Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'm calling to order the budget public hearing for fiscal year 2027 for May 5th, 2026 to order. We have a quorum present this evening with four members present. And do we have any changes to the agenda today? I believe it's ready for your approval, Madam Chair. Thank you. We will move move forward with it as is. This is a public hearing and so we will work through these items and then if anyone from the public would like to speak, uh they may do so. Mr. Johnson.

Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. We'll just go through the the budget presentation just to let you know where we are currently. Um we are balanced and and uh advert ready to advertise. Um just we'll start out with a summary of the general fund budget. That's typically the one we spend the most time on. Uh I will say that we worked extremely diligently this year on the general fund budget. Understanding that our that our tax or property tax uh was was limited uh with direction from the board to keep the budget as tight as possible. I am very glad to report that we we're looking at a 1.95% increase overall uh in this budget. Uh when we first started, as you all know, we do zerobased budgeting in Columbia County. We don't start with last year and then work our way up. Uh so there are several departments that are actually below last year's budget. Uh we actually ask the department heads, division directors, our elected officials to uh work from from zero and work their way up and then whatever that number is, we try to work with that. Uh we have worked again diligently as the executive leadership team to work through the budget. uh you will see that we have made some I would say some significant cuts. Uh we do have some new positions in this budget as the county continues to grow. So does this the uh need for service delivery. So we do have some new positions in the budget. Uh some reclassifications in the budget as well. Uh we won't go through all of those individually unless you have specific questions. But I think some of the biggest things that that you'll want to see uh in this in this budget uh we did provide for a cost of living increase. It's a 3% cost of living increase for our employees. That is budgeted in this year's budget. Uh we do have an increase in the medical plan contributions. Our medical plan continues to go up. So our employees will also see an increase in their medical plan as well. So the county pays a portion of that. So we had to budget for that as well. Uh so those are are

important to note. Uh you will see that the the the way we do this when when we do the budget, we actually put all the vehicles in the budget in the very beginning and then we move the vehicles to the fleet fund which is an independent fund where we amize those vehicles over time. Uh so you will see that that is moved out of the budget. Uh, and then we had several items in the sheriff's office uh, $750,000 worth of requests uh, that we thought that would be better to use one-time money instead of uh, recurring budget money. So, we were able to pull those items out of the budget, still be able to fund those for the sheriff, but we pulled those out. Um, and then a couple other adjustments that you'll see there. Uh, roads and bridges to IPF. We were currently paying part of roads and bridges out of IPF. IPF is the insurance premium tax fund. It only qualifies for certain things to be charged to that fund. Roads and Bridges is something we can charge to that. So, we are now funding them 100% out of that fund. Uh it's really just an a way of accounting for it. Makes it easier than having to to decide somebody working at Ross and Bridges is in this fund or this fund. Now, they're all they'll all be in the same fund. Uh we did have an increase uh in our contract to Gold [clears throat] Cross. Uh they are providing outstanding service. we will be adding an additional ambulance as a result of this increase uh to the budget. Um and then you can see some transfers as well. But I think the bottom line what what is really important to note there is that uh we are balanced. Uh the general fund budget is being proposed at $105,925,41. We do have we we we aim for a 2.5% contingency and we are at 2.51. So the budget is balanced exactly the way it should be. So I will pause there if you have any questions about that so far.

So as budget as budgeted now we will be looking at uh lowering the millage rate. Yeah, that's actually the next tax digest projection. But yes, we uh I can we can talk about that as well. Mr. Johnson, where can you give us an update on where we are with FEMA collections and how that may or may not affect what we're looking at right here? So, it will not affect the general fund uh budget. Uh we are uh getting closer. We are still I don't know the exact number, Sean, how much we're out. We're at 69 million that we've received. We've spent about 87. Yep.

And I found out this week that we've put through another 13 that should come back in the next while. So, math out loud, that gets us to like 97%. So, and there's still more to come through September and October. It will not affect the general fund budget. We actually paid for that. We we put projects on hold and paid for that with project money. So, we will reimburse ourselves with the project money as that money comes back. Thank you. Can you also update us on the return of the investment amount that the county made to WUK Industrial Park uh that the development authority brought back over recently [clears throat] that stands?

Uh so, yeah, we did, as you know, we did receive a check for $8.4 $4 million uh from the development authority and that was uh basically them reimbursing the county for what we had done over the entire period of time for the Whit Industrial Park when they sold that property and had a a financial windfall. Uh they paid the county back for everything that we had put into it. Uh so we have uh placed that in an account by itself. It's being being set aside now. It's been set aside now. uh and I think is the intention of the commission to get that back to the taxpayers. So uh we are anxiously awaiting the signing of House Bill 439 that you're all familiar with. It's on the governor's desk. As soon as we can get that into law, we will then have a vehicle or a mechanism to be able to get that back to the taxpayers. And I believe it's the intent of the board and certainly my intent to take that first $8.4 million as seed money and return that back to the taxpayers as quickly as possible.

Yes. Thank you. Any other questions about the general fund budget? Well, I just like to say one thing. It's it's a credit to not only you, but every head of the departments. Uh this is my first budget seeing for the county. So, it's amazing how wellrun this place is. It's credit to you and every head of department, all the people that work. Thanks, sir. So, I just wanted to to say that publicly. I agree.

Thanks, sir. Uh next item we have is the tax digest projection. You will see that uh we have uh budgeted a 5% growth in the digest. We believe that that number is going to be correct. Uh we typically try to use that number that 5% growth in the digest. Uh historically we have lowered the millage rate to try to offset that. uh last year that when we lowered the millage rate, you will see as a result of us lowering the millage rate last year as low as we did uh we actually only took in an additional $612,000 612581 was the difference in the digest. So even though the digest grew because you lowered the millage rate, the county received less funds. So if you think about that yeartoear, think about how we have to balance the budget. So, I just described to you that we had an increase in the sheriff's request and we had we have to add an additional ambulance and we're trying to add some people to be able to cut the grass at the parks and the things that we're building with splass money. Uh yet we only had $612,000 to work with on the property tax side.

[snorts]

What I'm very glad to report is during my tenure as county manager, I believe when I first took over, uh, we were over 60% over 65% dependent on property tax dollars. And now we're in that 40 42% dependent on property tax dollars. Even though the budget has grown exponentially over the last 15 years with the demands for service that we have with the county, we've been able to keep the property tax money uh, as in check as possible. And this is really another testament to the staff and how well they work to be able to say, you know, we got to be able to to figure out other ways to fund things. So, I hear all the time that you should run the county more like a business. Well, we're not a business because we're in we're in a position business in a position to make money. The county is not in a position to make money. We are in a position to provide the highest level and best service we can for the lowest cost that we can. And that's what we've tried to do. And we've done that by looking at other revenue sources and trying to find innovative ways to to to uh uh fund the the budgets. Uh and we've done that this year. But I did want to point out that that our millage rate currently is one of the lowest millage rates uh in the state honestly uh certainly among our benchmark counties. And uh I believe we are in a position to uh address the mill rate that will happen in August or later I guess July, August, July. So we will address that in July. But we have balanced this budget now with the idea that we will again lower the millage rate again. This will be the 10th uh year in a row that we've done that out of the last 11 with 2020 being the only year that we left it the same because of co. So we are we are prepared to uh the budget is balanced with a millage rate reduction in mind. So that being said, in the interest of revenue diversity and not depending too much on any one source of of uh revenue too heavily, what is best practices for what percentage of general fund would ideally be coming from property taxes,

other more volatile things because sales tax can kind of not be you can't depend on it. I get that question all the time and I don't know if it's different in the CPA world, but in the county manager world, typically we like to say that about 40% is about as low as you want to go with with anything that you're you're that it is so volatile. Obviously sales tax is volatile. Uh we move some things in the insurance premium tax fund, but uh there was actually a bill that was being discussed this year that would eliminate insurance premium tax fund. If that went away, we would have to move all that back to the general fund. That would require a tax increase on our part. So that's nothing that this board would want to do. But if the state decided to go that route, we would have to do that. So, typically that number is about 40% from a county manager's point of view. Um there's there's nothing there there really is no uh I guess set number uh that I' I've always tried to get to 40%.

Okay. The the reason I ask is because you know sales tax does eb and flow when we were all out of power with the hurricane couldn't sell things at the stores. Therefore, we weren't getting the sales and the sales tax. And just thinking of the different revenue streams with property [clears throat] tax being the most dependable and something you can count on to make your budget. I just you know so so if we're at you said about 42% about 40 about 42% maybe a little bit off about 42%. All right. And of that how much is homestead property tax? Uh so out of about $42 million about 25 million of that is homestead property taxes. Right. So the the rest of it is

and and again I mean you talk about a county the size of Columbia County with a $10 billion digest. The fact that we're generating $42 million in property taxes with every business, every house, every everything after exemptions $42 million is again one of the lowest that you will probably hear of anywhere in the state. Well, actually I was in Savannah at the ACCG thing and I kept looking to see where we stood and we were always in the top everywhere. So it was kind of nice to be representing somebody's at the top of everywhere. So that's nice. So

and I would be remiss not to me to mention that it continues to be the intention of this board to eliminate that property tax and supplement that with different revenue stream as well. So absolutely need to work towards that.

So to just to make it clear because we have press here, we need to make it uh more understood. I I understand that you talk about 8.4 $4 million has been set aside, but we we set everything except that we do have concurrence here that this this commission is in favor of doing that. We want to do that. We're waiting on the governor to sign that bill and when we do, that money will be used to lower the uh or or return to the this year to to the pro the homesteaded property. Correct. And uh to the extent that to the extent that the bill allows us to do that and we're going to continue to fight till we can eliminate all of homestead property taxes in Columbia County.

That's that is our intent because you'll hear different people try to say, "Well, the the commission's never said that." But we're saying it, we have said it and we're saying it now that our intent is to get rid of the homestead uh property taxes and and that's that's the mechanism that we're looking for to do that. So correct, we have $ 8.4 $4 million and we're as soon as the the governor signs we're going to uh return that money back to the taxpayer. Mr. Mr. Johnson, what is the uh expectation that uh how much will that affect people's property tax bill this fall?

So, we've already started running those numbers. I had a conversation with the tax commissioner last week. It's it's a little bit difficult for us to determine that uh because we we are still dealing with the $18,000 cap. Uh so we we've actually gone to the state to make sure that we got a very clear interpretation. Is that above and beyond what the what the county has given as far as uh you know because last year you vote you actually introduced legislation that was voted on by the taxpayers to uh actually raise that homestead exemption. So, we're trying to see if we can make that in addition to. Again, the idea is to give them a 100% of the money back. So, we're going to give we're going to maximize that. We don't have the answer to the question now, but I will tell you that it will be maximized to the extent allowed by law. We do need a constitutional amendment to completely remove that cap. And it would be my suggestion and my recommendation that this board and future leadership uh go back to the to the legislation or legislative uh delegation next year to ask for that constitutional amendment to be approved or let the voters at least have an opportunity to to approve that constitutional amendment to allow you to give a 100% of it back. So I can't give you the number. I wish I could, but it will be the maximum amount. and and let's just say hypothetically that uh that uh we would take the entire 8.4 million as seed money, may even have some more money besides that. Whatever we have in that fund, we will use that money and then apply it across the digest to the extent that we're allowed to do that.

And if the governor signs it now, we can do it this fall. Actually, if the governor signs it now, it'll be on the ballot in November. The the citizens will have to approve it in November. It will happen next year. Next year. I just want to be clear that the expectation for a lot of folks is that this fall something's going to happen and our hands are really tied. It's got to go for public though. Correct. That's right. That's assuming that that the public votes in favor of that. Yes. So, we more to come on that. We'll continue to work down that path, but I think uh just understanding the intent is is also important. Um any more questions on this item? All right. No, I got sidetracked. Sorry. Go ahead.

I'm good. Uh, as far as the rest of the tax digest, you can just see there the the rest of the millage rates. We do have dedicated millage rates for our uh our our bonds, our indebtedness. You'll see that those those numbers are changed a little bit with the digest. They don't they don't change much. And then also uh the fire in the unincorporated part of the county uh that is a set digest. So the money collected with the fire department goes directly to the fire department. It can't be spent anywhere else. We don't co-mingle those funds anywhere else. So that is a dedicated millage rate that goes to our fire department and one of the reasons why we have an ISO rating of one. We can continue to fund our fire department. As you well know, we have uh new stations that'll be coming online soon. We have a lot of renovations happening, but we also have two brand new stations coming to Columbia County that we will need to staff. So, it's been our our intent to uh build a bit of a fund balance in the in the fire uh fund in the in the mill rate. Therefore, you could leave the millage rate the same or potentially lower it in the future as opposed to raising it in the future. We don't ever want you to put you in a situation where you would have to raise the millage rate. Uh so, uh we are currently working on working on that as well with those fire stations coming online within the next couple of years.

Will you briefly explain what an ISO rating of one means for the citizen?

Uh yeah. So, um, well, Commissioner Carowway I may explain it better, but it's actually, uh, uh, the the insurance companies ISO is an independent organization that goes out and rates counties on their ability to provide different services. Our building standards is is part of that as well. But as it specifically relates to the fire department, there's a scale that that goes from an ISO rating of one to a 10. 10 meaning you have no fire protection, one meaning that you have every eye dotted and every tea crossed and you really can't get any better than that ISO rating of one. Uh there are very few of those uh in the entire United States. I believe we we got that number one time. There's 36,000 departments in the in the chiefs over there. 36,000 departments in the country and it was the top 1% maybe that were ISO ratings of one. Very few departments ever achieved that ISO rating of one. So, we're very proud of that. Um, and what that does is is as a homeowner, as a business owner in Columbia County, your insurance rates are directly correlated to the ISO rating of the county. So, if we had a 10, you'd be paying much higher insurance, right?

So, this all goes together in a big puzzle, which really allows us to really save the homeowner money because think about this. So, if we're able to eliminate the homestead property tax in Columbia County, you are most people if if you have a mortgage, you're probably um escrowing your your taxes and your insurance. Correct. So, if we can eliminate your homestead property taxes, you won't have to escrow that. So, that means your house payment will go down and you're already paying the lowest insurance that you could possibly pay as opposed to us being an ISO rating of a 6 78 or whatever the case may be, which a lot of communities are. Uh we're at the one. So again, providing more value to the taxpayer in Columbia County, giving them the best service by keeping the most money in their pocket. Great.

Which again, one is perfection. I mean, you can't get any better than that. You can't get any better than a one. Now we just have to fight to keep it, right? Yeah. Which up, right? I'm sorry. Is the ISO process coming up against right now? They're here today, right? This week. Yeah. [laughter] We'll say a little prayer. I Well, we we could say a prayer, but I think our our department has done an outstanding job. Oh, of course. Of course. Uh just all right. Moving on.

Yeah. Beyond that, we'll look at the uh you can see the sales tax history. You can see that we have seen uh to Commissioner Malier's point, we have seen a little bit of dip uh in in in the overall sales tax, the annual uh percentage change. You can see that for really for the first time in a while, we actually in March, we actually saw a a negative number there for the first time in a long time in three or four or five years. Uh, so we did see a dip there. I think it may just be a stabilization, but we do we we we very conservatively estimate our revenues, so we're comfortable with the amount of money that we have uh budgeted as it relates to sales tax. And

this is also something that helps offset property tax. Correct. Right. So, we get local option sales tax in Columbia County. That loss 100% of that sales tax that comes into us uh is applied to the millage rate. you see that as a as a credit on your tax bill, a sales tax or a lost uh local option sales tax credit and it effectively reduces the millage rate by whatever amount of money we have spread out amongst all the taxpayers in the county. Right. Okay.

All right. Uh the next item we have is your summary of proposed budgets and and sometimes this is also misconstrued a little bit. Uh you will see that we have two pages of funds there. Uh we have lots of funds in in in in Colombia County. Uh you will see the overall number uh when you when you look at at everything it's over 200 million but the general fund itself is 10592541 that I I just discussed that is a 1.9 1.95% increase over last year. Uh and we worked really really really hard to get that. I think last year's increase was about a 3%. So, we were able to shave a percent increase off of that, even with the amount of of uh costs for service and and things that we're having to do here in the county. Uh, and then when you look at some of the other funds, a lot of these other funds are really based on uh revenue. So for for example, they all have to they all every all of our funds balance but um you know for example the uh building standards fund or 911 fund or u storm water utility fund all those are balanced based on revenue. So we're going to take the revenue number first and then we're going to set a budget according to that. So that number could go up or down. So, when you look at that 7.32% increase overall, that's a little bit of a of a I guess a misnomer because that didn't mean that you don't have you have a 7% increase in all of our budgets. I'll point out specifically if you look over at the debt service fund for the uh for the bond payment, there's a 583% increase in that one fund. And the reason that's a 583% increase is because when we set up those PFA bonds, uh we took advantage of a very lucrative market where we were investing the funds at a very high return rate as far as interest is concerned and we deferred the payments uh on we so what we actually decided you know we'll pay interest only for the first few years to

give us the biggest bang for our buck. let us build a good fund balance using those high uh returns that we were getting on interest and now we have a big bond payment that's due. We were prepared for that. We knew we had that bond payment coming but we let our money work for us ahead of time. So uh we are much in a better position to pay that now I will say really with free money because we were able to take advantage of a of a very lucrative market. So, you know, to say that we have a 7% increase overall and in the county's budget is again is a bit of a misnomer. I think when you look at the the real number uh is the general fund is 1.95% while these other funds are go up and down. Uh you know, make sure that you look at the ones that went down not just the ones that that that went up. So, any questions about the summary of our proposed budgets?

So, again, overall it's 1.95% to the general fund. General fund. Right. Any other questions? No. [snorts]

Uh, last thing we have for you is just the budget calendar. You can see that here we are on 55. This is the budget hearing. Uh, we are prepared for our newspaper advertisement of our proposed budget that'll go to the uh to to the paper on 5:15. That is the deadline. And then we are set to adopt the budget on 62 at our BOC meeting. Uh I will say that that typically when we have these hearings and we get input from the public, if there are any changes that are significant changes, uh of course we're going to keep up with all changes, but we will report any significant increases to the budget uh at the time of adoption. So uh Miss Reese does an outstanding job of keeping up with every single line. So we'll make sure this board knows uh exactly what they're looking at. When you're looking at our budget, it's is especially in in the budget preparation. We were just looking at this the other day. It's thousands of pages of of documents that we've had to sit through and go through over the past five months as we've worked through this process. Uh, and I again I want to give a shout out and I appreciate what Commissioner Steve said, but this staff and our elected officials do an amazing job and there is no way we could be where we are without Miss Reese and and and the way she she does her budgeting. Uh she is second to none in this entire state. So, we're very fortunate to to be able to work as a team to have this together. We will get everything together for the adoption for the budget on 62. Uh but if there's any changes, we'll make sure we make them public.

Thank you. And again, just reiterating what was just said, we really appreciate all of your hard work, Miss Reese, and all of the department uh department heads. We appreciate the time that's gone into this. We will look forward to uh 62. This is a public hearing for the budget. So, is there anyone from the public who would like to speak? Seeing none, we will adjourn the budget uh public hearing and we will come back in five minutes for the BOC meeting. We're journed.

Good evening. I'm calling to order the board of commissioners meeting for May 5th, 2026 and asking Commissioner Malier to say the prayer for us.

Yes, ma'am. Please bow your heads. Dear Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for these people present and for the purpose we have to be in this room at this moment. Thank you for this community and our country and the rights we have as citizens of this country, including the the rights to assemble and to govern ourselves. Be with us tonight as we go through this agenda. many of these issues affect not only ourselves and our immediate neighbors but the entire region and help us to make our decisions and and take these votes in wisdom and in truth. In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Please stand for the pledge.

I aliance 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 allible. We have a quorum tonight with four members present. Have you had the opportunity to review the minutes from the April 21st meeting? U Madam Chair, I make a motion to accept as presented. I'll second. All in favor? Raise your right hand. So approved. Do we have any changes to the agenda today? Ready for your approval, Madam Chair.

Thank you. We will move forward with it as is. Seeing that we have no special recognition special recognitions tonight or presentation items, we will head directly into the consent agenda. Madam Chair, I make a motion to accept all of these consent agenda items as presented. Second. All those in favor, raise your right hand. So approved. Now we will head into the debate agenda and Commissioner Malier again. I believe you're up.

I make a motion to approve the request for a variance to section 90-135 for property located at tax map078D parcel 024 to allow additional building signage subject to the conditions enumerated in the April 16th planning commission report. Second.

So this is Buffalo Luke on Bobby Jones Expressway. They had a sign installed on the side of the building. However, the proper permit was not was not received prior to doing this. This sign that you see on the A here does not meet the the sign ordinance. Um, if they were to put all the signs allowed by code on their on their building, it would equate to 102.5 square ft. That'd be the sign on the front of the building, the sign on the side, and the sign on the rear. Um the way they've got it proposed between the one on the front of the building and the one you see here comes up to 102 square feet. So it's 0.5 square feet less than what they would have if they had them on all three sides. So this is a variance request to allow that to remain. It's also allows B and C on the bottom of your photograph there to remain in place. Uh there is a a nail place on the end of the building that has a lot of window signs that do not meet uh the sign code. So there are some conditions that would require them to um uh all window signs require permitting or removal within 30 days of the board of commissioners approval. Other condition is that the sign facing Rose Lane and the parking lot must be permitted within 30 days. If you do approve that's not that we will have to come get their actual permits for those signs. We can have that on file. Um and each ten is limited to the two total signs as per this addendum. We have to answer any questions.

So this is not to have them remove any signs or give them extra square footage. This is to get them in compliance with what they should have already done. Correct. Thank you. Any other questions? We have a motion and second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. Thank you. I make a motion to approve the request for the variance to section 90-53 for property located at tax map 017 partial 068 to reduce the rear setback to 10 ft for proposed storage structure.

Second. So, here you have a request to reduce a rear setback from 25 ft down to 10 ft. Uh, this property is is unique in that its access point is off of a an easement, not a road. Uh, because it's off of an easement, what we would typically call a side lot line is actually being considered a rear lot line. So, instead of a 10-ft setback, it's a 25 foot setback. So, they're asking to reduce that 25 ft setback down to 10t setback. Um, is there any other pictures, Patrice, or JB? So, this this one works. Go back.

So, um, that the side lot line here, I'm not drawing. Excuse me. The side lot line here, um, is actually being considered a rear setback because it's on an easement. It's not It's not being considered a side. So, this brings it into compliance, allows the gentleman to build his shed 10 foot off, which puts it in line with his driveway. It also mirrors what his neighbor has done across the street. Any questions? There's a motion and second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. We have no items added to the meeting tonight. Do we have any legal matters?

No. Reve request for review by committee. We do have two people who would like to speak this evening. We will start with Karen. Karen Pum.

Good evening. If you'll state your name and address for the record and you'll have five minutes.

Okay. Thank you. Um good evening Karen Parhan 3421 Hilltop Trail. So on April 21st, I submitted a report to you and also sent it to the library board. So I want to address um two or actually just specific claims um in a response email from Mr. Luton. So the first claim was that the children's librarian manager has extensive professional experience in school and public librarianship. Her employment application shows actually three positions. Two as a media specialist and one as a classroom teacher. So, there's no public library employment listed anywhere in her application. The librarian award that was cited in her um introduction at the January 6 board meeting was actually identified on her resume as 2023 regional media specialist of the year. So, media specialist credentials are issued by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission and that governs work in public schools. So public schools operate under the doctrine of inloco parentus which is basically that the parents are not present. Public libraries operate as open public forums where minors are presumed to be under the guidance of their guardians. These are fundamentally different environments governed by different professional standards which is why Georgia maintains two entirely separate credentiing systems for them. So Mr. Lutin's response treated the experience under one as an equivalent uh to a qualification for the other and it is not. So the second claim is that the position specific qualifications were met but the county's own job descriptions for both the children's librarian manager and the young adult librarian require a masters of library and information science which is consistent with a grade five uh librarian certificate. The hiring records reflect that neither credential

is held by the current occupant of either position. The Secretary of State's licensing database shows that the young adult librarian holds no state library certificate of any kind and the children's librarian manager was issued a grade 2 paraprofessional certificate in February of 2026 which was 6 months after her hire date. So Mr. Luton's um response also pointed to GPLS guidance about state reimburseed positions. That guidance addresses state funding compliance. Um it does not address Georgia law. However, OCGA 20-5-56 states that all persons holding professional positions with the title of librarian must be certified by the state board um for the c certification of librarians. OCGA43-24-4 states that no public library may employ a person in the position of librarian who does not hold a librarian's certificate. So both of the positions carry the title of librarian. Yet neither the county's own standard nor Georgia law is currently being met. The library board continues to state in meetings that it defers to the professional judgment of librarians. So, but the documented committee composition shows that a professional librarian was not part of the consultations on the two decisions that went against patrons. So, I also want to address what a rationale actually is. So, in 2024 under the previous director, the reconsideration for tellme produced structured written [laughter] analysis from certified librarians with documented findings and applied criteria. Now, you disagreed with that outcome. But a professional process was followed and a rationale was produced. Since the library came under new leadership, the 2025 reconsiderations contained a single sentence which [snorts] said, "Per the county commissioner's guidelines, it is my

professional opinion that which would then be followed by a conclusion, but there was no criteria applied. There was no analysis. There was just an outcome. The decision letters issued since January of 2026 were basically the same pattern. So all of them are the same form letter stating that the book was evaluated against professional reviews, awards, and circulation data, but there are no reviews identified. None apply any criteria or analysis to a specific title. Um, the perks of being a Wallflower letter reaches an opposite conclusion from every other letter, yet it uses the exact same language. So, last year, county leadership described the 2024 guidelines as a political midpoint. But a political midpoint is not a professional standard. You do not have to agree with every book in the collection to believe that placement decisions should follow documented professional standards rather than some undefined haphazard political criteria. Since September of 2024, this library system has lost eight certified librarians, including staff who cited professional ethics concerns on the record, and the system currently has six certified librarians remaining. The librarians the library's own current policy requires them to be utilized in the reconsideration process, but they are not currently being utilized. The library board adopted a collection development policy on January 6. That policy has professional standards written into it. The county has job descriptions with professional requirements written into them.

Madam Chair, Miss Parm, if you'll wrap up your over. Um, so prior to 2024, the library system had a reputation of being one of the best in the state and it built that reputation on professional standards. We can restore that reputation, but only if those professional standards are actually being followed. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,

Miss Warren. Good evening. If you will state your name and address for the record and you'll have five minutes. Thank you.

Uh Susan Warren, 5129 North Tubman Road, Apple. First, I want to ask or maybe even beg you to amend the data center district zoning ordinance to include assurityity bond, performance bond, or whatever the correct terminology is. I understand it would not cover the two that are already zoned, but it would certainly help protect our county for any future data centers. And the more I read about the transformer and other electrical component supply problems, the more concerned I am that we don't have that in our ordinance. Now, the next issue is that we're two weeks away from the May 19th election. Even though quite a few candidates are only on Republican or Democratic ballots, including three positions on this board, there are a number of nonpartisan races on both ballots. judgeships and for some of you local school board seats will all be determined in the May 19th primary. That makes this your only choice, your only chance to vote for these candidates. Please vote. There is another race that is determined statewide regardless of which party. And like the nonpartisan seats, they are listed on all ballots. So, every registered voter in Georgia is eligible to vote and choose who represents them on the Georgia Public Service Commission. Two seats on the PSC Commission are going to be determined by your vote on May 19th. For those not familiar with the public service commission, new demand for electricity. The deciding factor in a lot of our economy has to be planned, paid for, and the decisions about who does that paying is one of the oversight areas of the PSC along with authorizing

adding more generation capacity. One important reason so many data centers are built in Georgia is the cheap industrial power rate that's lower than the national average. But there have been six rate increases in three years for residents power. Power companies are monopolies but are allowed to have a return on their investments. Most power companies are allowed a return of 8 to 9% but Georgia P allowed rate is almost 12%. that was approved by this last commission. Georgia P's profit increased 22% to $2.5 billion dollar in 2024. The letter sent out by Georgia Power in 2025 promised no base rate increases for three years, but Georgia Power has already filed separate rate increases this year to recover over the next four-year term, 912 million of underfunded storm reserve, and a separate case to recover fuel costs. According to Georgia P's press release, the costs of the 2024 hurricane were almost $800 million. That release also listed as damaged or destroyed nearly 5,000 transformers, 12,200 power poles and 1,500 plus power lines. So, this is something that's needed, no doubt. But in September and last month, I spoke of the supply chain problems for data centers and power generators due to the lack of domestic manufacturing of items for electrification needs and specifically the lack of transformers. I'm afraid fuel costs are going to be another issue. Georgia Power's projection before the Iran war was that their projected fuel costs would offset

the storm cost recovery. Regardless of the base rate freeze, if fuel cost recovery projection is not met, we'll see higher bills. Last December, the PSC approved a historic addition to power generation for Georgia Power, almost doubling what they had built in the last 100 years. Georgia Power's own press release said that it was due mainly to data centers. If Georgia Power doesn't have a contract with their projected data center users before they build all this additional generation capacity and those data centers don't materialize, the residents will be paying for that. Additionally, their plan is to add generation including, excuse me, including keeping older plants that use coal and diesel that have been slated for decommissioning. They're going to keep them operational. The two newest members of the PSC you elected last year were not allowed to vote on this addition as they didn't take office until January 1st, 2026. We need to support them as they vote in future decisions by electing two new members. Georgia Power has already been granted the 11.9% profit margin for another three years. Three of the current PSC office holders allowed that and they also allow campaign donations from Georgia Power executives, managers, and attorneys.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We have one executive session item this evening. Commissioner Carowway. Yes. I make a motion to accept the donation of of zero. 04 of an acre from Highlands Town Homes HOA Incorporated partial 061 081I for permanent easement for Ivy Falls sewer line improvement project. I'll second. This is a sewer line that needs some repair work done that our staff will do as soon as this is agreed to. Any questions? There's a motion and second on the floor. All in favor, raise your right hand. Motion carries. We have one more motion to make. Make a motion to adjurnn. Second.

All in favor, raise your right hand. We'rejourned.