ask for the board's approval for the chairman and the county administrator to sign our annual contract with the CRC for our addressing services. This is an annual renewal that we do every year. The contract amount is $53,000. The purpose of this contract is for the CRC to assist my GIS department with our addressing. They maintain our addressing database. They provide training and they also make our addressing data available to our neighboring counties and make their addressing data available to us in our 911 system. Explain that to the John Doe citizen. So we have a regional addressing system that the CRC maintains. I have a technician here in the County who, Anytime we get new addresses, changing the road name that you mentioned earlier, he puts this information into the 911 system. That information is then sent to the CRC. They store all of our addressing information and then make that available to the state of Georgia, to DOT, to Long County, who does use some of it, and to Bryan County. And then likewise, We have areas in the county where our fire trucks have to go into Long County to get to certain places and go into Bryan County to get in certain places. We have to have those roads in our system so that they can route appropriately. So it's just kind of a regional address coordination kind of a thing. They also provide training. So my GIS person, we just hired him. He's been here about a year, and they provide all of his training of how to do all of this, make sure that everything's done according to the regional plan and that everything gets into the 911 system correctly. This is for unincorporated Liberty County? This is for everybody except the city of Hinesville. So all the other cities, everybody but Hinesville.

So anytime there's a new subdivision, somebody has to sit down and that's a lot of work.

They also store the city of Hinesville's addressing data, so we have access to that and they have access to ours too. And they try very, very hard not to have duplicate. Right. Duplicate road names, duplicate addresses to make sure they're spelled right. To get our trailer mobile home parks, all the addresses fixed. The way it works is your actual address, your number is affixed to a point on a map, which is your front door or your driveway, depending on where it is. And that makes sure that your ambulances, your fire trucks, your deputies can get to your address without any issues.

They're trying to get these in the system, i.e., the subdivision that Mr. Dryden is doing in Walthaville. It's going up now, so is that already in the system? That would be pushed.

I honestly don't know. What they would do is assign temporary addresses, so the address point would go in the middle of the parcel, and then once the house is built or once the site plan is submitted, then they can move the address to where the house is supposed to be, and then they may have to go back and fine-tune it. But wherever that point is is what determines actually what your number is.

How do they know when to do that? Like a pin? I don't know. This one's ready to 104. He's not ready to... How do they know when it's...

They either apply for a temporary address or they go ahead and submit the site design, the plat and everything, and the houses are laid out on there so they know where it goes.

I was in there with Bill for IT.

How it actually happens, I don't know. That's why I got somebody... I think he just moves the point to the front of the house, but our addressing system... 5.28 feet, every 5.28 feet on a road is an address. So you can address literally anything in the county. You can have fire hydrants can have addresses. Billboards can have addresses. Substations can have addresses. Individual things inside of a substation can have an address. We don't do all that, but you can. But wherever that address point, wherever the front door of that house, where the end of that driveway is, is what determines what your number address is on that road.

Yes, sir. Can you tell everyone where it actually initiates at? Where is the zero point? The zero point starts from the center of a road connected. The main road.

The largest road. Right. Yeah. The most major road is where the zero point starts and it goes away from there.

The most major road. Yeah. So in a lot of cases that would be 84.

84, 196, Leroy Cofer, those kind of roads. Okay. But the contract again is $53,000 and I'm asking for the board to approve the chairman to sign the contract. Okay.

I'm the one who said let's have a quick meeting. But when the Independence Parkway is done, how will that factor into the GIS?

That's a GDOT road, right?

Yes.

They will provide that information to us. They will. And then if we have to do any addressing, I don't think we would do any addressing off of that road. I'm not sure. May not now, but... In the future, yeah. But all the changes to that road, GDOT will provide that information to us, and that will get into the system that way. Kind of the reverse of the way we do things.

Interesting work. Yeah. All right. This gentleman is asking for us to approve the... The annual contract, right? Yes, sir, annual contract. Mr. Secretary, we approve the contract for it. Interesting stuff. Legitimate for next fiscal year, starting July 1st. Thank you, sir. All in favor, show of hands, please. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. Summer food program. Ms. Conner, you coming back again? Ms. Moses, you get the phone call today that I referred to you from... The city of Walthaville. Yes, sir. Okay. Yes, sir. We're interested. Okay. All right. Thank you.

Commissioners, we ask that you approve the U.S. Foods contract. This is the only food provider that actually submitted a quote. And so the food cost did go up some. We know groceries have gone up. And so this would be to proceed for the year.

So is this, and I know, I guess we started yesterday, but we haven't approved it yet. We approved it while they started giving out yesterday, is that correct?

That's included in the overall contract, but that was just a one-time order. Okay. So we could go ahead and get started.

Okay. And these funds are? Budgeted. Budgeted.

And we received some of it back through the Happy Helping Grant.

Right. I thought it was like a federally funded program.

It is. It's a pass through to the state of Georgia. Georgia administers the funds through USDA, and so that's why they have to keep up with the numbers and know who pick up food, and they turn that information in to USDA, and that's how we get our reimbursements.

Okay, okay. Because it has got, to me, in Gun Branch, it got off to a little bumpy start yesterday. I don't know about the other areas. But when I went by there today, you know, and I sent you the pictures and all... That was about 11.25. She said she had just received the food. And we advertised that we start at 11. So are they, you know, at one time, I think every year it's kind of changed, but at one time they had coolers. They would have it in a cooler. But I don't know. I didn't look in the bags to see. So I guess we're preparing the food that's in the bags. Yes.

Yes, ma'am. And so yesterday we acknowledged you did get us to a bumpy stop, first day mess ups and hiccups. And so we know that yesterday the delay was caused because we had limited coolers. Our coolers hadn't come in yet. And so we end up having to go online and get the coolers. And so we had them delivered to the building yesterday, and then they were distributed to the sites yesterday afternoon. And so today I would have to check because all sites are supposed to serve lunch from 11 to 1.

Might want to check because, you know, like I said, it was 1125. The other item that I had on there was, or had a concern about, is the... How does she know how many to distribute to each site? Or is it equal?

No, ma'am. I had that same question. This is my first time working with her on this program. She uses historical data. Like, for instance, we know for a fact there was two sites that got 30 meals yesterday, and they only had 10 people show up. And so for the next day, she would only take maybe 20 meals. And then she has to adjust it. But the initial meals were based on how many people were served at the sites the previous year. And she's going off of historical data until she can adjust it for this year.

I guess there's no way to know because you can't ask them. Yeah, I don't want them to run out.

Yeah, I know. I don't want them to run out, too. But I want them to give it all out. I want to give it all out.

We're paying for it. And we did ask because right now we have cold meals that, let's just say, we had a site in which they did not use all the meals. so they have to take them back to the LCCC. But this site agreed to say, okay, you can use our refrigerator and store the meals, and then they brought them back out for us so we didn't have to transport them back and forth. But because this food now, we're still doing cold, we haven't started doing hot chat, that it's good for 24 hours.

So you will eventually get the hot?

Yes, ma'am. That was the commitment that the board made, and so we're still trying to get the kitchen finalized. There's another piece of equipment that we have to get per the health department, and then we'll switch over and do the hot meals.

You know, I was wondering, we're advertising, I think, Walterville, but then they're advertising only two days a week. Are there different programs going on? No, ma'am.

I know the school has one. They took our flyer.

It's different people.

I was confused.

Chet, GPT has made people, everybody.

Very confusing for the people in general that are trying to get to those sites. And one of them said food for everybody or, you know, and the other one says 18 and under.

It's legally, it has to be 18 and under. And so I think the community was trying to be helpful and just break it down for their area. So they gleaned the sites and made their own flyer to send out. I think trying to be helpful.

Yeah, but I think we need to stay uniform.

Because the library does their own too.

And the Liberty County school system had flyers out on social media.

The school has a different program. It's all coming from the same bucket. That's why it has to be spread out, how the sites are spread out. They basically map it out. And so the school is doing breakfast and lunch at Bradwell and Liberty High Schools.

Okay, okay.

Right. And Mr. Chair, I'm glad you mentioned that. I was watching the news, I think that was yesterday, and it was talking about Bullitt County. You know, Bullitt County, their board of education has stepped up to make sure that the kids are being fed. And again, you know, to my fellow commissioners, thank you all for taking the time to bring this program back, because you remember during COVID, you know, we had to cease all... all the food, but we work together to bring it back and it's needed. And just real quickly, I don't know our numbers, but these were the numbers from Bullitt County. 11,000 meals. And they said 87% of their students are economically disadvantaged. Let me say that again. 87% of their students are economically disadvantaged, and almost 400 kids are experiencing some type of homeless situation. And we're talking about Bullitt County. So it'd be ludicrous for us to think that we don't have those same issues and concerns here in Liberty County. So this program really is helpful for a lot of people that don't really understand the importance of how many kids wake up hungry or how many kids go to sleep hungry. Now, my kids might go to sleep hungry, but that's on them. That's what they wanted to do. But there's a lot of kids, you know, that I see in the community. You know, I mean, I think sometimes we forget how blessed we are. So this program really, really helps a whole lot of people in the community. And I just want to continue to see it grow. And I know throughout the years we've had to look at different sites and say, okay, well, that site isn't really, you know, being used as much. And, you know, we've had to adapt. So thank you again for coming along for this ride. And like I said, we'll just keep on adapting and, you know, and keep working for it to making sure that at least these kids get at least one good meal. And I just wanted to bring those numbers up, Mr. Chair, because it kind of shocked me. You know, whenever you're talking about 87% of the kids are disadvantaged economically? Or just, we could reverse the numbers and just say 13% of the people, the kids in Bullitt County are middle class or better. That's what it's basically saying. So if you just look at the numbers from the total reverse side, it just shows that, you know, man, economics and education and food goes hand to hand. And, you know, I've been preaching economic development and education. And, you know, I'm glad we're doing our part in some type of capacity. So thank you.

I just want to note, too, that as a thank you to the commissioners, you've committed to five days a week. Bullitt County just gives out food one day a week.

Right.

They fix a box and the children get it one day for the rest of the week.

Yeah. Thank you. And I'm glad there are ample opportunities for more than one provider. So I hope the public will take advantage of that. All right.

But if you all hear any other hiccups, anything that...

I gave Mr. Moser one today that he was looking into.

Okay.

But I think it's like first day of school. Right.

I think it's one of those things. But we're on it.

Yeah. Oh, and also make sure that you... tell the directors that are on those sites that we appreciate them. They could be doing anything else, but they're here with us and we appreciate it.

All right, chair, I'm taking a motion to approve the agreement. I heard something, okay. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. Thank you so much. Attorney Davis.

The board recently abandoned two roads, Sunshine Campground Road and Trump Point Way, and tonight you have two resolutions, one for each road, authorizing the transfer of those abandoned roads to the adjoining landowners, as authorized by Georgia law. The quick claim deeds the board will sign will make clear that the roads are transferred in an as-is condition, and once they're transferred, the board will be relieved of any future maintenance or repair obligations. So this is just disposing of these two abandoned roads.

Please be so kind to give the public a little bit of how we arrived at this.

Yep, Georgia law provides a process by statute which anytime the board determines that a public road is no longer of public value, the board can go through a statutory process involving public hearing and notice to adjoining landowners whereby you'll abandon the roads, which means they'll no longer be a part of the county road system. And then once they're abandoned, the board can dispose of them, typically how they will. But if adjoining landowners have a preference and would like to acquire the land, then Georgia law authorizes the transfer to the adjoining landowners. And I think in this case, both road abandonments were initiated by the adjoining landowners. And so in one case, it will be transferred to an individual who owns all the property surrounding the abandoned road. In the other case, it will be transferred to the homeowners association representing the adjoining landowners. And we've done this on more than one occasion, but it's been quite a number of years since we had the request to abandon these roads. And I know one public road was in need of significant repair, so the board will be relieved of those obligations.

Just out of curiosity, if they wanted to reverse this at some point in time, would that take legal action?

Yes, just like anything else, they would have to petition the board to assume control and ownership of the roadways, and the board, just like any other subdivision or property, would have an opportunity to say yes or no. And I'm not aware of assuming responsibility for any roads that we previously abandoned through a formal abandonment procedure. I think that's the bargain you make with adjoining landowners. But it doesn't foreclose that opportunity, but they always have the opportunity to do that, but the board has the opportunity to decline their request as well. Yes, sir.

All right, just for information. All right, let's see, where am I?

I'm in... And so there are two resolutions, one for each road, and so by a single motion, if you'd like to approve both resolutions, that would be my recommendation.

Mr. Chair, I make a motion that we go ahead and do the abandonment process on both roads.

Well, let's, for this case. Do it separately? Drum point, yes, sir. Okay, on drum point.

Okay.

Somebody second that, please.

Second.

Motion to second. We approve the transfer ownership. Mr. Youngport, waiting for discussion. All in favor, show of hands, please. Thank you. Now, just out of courtesy, Commissioner Blunt. Sunshine Campground.

Yeah, I'll make a motion.

Sunshine Lake, we return it back to the property owner, right? Yes, sir.

Second.

Motion and a second. We do the same procedure. Abandon also Sunshine Campground Road to the property owners. Any further discussion? All in favor?

I just got one question. All right. So since we are, it's not a public road anymore. That's right. So that means Mr. Mosley can't just, I'm just using this. He doesn't have access to that road? That's right. If he doesn't. That's right. So is it gated? I'm not familiar with the roads.

I think in one case, Sunshine Campground Road, the owner proposes to develop. It will no longer be a roadway at all. I don't believe he's going to develop it and build a home, perhaps, I think. The other case, I think that, yes, they were gated.

Okay.

And so Liberty County doesn't currently have a. an ordinance provision allowing for gated public roadways. Right, right. So I think that was. Yeah, I know we ran into that.

Yes. Long ago, so.

But, Commissioner Fred, I heard you say, I think, Trent. For emergency vehicles, they will have access.

Yes, even private roadways, they have emergency vehicles have access. That's right.

I remember we talked about that. I was just trying to figure it out, because. I'm saying if we're not going to, if it's not a public road anymore, it kind of needs to be gated. But you said that one, they just don't build, what, like one house?

That's my understanding right here.

Okay. The road's going away. Okay. The road's going away, period. That's right. Yep.

Go for him.

Did we have a yeah All right, thank you change order to West End water extension expansion I It's interesting when Clint said even fire hydrants could have locations. Right. I thought about that.

Yeah, right. It makes sense, though. It do. Wow. Yeah. 5.28 feet.

That's a little bit of a mile. 5,280 feet is a mile. So that's how it's all done. But anyhow. Okay. We have a change order to change out our old meters to remote read readers. What this change order does is it goes through, we have 210 that are old style meters. Most of the new meters we've been doing the last four or five years have been the newer meters. We just got to add beacons to those and it purchases all the software and equipment they need and the training. to do remote read for our meters, which will do several different things. It'll make our billing more accurate, and it'll make it more timely. So as our system is growing, we're getting a lot more, and we're having to manually read all our meters. This will really help out.

Attorney Davis, can you stay for just a few minutes here?

Yep.

How are we paying for this, sir?

Yes, sir. This will be funded through the last of our ARPA funds. So we have the funds for this. The total increase is $314,484.45. Because we finished all the water line extension, so this just goes back. And what they've got to do, like all the meters that they put in Cottage Zone Carter, all they've got to do is go add the beacons to them because we've got the right currents. But a lot of the older meters, there's 210 of them, we've got to go to each one of them. We've got to replace the meter because it's not compatible for the remote read.

And those meters are good for...

Well, the meters we got in there nearly 20 years old now.

Right. I think commissioner Gillard, you said y'all rotated what every 10 years you said. Yep. It's time to replace our old meters in. Right. So what I'm saying is 10 years from now, we're probably going to have to. Okay. Okay.

And we don't have any push it to 20.

I know, right? You probably can. I know some places that have 50 or 60 year old meters still working.

So I guess what I'm looking forward for the other commissioners. Well, I don't know. Some of us still might be up here. I don't know. But the point I'm saying is 10 years from now, I know the price is going to be more. And would that come out of the enterprise fund? How would we work that? I guess I'm just looking at the future. And we can build it up. Right. That's what I'm saying. Just bump up. But even with that, that means we're going to have to look at the price. We'll talk about that later. But you understand what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Okay.

All right. But you're right. Intent of the system is to pay for itself. Right. Operations and maintenance. Right.

And what I'm saying is this is just a one time. This is because we.

The blessing will operate here.

Right. But next time it won't be operating.

No. So we make sure we have those capital funds. We need to be putting those away so that we're ready.

Some of our sister entities. Right. were not as ambitious as they should have been for that, and it will catch up with you.

You can spend $500,000 pretty quick. I remember living in Atlanta, and they didn't do it, and that was billions of dollars.

And you'd much rather do incremental increases there than waiting until such time as you need $500,000.

It's time. We have the money. It makes our system better.

All right, Chair, tell the motion. So moved, Mr. Chair. Second. Motion and second. We approve the request stated by County Engineer 314,484.45. That's sponsored by ARPA Fund.

I'll also tell you that I talked to the contractor. got a break in contracts, and so he's ready to rock and roll on this.

What would that, for the customers, what can they look forward to as far as interruption of service?

Very little interruption of service. What'll end up happening is when they get to the individual's house, they'll knock on the door, tell them they're there to replace the meter. They'll probably only be out 10, 15 minutes. It's not long at all. Yeah.

And it's just one at a time.

All right. So it's pretty easy. All right.

We voted Monica. You're going to wait us out, huh? Thank you, Mr. Long. Attorney Davis, it was our intent to have executive sessions, but personnel was not on our agenda. Can we at this time be on our agenda?

Is something that's recently come to your attention? Yes, sir, you can.

Yeah. I just happened to notice it wasn't on there. He got his note, too. Yes, sir. But that takes an official. We need to do. Adjourned to executive session. While he's up there, let's go ahead and do that. Amend the agenda to add executive session. So moved, Mr. Chair. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All right. Thank you, sir. Mr. Mosley. That's all I needed.

I'm not taking this to the House. Second. Second. Second.

Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second. Second.