Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

If you would please rise, I'm going to call on Commissioner Orinstein for uh the invocation and the pledge.

Pray with me if you will. Father God, Lord, we come to you today thankful for all the many blessings of life. Lord, we thank you for um for the weather that we've seen. Lord, we thank you for the relationships, our community. Lord, there's just so many things that we just want to express our gratitude for. Lord, the number one thing, Lord, is um is your son, Jesus Christ, and him dying for our sins. Lord, you know our needs um before we even know what our needs are. And we thank you for that. We thank you for being ahead of us and solving our problems day in and day out um before we even know that they're uh they're a problem. Lord, we do pray for rain. Lord, um our community is um is in much need right now. Um we ask for that, Lord. We also ask for your presence here tonight during this meeting. Give us wisdom and guidance as we go about the business of this county. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all. Thank you, Commissioner Orinstein. Uh, our first um item on the agenda is uh a proclamation for Purple Up for Military Children, Miss Dukes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have quite the the group of guests here with us this evening, and I'm going to let them come on up and and introduce themselves and and we'll take the proclamation down here in a few minutes. You and I talked this morning on the radio about celebrating um the contribution that the the children of our military families um that they provide. You know, whenever you talk about resiliency, which is a big word that we hear a lot about whenever you talk about infrastructure and the mission downrange and what happens here at home and even down to Colonel Roberts and what he's responsible for as far as base infrastructure. We can talk about all those things and I don't think that there is a group that represents resiliency anymore than the children of our military families. They they move from place to place. They they live through and they thrive while their parents are are gone. Sometimes both parents deployed. Um there's hours that sometimes they don't understand and and sometimes their parents don't come back the same parent that they were whenever they left and there's processes there that have to be worked through. So I am honored that we have team Moody here tonight. um and they were willing to remind our community that we have a very special group here in Loun County that we should be celebrating not just today but every day. So, Colonel Roberts, if you would like to to talk a little bit about your team here and and what you see as far as your personnel goes and then the commissioner will come down and we will read a proclamation. Thank you, Paige, for the warm welcome. On behalf of Colonel uh Sean Hall, the commander of the 23rd Wing, Colonel John Bloker, the commander of the 93rd Airground Opsswing out at Moody Air Force Base, we are honored uh to be a part of this ceremony tonight. And they regret they couldn't be here and so they they've sent uh the the lower team in tonight and me. I get to run the base out of Moody. I'm the mission support group commander. My name is Ken Roberts and I've been honored to be a part of this community for several years and we

got a great team of folks up here uh that have made sure that our children and our families thrive while they're here. Uh Miss Ally runs our school liaison program uh here in at Moody Air Force Base and ensures that as our families move into this area, they are able to connect with schools that meet their needs and their requirements. and we're blessed to be in a community that has great academics and great focus on education for our families. So, we really appreciate Miss Ally. Uh Mr. Darren Hill works over in our force sport squadron. He used to run our school program and we fleeted him up due to all the great work that he's done. He's fleeted up now. He's he's the deputy commander of our force sport squadron right now. It's it's incredible work that Darren's doing to help our force sport. Of course, you know, Gary uh works with our community initiatives here in the local community doing great work. And this is my buddy. we deployed together. Uh Chief Funkhouser uh went down range together. And that's what this is really all about is we come home, you know, we get to go to our Super Bowl as we deploy. And our airmen right now that are assigned to Moody, our airmen across the Air Force, our our Army uh brethren, our our Marines and and sailors, they're they're well trained and and you'd be proud of what they're doing right now. You see it in the news. It's incredible. And when they when our uh when our airmen come home, they come back to families. And our children are the ones that pay the biggest sacrifice for us to serve. And so we appreciate the fact that you love on them. I look around and I see the purple and up. It reminds us that you love us. Uh it's been said before that we're just not your neighbors. Uh that we're family and we believe that and we feel that when we're here. And so I just say thank you. Thank you for making us feel at home when we're not in our normal places and making us feel special and making our little kids uh feel special while they're a part of a community here in Basta, Georgia. So, thank you uh Paige. Thank you to the commission for helping us recognize our

kids. We're proud of them and we're we're proud to be a part of such a great community here in Basta. Thank you very much. Very well there. All right. Well, Colonel Roberts, certainly it's our honor that you and some of your staff members and support group can be here tonight. Uh, a lot's been said about the children, but you're 100% right. you know, you understand the issue when when a parent in some cases both parents are deployed uh and these children are are left here in our community or maybe they get have to get dislocated because of that deployment. So, we don't really understand what children go through of military personnel just simply because there's a lot of moving involved. Uh they have to continually try to make new friends each

and every day, you know, when they have those moves that they have to make. So, It's a great honor for us as a commission to be able to recognize the fact and the sacrifices that these children make as well. So again, we talk about this a lot. We talk about you guys are the ones that's downrange as you say and and you guys are doing the job to give us the freedoms that we have here in our community. But it's a lot more than just the military personnel, the enlisted people themselves. It's those it's the spouses, it's the children, and it's the entire unit of family. uh that really makes a tremendous amount of sacrifices for us to be able to have the freedoms that we have. So we will always be eternally grateful. This community will anyway. We thank you very much. We do have a proclamation that I'll share with you purple up for military children. Whereas millions of American children have parents serving in our nation's armed forces demonstrating remarkable strength and courage in the face of unique challenges. And whereas military connected children alongside their parents, adapting to frequent relocations, new schools, and extended separations from loved ones while maintaining their academic pro progress and personal growth. And whereas the support of schools, communities, and organizations is vital to the success and well-being of military children. And whereas the the month of the military child provides an opportunity to recognize and honor the contributions and sacrifice of the military children. And where whereas purple is the color that symbolizes all branches of the military as it is a combination of army green, marine red, and air force, space force, coast guard, and navy blue. purple symbolizes unity for military children across all the services and it is a reminder that they are supported and seen and whereas Lounge County

thanks military children for their strength and sacrifices Loun County is honored to celebrate and purple up for military children. Now therefore, our chairman, Bill Slaughter, on behalf of the Lambs County Board of Commissioners, do hereby recognize April the 26th as Purple Up for Military Children Month in Lambs County and call this observance to the attention of our citizens. So, proclaim this 14th day of April, 2026. Thank you, sir. There you go. All right, commissioners. Inside your packet, you'll find your minutes of the

March 23rd meeting as well as your regular session meetings minutes from March 24th. If there's no additions, deletions, or corrections, I'll entertain a motion to approve the minutes. Motion for approval. We have a motion to approve by Miss Evans. Do I have a second? Second. I have a second by Mr. Ornstein. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I. Any oppose? Like sign? hearing. None. The motion carries. Our first agenda item is agenda item 6A and this is for the South Regional Joint Development Authority. Miss Dukes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, commissioners. The terms of Miss Andrea Shrier and Mr. Klay Griner have expired. Neither has expressed an interest in being reappointed. Miss Katherine Nikki Ogalry and Mr. Joe Brownley are interested in being appointed to the South Regional Joint Development Authority. Uh Mr. Joe Brownley represents Georgia Power and Miss Nikki Ogal Tree is the new director of the development authority that took Miss Shrier's place. Okay. All right. Any questions for Miss Dukes? Hearing none, I'll open up the floor for nominations. Mr. Chairman, I can nominate Mr. Joe Brownley. Okay. We have the the name of Mr. Joe Brownley. Are there any other nominations?

Nominate Katherine Ogle Tree. Okay. We have Miss Nikki Ogal Tree also. And so we have both of those seats are available. Yes, sir. Are there any other nominations?

Hearing none, we'll close the nominations and Miss Nikki Ogal Tree and Mr. Joe Brownley will will be appointed by acclamation. Commissioners, I appreciate your effort. Thank you. Our first agenda item for public hearing is agenda item 7A and this is REZ2026-08. It is the Cedar subdivision on Whitewater Road and Cedar Road as well as the Madison Highway. This includes 184 acres. It is currently R1, CG, and CH. The request is for R10 and CH. And this will be served by county utilities. Mr. Dillard. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening, commissioners. As stated, the request before you is to chain this 184 acre property into a majority residential subdivision at an R10 density with some commercial highway being replaced on Madison Highway and a CG portion along Whitewater Road converting to commercial highway property as well. You can note some of the wetlands here. However, these properties are also within the community activity center and suburban area which does support the R10 and commercial highway zoning. Not depicted is the Vasta airport overlay. uh but it does not have much bearing on the overall development. Again, we talk about the wetlands on this property, some of which have been delineated uh that's also in a groundwater recharge area, but due to the use of potential county utilities uh has little bearing on any environmental impacts, any potential change to these environmental wetland areas would be approved by the Army Corps of Engineers um as part of the development process if approved. Again, this is just a conceptual overall. This is not in a final site plan, but you see the predominant layout of the residential subdivision avoiding much of those wetlands. I'm going to go around this property just for a little more clarity. Beginning in the southwest corner, you can see the proposed change from R1 to CH, the commercial highway along Madison. And then we transition to the R10 portion for the uh overall neighborhood development. Moving again to the southeast along Whitewater Road. We see the existing boundary as well from commercial highway which is being

proposed for R10. And then you see this very small triangular portion in the right hand side. That is the CG portion requesting commercial highway zoning. Transitioning north again along Madison, you still see more of the R10 portion with a proposed uh additional entrance to the subdivision through some coward property which is currently commercial highway. And then again we go all the way to the very north along Cedar, which is where this property terminates. Uh you'll notice that Cedar Road is an unimproved county road. it is maintained and thus the condition that is recommended for any particular ingress and egress off of Cedar Road shall require the property owner developer to pave the street from that ingress egress to the nearest paved street. Property owner developer will also be responsible for the design and the acquisition of necessary rightaway relocation of utilities and construction costs for the paving of the section mentioned above. And again, this is if the applicant chooses or is required to connect onto Cedar Road uh at the time of development. At the planning commission meeting, the applicant's representative spoke in support and no one spoke against the request and therefore the planning commission voted unanimously 90 to one with the one abstension to be approval with the one condition as stated. Again, just a quick overall aerial for some scale and perspective and again the recommended condition and GLPC vote. Okay, any questions for Mr. Dillard? All right, hearing none, we'll open up the public hearing portion of the meeting. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition? Hearing none. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of this request? Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please.

Bill Najin, 107 North Patterson Street here on behalf of the applicant. Uh, good evening, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Thank you, Mr. Dillard. I really don't have much to add other than to say the applicant is agreeable with the condition. Um, and we ask that you uh reszone the property as requested as approved by the planning commission and staff. So, I'm here to answer any questions y'all may have if there are any. Any questions for Mr. Naiden? All good. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Niden. Is there anyone else who would like to speak in favor of this request? All right, hearing none, we'll close the public hearing portion of the meeting and commissioners, I'll turn it back over to you for your consideration. Mr. Chairman, I move that we approve the request with the attached uh one condition. Okay, we have a we have a motion to approve the request with the condition one condition. Yes. Do I have a second? Second. We have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I.

Any oppose, like sign? Hearing? None. Motion carries. Thank you, commissioners. Agenda item 7B is re 2026-09 Cameron Place. This is located at 4554 Beimis Road. This involves 10.2 acres. It is currently EA and the request is for PD and CG and it will be served by county utilities. Mr. Dillard.

Yes sir. Thank you. state. The request here is for plan of development. Uh the proposed approximately 91 homes and amenities on 72 acres located east portion of this property approximately 2 and 12 acres requested. Again, you see the weapon on this property and utilities should be served through tonight. And this is site proposed. You notice town homes in the rear recreation water management. And you notice the commercial property providing connectivity based on the existing bed there. It also has connectivity to the northeast green subdivision. um thus satisfying world standards there. With that being said, plan commission spoke in support in opposition. Therefore, commission voted unanimously approval three acres.

Okay. Yeah. I just want to make sure. Thank you. Any other questions? Show me that exit again on the Hamilton Green. Where was Where's that on here? Okay. All right. I'm sorry. Thank you. All right. Any other questions?

All right. Hearing none, we'll open up the public hearing portion of the meeting. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak in opposition to this request? Anyone that would like to speak in opposition hearing? None. Is there anyone that would like to speak in favor of this request? Please come forward and state your name and address for the record. Please. Good evening, commissioners. Matthew Emman, 2704 North Oak Street. Um I'm the engineer for the project. As JD's mentioned, it's 91 lots. Um it's it's more or less an extension of the existing Hamilton Green. subdivision uh town homes that are there. Um those things are about 80% built. They're all rented out. They're I mean they're all they're doing great. So um really just a demand for it in the area. Uh as mentioned we will be using county utilities for it. Um Scotty, there is a a a connection in the top corner. Um right now we have it shown as a potential business through there would traverse through the parking lot to to go through the property for the uh connectivity. Um really that's about it. Uh the only other thing is there's um 35 trees on that um western property line, southwestern line next to those existing homes. Um we're going to be taking eight of them out. Um there's eight they're more or less at the building property line, the building line um of the units. We'll be replacing those with Thuja Green Giants to kind of fill in those spaces of any anything that's there. It's about 100 inches of trees we'll be putting back on that side. Just kind of filling any gaps are there just to kind of protect those homes as much as possible. We're staying off as as much as we can. I'm only develop about 35 ft to the the nearest building to the property line, but we will be filling any gaps um with with green giants. The they grow really fast. They're two to three foot per year. So, we'll plant them in a couple years. They'll be they'll be giants. I guess that's where their name comes from. So,

any questions? Just one. You're saying it's going to be pretty much an extension of the other division. So, they will look similar. Yes, sir. The the intent is to use the same house foot. Okay. I've seen them. They look nice. Yes. Got it. All right. Thank you, sir. Thank you. All right. Is there anyone else that would like to speak in favor of this request? Hearing none, we'll close the public hearing portion of the meeting. And commissioners, I'll turn it over to you for your consideration. Motion to approve. We have a motion to approve the request. Do I have a second? Second. Have a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the vote. All in favor signify by I. I.

Any oppose? Like sign. Hearing? None. The motion carries. Commissioners again. Thank you very much. All right. Agenda item eight, county manager report. Miss Dukes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one item for tonight. I would like to ask our utility director, Mr. Steve Staly, to give you all an update on our new meter install project. Steve.

Yes, ma'am. Um, the meter uh mass meter change out is going very well. Uh we have not had any issue with billing thus far. All of the billing has remained on time and on schedule. So that has went well. As of the end of the day yesterday, they had 4512 meters installed. That leaves us about 3,500 to go. Uh we're finishing up everything in cycle one this week except Stone Creek. Next week we will be uh finishing up everything in cycle two in Lake Park. That will leave some in the Beimis area. Uh the week of April 27th, we will be finishing up everything in Kinderloo. The week of May 4th, we'll finish up cycle four and some other scattered ones. Uh the week of May 11th, we will take care of Stone Creek in the following week to finish all of that up. And then the last two weeks of May, uh we will do any incompletes and clean up and finish the project out hopefully by the first of June.

Any questions for Mr. Stout? Wonderful work. Thank you. I know personally my house it got switched out. Didn't know got my bill. Everything's working fine. So, and just one example, but it's very good job. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you, Mr. Talby. Great work, Mr. Dukes. Anything else? No, sir. All right. Thank you, Miss Dukes. All right. We'll now move to our citizens wishing to be heard. Our first citizen is Miss Beverly Sharp. If you would please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Good afternoon.

Pull the mic down just a little bit if you would, ma'am. Thank you.

Good afternoon, board of commissioners and others. My name is Beverly Sharp. I reside at 3104 Falling Leaf Lane, Valdasta, Georgia 31602. I am here to speak on behalf of the Loun County pole workers in regards to the pay that we receive. I have been working as a pole worker since 2010. The pay is extremely low. Everything has increased except the amount of money that we are paid. In the last two years, I've been promoted to an assistant manager. As a pole worker, we are given a large responsibility to make sure that elections run smoothly by following the rules and regulations. We help to keep a safe environment for all people voting mainly uh confidential and ethical standards. May is a special election and we are having to work an extra week being held a week before the primary begins. Therefore, we are working even more with two elections backto back. Whole workers in Loun County are paid 725 per hour with managers receiving slightly higher weight on election day during advanced voting which is also early voting. It's a 3 to four week cycle. I am asking you to support a pay raise for all pole workers to reflect the true value of the work that's being done. Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. All right. Our next speaker is Miss Kathleen Hodgeges. Please come forward and state your name and and address for the record, please.

Okay. My name's Kathleen Hodgeges. I'm at 302 Simpson Place, Valdasta. So, Beverly and I are kind of double teaming this, so I'm going to try and say some of the things that she didn't say. Um, but I'm here also to speak about the pay um that Lance County pole workers receive with the 2020 um 2026 election cycle right on top of us because actually early voting begins next week. Um, it's really timely to address this right now and I just want to bring it to your attention. Um, for reference, I've been a poll worker since 2023 and for the last couple years I've been working at the managerial level at a precinct. So, all of us here want

fair and safe elections and a lot of time is devoted by government at all levels to make sure that that happens. This year being a major election year, there is and will be a lot of scrutiny of ele of the election process by many outside groups. So given these facts, poll workers have a very integral role in making sure these elections do run smoothly. And like Beverly said, we have to follow all the re uh regulations regarding elections, which is believe me, that's a lot for people for us to know and to follow. and um we try not to ever get tripped up. Um we have to keep it safe for voters. We have to remain confidential and ethical in all our actions. So there's a lot that we have to juggle and as she mentioned now we've had an extra election added in um which we'll have um in two weeks two elections back to back and then during that time we'll have other things that we have to juggle because we'll be doing advanced voting for both of them with two weeks overlapping on that. So there's a lot for us to juggle, a lot of things, moving parts. So um the election, we're trained and supported um by the board of election staff. Shout out very shout out to them. And they support us tirelessly. Um but it takes all of us to run the elections from the person that greets you at the door to the person at the top that has to certify the election and everybody in between. And it's just a moving part. And there's a lot of moving parts. Uh so as pole workers, we have to know a lot. We have to be highly aware of all these rules and regulations. We have to be focused, committed, and dedicated um not only on election day, but also during training and advanced voting if we're working that. So as she said, um 725 is what we get. Managers get slightly higher, but that's only on election day.

Any training or advanced voting, that's all 725 an hour. So to me there's a big disconnect um between the pay I hope you guys think that too or y'all think that too um and the expectations of the job. There's a disconnect I feel. So I'm asking you to support and budget for a pay raise for all pole workers to reflect the true value of the critical work that we are doing. Thank you. Thank you ma'am. All right. Our next speaker is Miss Susan Whailing. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please.

Hi, I'm Susan Whailing, uh, 2410 Georgia Avenue, Delasa, Georgia, 31602, and I'm here about data centers again. You all promised transparency, and yesterday, someone drove by and saw someone surveying and drilling. I'm not sure what's going on in that Foxboro area, but I am waiting to hear back from all of your investigations. Um because I know you saw that Fesus, Missouri voted out every council member that voted for a data center. Um and that pe the public is getting angry everywhere about this. Um and CNN just put out a new scientific study that uh cited a 16 degree heat increase a heat island surrounding data centers. So today that means the temperature would be over 100°. I know you saw the city ban on watering between 10 and four because I know you know we're in a drought as uh Mr. Orinstein mentioned in his prayer. uh data centers will only add to the water stress that we currently are facing and increase the likelihood of longer and greater droughts. But today I just want to focus on um a new report from Virginia. It was an assessment of 16 um data centers in Northern Virginia. And what they found was on top of the electric demand and the cooling systems uh that are caused by the cooling systems and the backup generation or generators um is and the environmental pollution of air and water and noise and heat that the health impacts were even greater. respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, heat related illness, reproductive issues. Mentally, there's psychological stress, sleep disturbance,

anxiety, and depressive issues. And so, I'm really concerned for our community. I don't think we have a lot of resources, extra resources in mental health. Um, and we don't have I mean, we do have a great um aquifer, but that is being depleted as the drought continues. And I just think that you all I hope that you all will continue to do your research. Um on Friday we're having a town hall meeting. I'm sure that Michael Null will email you about it. Uh we've invited the public service commissioners down from Atlanta to talk to us about this. Um, and so yeah, just here to remind you that even though there's not many of us here tonight, that we are we've got almost a thousand signatures on a petition and people are joining us daily, messaging daily about their concerns. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

All right, our next speaker is Miss Mary Francis Row. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. I am Mary Ro. I reside on 4515 Jones Lane, Lake Park, Georgia. I am commissioners. I'm here again uh concerning the paving of Green Road. Uh we are not interested in uh building up the road because of so many problems you have whenever it rains several days. We would like for it to be paved. Commissioners, please consider paving Green Road. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Chase West. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Good afternoon. My name is Chase West. Um I stay at 4712 Radar Site Road. Um I'm here today to uh talk about a new ordinance I heard that the county may be having plans to vote for um that may ma put a max on the domestic animals that we're allowed to have to 12 and creating a few new regulations regarding spaying, neuter, and breeding in the area. Um, I'm not sure what the official definition of a domestic animal is, but when I looked it up earlier, I believe it would also not only just be cats and dogs, but also ducks, chickens, cows, and other um farm animals. So, all I'm all I'm asking all is just to consider um farmers and um other people that this might affect other than just normal residential homes um for limiting the amount of animals per acre could hurt these people. Um, I also recommend that um putting a six-mon spayne neuter requirement for some animals such as felines might be a little bit too early for those for those animals. So, just please consider those things for um for us. Appreciate it. Thank you for what y'all doing.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Miss Carol Lee West. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record, please. Let's see if I'm tall enough for this. Uh Caroli West, 4712 Radar Site Road, Valdasta, Georgia. Uh I have the same same discussion topic as my husband uh about the proposed ordinance changes for uh mandatory microchipping by 12 weeks of age to help prevent um pet loss. Uh I very recently had a kitten microchipped or tried to uh and they advised me to wait until the kitten was at least six months old. So to get that done at the exact same time as the spayneuter. Uh so I wanted to kind of bring that up at least for the consideration for kittens 12 weeks they might be too young the microchip will move. Um I know not all vets can agree with this but at least giving a little bit of leeway in that would help with that. Um, same for the mandatory spayneuter for cats by six months of age. Um, not sure why that's cat specific and if there is a grandfather clause for that. So, does it apply only to cats born after the date that it goes into effect or is it something that's grandfathered and then how does that apply to TNR pets? Uh, and then the biggest item was the limit to the number of animals per acre to fewer than 12 total domestic animals per acre and then six per half acre, etc. Um, this, as my husband said, would be a concern for farmers or people that are rescuing and um, animals. So, not just cats, but also dogs, uh, birds, chickens, everything. So, please kind of keep that in mind as y'all are pushing these ordinances. I am very much in support of requiring animals to be microchipped and spayneutered, especially with the issues that we're having. Uh, there are so many stray cats in this town and dogs as well, and they are an issue. Um, we just had a couple come into our yard and kill some of our

chickens. So, it would be nice to have some ordinances in place to keep that from happening. Um, and keep animals where they should be. So, thank you. Thank you, ma'am.

All right. Our next speaker is Mr. William Weisel. Good evening, commissioners, chairman, manager. I'm William Whitel. I'm a resident of Loun County at 2123 Pine Cliff Drive. I want to begin by commending this county commission for taking a proactive approach to finding solutions to some of our companion animal issues by updating our local ordinances. I know over the past few months you've heard from several concerned residents about serious issues such as tethering animals, mandatory microchipping, animals per acre, backyard breeding operations, just to name a few. But I want to talk about an approach that addresses all those very important issues at one time. It will exponentially reduce the number of dogs at large, dogs with inadequate shelters, attacks on other pets, attacks on people. The list could go on and on. It reduces all those things by reducing the number of unwanted animals through encouraging sterilization. I believe in efficiency, simplicity, and incentivizing people to do what is good for our county. I believe this method checks all those boxes. This method is in place in many counties and cities across the country and there's no better time than now to implement this. I'll go over that reasoning as well. Currently, we require residents of our county and our state to obtain and stay current with a rabies vaccination. This is the lowest standard of pet ownership and has been the law for over 50 years. Over time, we have improved that minimum baseline with adequate shelter requirements, ample food and water requirements. Of the above, the rabies vaccination requirement is the only one requirement that is similar to what I'm suggesting, and that is an ounce of prevention that yields a pound of cure. In other words, the rabies vaccine prevents expensive outbreaks of rabies, which would be very costly, and the rabies vaccine cost is

paid by the pet owner as it should be. What I am suggesting, like the rabies vaccine, yields a pound of cure for a mere ounce of prevention. This suggestion is an annual pet licensing fee that is forever cancelled or forgiven if your dog or cat is spayed or neutered. Right now in Loun County, any pet owner can get their animal spayed or neutered, vaccinated for rabies, and receive a microchip for a one-time fee of $35. That is cheaper than a rabies shot alone at a vets office because vets offices are requiring an exam with the shot. It also beats the prices of a rabies shot and microchip provided at pop-up shot clinics that you sometimes find in parking lots such as Tractor Supply. Again, for $35, anyone in Loun County can get a spay or neuter, including a microchip and rabies vaccination. By the way, cats are $10 cheaper at $25. This removes any concerns of forcing someone to pay for something that is expensive or that they did not plan for that they cannot afford because they already required to spend that much on a rabies vaccine every year. Additionally, those who want to breed their animals and make anywhere from $300 to $3,000 per puppy, depending on the breed can still do so at a minimal cost. And that can be whatever you want to set it at. Obviously, I'd recommend making it $35 or more. But those who want to breed their animals are not going to mind paying it because they're making money on their puppies. And whenever they are done breeding their animals, they can get the $35 spayneuter and not have to pay the annual fee anymore. This method is not anything that I've come up with. It is being utilized all over the country by the counties and cities who are winning against the problems caused by too many unwanted animals. Columbia, South Carolina is a prime example of a southern city that has successfully implemented this program of an annual fee that is canceled or severely reduced forever with a spayneuter. I mentioned earlier that the timing cannot be better. Here's why. The reason that $35 spayneuters, 25 for cats, are available is due to a continuing grant by the owners of Bissell vacuum cleaners. Evidently, she has made it her mission

to reduce the number of unwanted animals through spay or neuter. So, she pays a difference on a $35 or $25 spayneuter with the caveat that the facility cannot profit from the procedure. So, it's essentially a break even or slight loss for this facility performing the $35 or $25 spayneuter. This program would come at no cost to our county either as the local vets have previously agreed to collect this registration fee on a monthly basis for the county as long as it is used for something related to animal care within the county. Last year, the Humane Society, a local nonprofit, transported 724 animals, most of which came out of our county shelter to places that already have these laws incentivizing spays and neuters. Imagine going from a place with all these problems and expenses associated with too many unwanted animals to a county that welcomes animals from other places because we don't have enough unwanted animals. I certainly hope we can become that county and be glad to answer any questions.

Thank you, sir. Thank you.

All right. Our next speaker is Christa Marie Wales. Please come forward and state your name and address for the record as well, please. Hi. Uh, my name is Crystal Wells. I live at 907 Wilson Avenue, Fat Offo, Georgia 31602. Um, so actually a lot of people have kind of already said some of the things that I wanted to, which is great. Um, I do think the $35 spayneuter program sounds phenomenal. Um, especially because I know a lot of people that personally I've dealt with that deal with a lot of the stray cat populations. A lot of them are lower income. Um, and a lot of them have the heart to help, but there's just not a lot of information or resources out there or maybe we're just not hearing about them of trap and release or just how to help people help the animals because I do think a lot of us want to help. we just don't quite know how to or we don't have the professionals or we don't have the cost effective options of spaying and neutering. Um I also wanted to uh chip in about the microchipping. Um I do think that 12 weeks is a little bit early. Um I've heard that from a vet um before, but I do think it would be a good idea to do it with the um mandatory spay and neuter. I think that's a great idea. I think we all know the stray animal population in our town um could really use some help. Um I could name, you know, at least five stray cat colonies just off the top of my head. Um hotels, there's some near the southside on the overpass near exit 16. There's We all know that people tend to pick up stray dogs, which is great. Um but cats kind of have this like there's a stigma regarding how independent they are that they don't quite need to be rescued off the streets like dogs do. And while in some cases that can be true, um, stray

animals in general, whatever they are, is not good for the environment, for us people, for other animals, for our pets that we do want to keep safe and free from disease and healthy. Um, so I do agree with the mandatory spay and neuter for cats. Um, and I do think, uh, I've personally had four rescue cats. Um, two that have are no longer with us due to other stray cats. Um, but my two rescue cats, uh, I've always been told by the vet to have them fixed around the six month time. So, I think the ordinance should be maybe not so tight at 6 months. But for people who are trying to follow the law and don't want to be like super nitpicky, I think eight months is a great amount of time because at six months, that's when most cats start to spray. The males start to spray, which means putting their scent out. And personally, it makes your house smell awful and you can never get it out. if anyone's ever had a male cat. Um, but also that's when the females start to go into heat and um, they can't control it and they can't stop themselves from being bred. And female cats can get pregnant at actually as soon as two weeks after giving birth. Um, so their gestation period only lasts 65 days. So every two months, each female cat can have x I didn't even look it up, but at least two to three kittens. And that's for each cat in our area. And they of course with male cats, we know that they can impregnate multiple cats at one time or like in short amounts of time. So, um, thank you guys for listening to me and for listening to all of us and for trying to help the animals and the people and the farmers and all of us um, working together for our county. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. All right, commissioners. Any questions, comments? Otherwise, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion. We are adjourned.