Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Afternoon. We call the meeting of the Libert County Board of Commissioners to order. Good to see everyone in this inclement weather. This is truly what they call an impact weather on on WTOC. Good to see everyone. Mr. Mr. um Moses has medium improperly appetized. Yes, sir.

Thank you, sir. Will you be so kind to lead us in our our prayer? Please stand for our prayer and our pledge if you will, please. Let us pray. Gracious God, we thank you for all that you do for us on a daily basis. We thank you for life, health, and strength. And Father, we pause to pray that you would give this deliberate body, Father God, the wisdom and insight as they transact the business community. We pray that you be with them. And Father God, we pause and we continue to lift up uh Commissioner Walden, Father God, and his family. And as they grieve the loss of their precious uh wife and mother. And father God, we pray that you be with them and strengthen them in this time. These are the blessings we ask in Christ's name. And everybody said, "Amen." 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. Mr. Mosley, if you will, um, um, mention the loss of the Reverend JC Shipman, who was a former mayor of the city of, uh, Midway. I'm not sure if you want to say anything, but we pray for that family, too.

Yeah, let us keep that family in mind, kin to the, uh, Williams family also. Uh, he was a longtime advocate for justice and right. and he during his earlier days he when he was employed on Fort Stewart he had the opportunity of helping a lot of people uh receive jobs on Fort Stewart and also while I'm at it uh the I'mma call her my good friend uh Miss Wright Hubbert. She was 107 years old. uh she passed away a couple of days before the first right at the first first of the year or the 31st one of the two and uh they're taking her home back to Philadelphia tomorrow to bury her. She was 107 years old and she was just a beautiful person to help go see and whatever the family need we was always there for her. So keep them in mind as they travel back and forth.

Thank you sir. Moving right on, item four, binding your updates. Good to see Miss Daisy Jones in our presence. Hello there. Sor entry. Good afternoon to you. Good afternoon, chairman and commissioners. I do have a handout for you. Okay.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.

Happy new year. It's still happy new year on this June January the 15th, 2026. Um, it's my pleasure to be here on behalf of our board of directors and our sore team leadership team to give you an update. The last time I was here was in 2024 and as I said then we're all a little grayer. I lost weight so I'm not the same weight. So we're glad for that. But we just thank you for your support. I gave you a handout so that you'd have something to take away um as it relates to our data and the work that we're doing at the re-entry center. As you well know, we are in year 10, a decade of service at the re-entry center and the end of this month will be 14 years for the Liberty County Re-entry Coalition. So, our current snapshot, you see that on average, we serve 10 to 12 clients, new clients per month. On average, up to 120 new clients and we only serve formerly incarcerated people. We do have people calling from all over the state of Georgia, people calling from prisons wanting to get into our program, but we only serve Liberty County and we only serve formerly incarcerated people. We operate with a fourperson leadership team. We call our team the SOAR team navigators. I'm one of the the the volunteers as well as three other volunteers. We have one person that we compensate monthly, very small compensation, our program assistant, but that position is absolutely essential to our day-to-day operations. So together we do intake and assessment, we conduct referrals, we have a mentorship component, peer support, and

we also have case management. So if you come into our office, we have hundreds of case files since 2016 and we retain all of those case files. We're not at the point where after seven years we destroy them. We but we still maintain those those case files and historical records. So for program activity in 2025, you see the breakout. We had a total of 91 new program participants in 2025. 69 75% a little over 75% were male which is predominantly our our clients and we had 22% 22 females which is up and it has been climbing over the years of an increase of females coming out of prison and jail. In fact, last year we had the first uh female client who had been in prison for over 20 years. I'm happy to say though that she's doing well. She's fully employed. She's stably housed and she's improving and contributing to the community. Significant is we've had we have uh veterans who come in and we had four veterans last year. One of the um um opportunities that veterans have that if they're homeless, we refer them directly to the Hinesville VA and into the HUD VASH program to get housed. The VA will have a van that will transport them directly to Charleston to have immediate housing. So, that's a a good uh benefit for veterans. As I said, on average, we have 10 up to 10 new clients. Last year on average it was about a little over eight to nine clients per month. June was our highest month because summertime is the highest number of participants that we see coming in for help. I want

to note that in November last year we were only open for just a few days because that was scheduled vacation time uh and um training time. So even in that month of one day opening we had one new client. I want to say that we have to pause for we call it refit refresh vacation because of the kind of work we do that we'll risk burnout even personally we'll risk uh burn out burnout and then we jeopardize the kind of work the kind of service that we can provide people because we want to provide a fresh approach to each new client. Each new client deserves a fresh approach of a freshly rested intake case manager to address their needs. So you see the monthly intake flow, how that flowed out and I've already highlighted each month. We had one new client in November and again we closed for three weeks but when we came back in December we had 10 new clients. We closed the last two weeks in December. So that's 10 people in two weeks because we close annually for Christmas and for New Year's. So the need is still exist. It it's a continuous need and what we want to make sure we do is maintain quality staffing to support what the needs are. So these numbers represent what we do daytoday for each participant, each program participant. an individual can come in and it's voluntary and even if a person is on what we call paper under supervision um their parole probation officer can mandate that they come and get services from us but it's still voluntary for

that individual to follow to help create their own reentry plan to follow that plan and to achieve those goals on their own with support from the re-entry center. So, we provide the first day out services. People come in, you you've heard me say this very often, with the clothes on their backs. Um, we've had people come in with no shoes and with slides last year just before it started snowing. There was a young man came out of the jail and we co we collaborate with the the jail um administrator with the sheriff's office. He had they brought him in. He He's from North Georgia and he had on shorts and a t-shirt, visibly shaken and and shivering. So, he wanted to go back to his home of record, which was supported by the sheriff's office because we don't want people walking around homeless in Hinesville, Liberty County. And so, we got him clothes. We we have clothes, shoes, personal care items, underwear, we have blankets, we have snacks, and we put him on the bus and sent him to his home of record. So, you see the host of kinds of services that we provide. But I want to go all the way to um investment because one of the main things that's important to us is that we come back and say thank you to you uh the board of commissioners for your support over this whole decade. If you recall, I stood here in uh December 2015 asking you for support for the vacant building on 205 East Court Street and have some clients with me and some board members with me. And we have one of our board members here, Jeff Reporter, um and asking you for that. And we started working before we cleaned renovated the building. And it's been a

decade of support. And I get really emotional when I think about the support that you provide to this program, the support that you provide with the building that we have, the facility that we have. Um, we have to have electricity and we have to have water. I came back and asked you again a year later to support with electricity and water and you did that a decade ago. So, I'm I'm I'm an emotional person. Um, so I want to say thank you. Thank you on behalf of our board, our team, and these hundreds of people that we have seen come through the re-entry center. We've continued to upgrade the building and your great maintenance team, Mr. David and his team, if we call, which is not often, they come promptly and they take care of the business of changing out lights, doing whatever needs to be done in the building. It is a great building, a facility. We're very proud to have. There are not many re-entry programs in the state of Georgia grassroots like we are. And so, Liberty County Proud is what we are when we think about what you continue to do and support. And I I I did an estimate of the facility cost, an estimate, administrator, an estimate of what I thought the cost might be today, utilities and building maintenance. And I I probably shot kind of low, but it's significant that you provide inind support. We call it ININD support and we estimate that at almost $30,000 per year and along with that with our

cash income up in 2025 we brought in a little over $47,000 in cash income that consists of grants, donors, corporate support and um Mr. Gillard. Commissioner Gillard of ESG is one of our regular every year. ESG provides us corporate support every single year. We're very proud of that. I want to say thank you to you every year for the work that you do in supporting us. So, a total of $76,46 is almost unheard of for a nonprofit in a decade of service and work. And I came to say thank you. And I can't thank you enough. In 2026, our focus this year is to stabilize staffing because people make the world go round. And we have to have committed people who will be at the door, the touch po points for people coming in after they've been incarcerated and done they've done their time. And we want to stand with the people who are inspired and motivated for their own success. And so we want to stabilize our staffing, strengthen our employee rel employer relationships. So we refer people. We want to maintain the use of our 10 passenger van. We have a 10 passenger van that we take people to job fairs to training to different things around in Liberty County and we have gone as far as per. We want to continue to maintain our revenue streams and improve them. And we want to have a big celebration this decade for the re-entry center being um being sustained and continuing. And for those of you who play golf, as I close, for those of you who play golf, um I invite you to join us on April the 25th

at Taylor's Creek Golf Course. That's our 10th annual swing for re-entry um golf tournament and we're just very excited about that. ESG is normally one of our main corporate sponsors and um so for all of you who play golf, we hope to see you on the course and I just want to say thank you for letting us be a part of Liberty County and the work that's being done in the community. So, subject to any of your questions, that'll conclude my presentation. Questions or comments for Miss Jones? Job well done, Daisy. And I thank you and your volunteers for all that y'all do for us here in Liberty County. Thank you. Blessings on everybody. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. Well, I'll be there golf tournament, right? Uh Liberty County Commission and Business Bureau, Washington's coming. I do remember that we were thinking when you got started that state would kick in some funds, but that never did happen. So, left us out there on our own. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Miss Leah, how are you?

I'm well, sir. Good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to provide our by- annual update on the work of the Liberty County Convention and Visitors Bureau. Today, I'm going to walk you briefly through how we've been promoting Liberty County over the last six months, the partnerships we've built, and how these efforts continue to drive visitation awareness and economic impact for our community. So, of course, we do still have an ongoing initiative, that of our bimonthly spouse tour. These tours are designed to introduce visiting spouses and guests, often connected to business, travel, conferences, or military and civic events to what Liberty County has to offer. Our goal is simple of uh turn a visit into a return trip by creating a positive personal experience within our community. During these tours, participants experience local attractions, dining, shopping, and history. These curated experiences help us showcase Liberty County um as welcoming, vibrant, and worth revisiting not just once, but again and again. Beyond tourism, they also strengthen our relationships with local businesses and attractions. This is HLH, the nursery in Midway. They go all out for just about every holiday and the ladies really enjoyed going there and being able to do a planting exercise. Again, another way we can help promote those small businesses that support our community. So we create that direct exposure for those small businesses while reinforcing a positive image of the county as a destination that values hospitality and community engagement. So in addition to tours, we have maintained a strong presence with booths across various locations and events. This is um the newcomers fairs on Fort Stewart. These booths do allow us to engage directly with residents, visitors, and potential travelers, sharing information, answering questions, and promoting those upcoming events and attractions. So I showed this slide earlier. So sorry, Commissioner Gillard, but these are some of my favorite guys.

They don't mind.

Yeah. Yeah. These are some of my favorite guys. And this was my favorite picture from last year. Without ESG, we definitely would not be able to do all the things that we do. Um we were very excited LA in since the um July since I've been here last. The Southeast Tourism Society named the Huntsville Small World Festival an event of distinction for south the southeast, not southeast Georgia, the southeast part of the United States. So, we are very excited to have that. Um, we did our October lunchon, which is um the Liberty County birthday party, and that's where we play Jeopardy. The chairman was not a contestant this year, but I'm sure he would have won again if he was. Uh, again, we put out that Santa mailbox like we do every year. And as I reported, I'm so sorry, Commissioner Gillard. Today at the City of Huntsville meeting, we had to order an extra 250 postcards for Santa to write responses back. It was a a record year for Santa and his elves and all the responses that they got to write.

Um we do de help decorate Gap Park um to again make the season brighter for everybody involved. Tons of Liberty County residents show up to take their Christmas card pictures or just see the Grinch. Um the poor Grinch, his hat got stolen a couple of times this year. I think it just became a test of how many times I would replace it. That's what I was thinking at the end of it. and he's nine feet tall, so I have to stand on a ladder to replace it. Um, all the people and the places. So, um, I've told you before, we do lots of photography, lots of video. This was a food photo shoot. We did over two days in August. We visited 14 different restaurants in Liberty County from Coast all the way to the west side of Hinesville. Um, so standing on chairs and ladders and hauling lights. Um, we had lots of local models help us. Um, nobody suffered for food. Everybody went home full, so they had a great time. But that's one way we really help promote the community and again keep that money local. These are some of the Facebook posts or things that were done with those photos. So on the left is JJ's um which is a Heindville restaurant. That's an organic post. So without boosting or anything, without paying any money, that's just good photos and good quality video and that's the kind of traffic you can get. And then the far side, far right hand side is my UG student. um he worked with us for the summer and he shot videos at K Creek Creek and he shot videos at the historic baptismal trail and all of these places of just a regular person walking these paths that history has taught us are special and showing what it looks like. And again, those posts do really really well on all of our platforms um because it's just a person. It's not staged. It's not any of those things. So um we give away lots of things. Um, back in July, we did support the um, Fourth of July event that happened at Bryant Commons, and I think the I think the chairman went to that, the Blues Festival, and we were able to give away tickets to that. We do stuff like that all year long. Feels like just about every week. We have new folks coming into our building, which is

great. We enjoy having them there and giving them tours. And that is the end of my presentation, unless you have questions. And I talk very fast. I'm sorry. Oh, no questions. Any questions for Miss Le? Thank you. And I left something on your desk for you as well, sir. Did you Susie King Taylor? Oh, sure. All right. Thank you. Have a good night. All right. Okay. You too. Thank you.

All right. Uh we want to uh we're going to hear from auditors first and then Miss Samantha's going to come. So I have to get back on the road. So, we're gonna allow them to come first and then Miss Samantha with the final report. All right. Hello. Hello, everyone. Uh, it's my pleasure to be here this afternoon. Glad to have a functioning clicker. That's always a good uh good sign. So, uh, my name's Kirk Arch. I'm with Model and Jenkins CPAs. I'm here this evening to uh present the results of the county's FY25 financial statement audit and I've got some good news to share. So that's always a great thing.

We're ready for it.

Uh I'll give a quick introduction of the firm. I'll go over the various reports that we issue as your auditor and kind of go over what they mean, hit a couple of financial statement highlights, and then a few other things to take any questions at the end. So I have a little chart here. Uh Malden Jenkins is considered a large regional firm here in the southeast, but we are expanding. We do have a very special group within the firm that focuses 100% of their time serving governmental entities such as you all. The uh accounting that you all do is different from what's uh typically seen in the private sector and you all have a unique set of rules to follow and uh and compliance things to check off. So we feel like we have a good team to bring a high level of service. So this slide here is uh going over the main audit opinion. This is the the one that really we're here to do, although there are a couple of other reports included. So this is going to be the independ independent auditor's report and its goal is to say whether or not we believe uh as your auditor that your financial statements are materially correct at your end. Um our responsibility as it relates to the audit is to uh perform audit procedures and give that opinion on whether or not we believe the statements are materially correct. Management is responsible for the statements themselves and is responsible for all the information contained therein. Uh we do follow generally accepted auditing standards and governmental auditing standards when we perform our audits and I'm happy to report that we issued a unmodified or clean opinion. Uh that's really the best opinion you can get in this type of audit. It means we do think everything's materially correct in your statements and they can be relied on by you all and by outside parties. Uh this is the highest level of assurance that we can offer you all as your external auditor. So uh congratulations on the getting a great opinion.

Thank you.

Uh we we have two other reports that go along with the independent auditor's report. The first is called a yellowbook report. It's not intended to give an opinion, but it's intended to kind of if we do see something during the course of our audit procedures we feel we need to mention to you all, we would cite it in this report. Uh we did have one finding here this year. It's a repeat finding for you all and in your elected official offices. Basically, there's overlap of duty just kind of by nature. Almost all of our counties have this same finding. So, um you know, nothing to lose any sleep over. Um but nothing else to site there. So, I think that's a really great report. Uh, and the final report we have is the single audit report. Anytime an entity expends more than $750,000 of federal funding, you have to have a single audit, which is basically a compliance audit on whether you whether or not the county followed the the guidelines of the grant. Uh, that was significant. So, this year we uh looked at the hazard hazard mitigation program with approximately 2.8 million of expenditures there and we did not identify any problems. So, we issued a clean or unmodified opinion. So that's great. Uh, additionally, we didn't have any management points or anything we felt we needed to report to you all. So, uh, that's kind of the clean sweep, as I like to call it, when it comes to audit. So, congratulations. Uh, that's a it's a great report to get.

Thank you. So, you said great several times that we receive it. Um uh generally there's conversation about uh constitutional officers and how how that went working with those persons.

Right. That was kind of the the one the one finding we did have. There's just kind of an overlap of duties in some of the offices that just due to the nature of them, there's not many people that work there and it wouldn't make sense to have a full staff in those offices. And you sometimes see people doing um you know they may be initiating and recording transactions and approving them themselves. And in a larger um entity you would like to see those functions broken out. Um but just due to the nature of the elected officials we have here in Georgia uh the office sizes almost all of our counties have the same finding. Um you know it's like I say I think it's been one for you all for a few years. And I think the question that I'd like to ask you since you do this for several entities uh how does Liberty County look as compared to comparable uh counties or communities?

Oh yeah, y'all looking good. I got some financial highlights I'm going to go over here just a second.

All right. Um, moving back, I do want to point out that I put this slide in the wrong place, but I do want to point out that uh, y'all prepare what's called an annual finan annual comprehensive financial report. And this report goes really kind of above and beyond what's required. It's got a lot of additional information in it. um statistical information for 10 years with both financial and non-financial information as well as a transmitter letter some information about you all's you know how you all are organized and and who who the key players are and a management's discussion and analysis which kind of gives management's uh snapshot or explanation of the year uh in summary. So uh for the past few years or actually past almost past 25 years you all had gotten a certificate of excellence from the government finance officers association. The uh that certificate is included in your uh report this year from FY24 and FY25 statements will be submitted to them uh for that same certification this year. So again that's a good thing. All right. So, here's a couple financial highlights for you. The governmentwide set of statements, you all have two sets of statements. You have fund level statements and then you have uh the governmentwide statements, which is is everything kind of put together on an acrruel basis. And that's the numbers I'm kind of highlighting here. Uh we ended the year with 267.9 million in assets and deferred outflows. Uh of that 153.6 are capital in nature such as your infrastructure, your machinery, equipment, and whatnot. Uh 97.6 6 million is cash and cash equivalents. Those uh assets are offset by around 120 million in liabilities and deferred inflows. Uh 102.5 million of those liabilities are non-current in nature with around 46 point 46 million of those being related to your uh retirement plans, your pension and your and your oped plan. And the others are you know financing

instruments. Um ending the year we have 147.9 million in net position or what a lot of people would call equity and of that 32.1 is unrestricted and you know able to fund current operations. So uh that's a really strong balance sheet for you all. Um and as we kind of note on the on the last line here the last line kind of concerns your income statement. Uh from a from a governmentwide standpoint we we see have 114.4 4 million in revenues offset by 95.6 million in expenses. Uh so overall we saw a total increase in that position this year of around 18.4 million. So that's a a strong balance sheet and a strong year.

How does that compare? I don't remember to last year. Samantha, you remember

we had an increase last year but it was notion. This is governmentwide level. Okay. I got a little graph here. This just kind of shows I always like to show the the capital assets. That's stuff you know that you all are money that you all are investing in the community in the form of infrastructure and things like that. And what I like about this graph is it's going in the right direction every year. You see you're you're adding more and more and at a pace that's kind of out outpacing the the depreciation of those assets. So that's a great thing. All right. The general fund is the the fund that is your your main operating fund and really the main fund for uh for almost all governments. You all had a good year there and you have a strong balance sheet as well. Uh we ended the year with 40.7 million in assets offset by 6.4 million in liabilities and deferred outflows. Um that ends us with 43.3 million of fund balance of which 28.9 is unassigned. So that means that's funds that are spendable for current operations. Uh we had 68.1 million in revenue with around 61.1 million of expenditures. Um there's some miscellaneous items that kind of go at the bottom that total to about 1.1. At the end of the year, we increased our fund balance or our equity by about one 8.1 million. Uh that's a that's that's that's really great. Um one of the ways I kind of like to look at fund balance is to say how many months of fund balance would do you have? And kind of what that means is if you shut down operations right at the year end, how long could you operate with the funds on hand? And you all can operate for about 6.7 months, which is a a good place to be. Anything over four for a June 30 year end is is good. And you all are at 6.7. So, um, that's a great thing. Uh, liquid ratio, that's just current assets to current liabilities. Uh, anything over 1 to1 is

kind of good. Y'all are at 7.4 to one. So, great great area there. So, here's a graph of your general fund performance this year. You'll see we got an increase in revenues, increase in expenditures, uh, and fund balance, both signed and unassigned. You know, I think that's a great thing. Your your revenues are outpacing the increase of your expenditures and padding up that fund balance year to year. So, great deal. Couple of quick highlights on the uh solid waste fund. That's your main uh business type fund. So, we've got 3.5 million in assets and deferred liabilities offset by about 5.3 of liabilities, deferred inflows. We do have a little bit of a a deficit in this fund. However, um I as I understand it, there's a plan in place to kind of address that. We had 4.1 million of revenues, around 5 million of expenditures, some other stuff of about 200,000. Uh and overall, we uh we kind of we went down on our uh our fund balance a little bit this year. However, we did have some good capital asset additions and we did pay some long-term debt. So, um you know, overall not too

as you remember, we increased uh solid waste fees to help with that deficit. So, that should be not sure how long it's going to take to correct itself, but return. Yeah. And that and that was what we discussed as well. That plan is in place and we expect to see that deficit correct over over a period of time. U next one I have here is kind of a graph. Uh you'll see here we did have a a big year expenditure- wise. I think there was a kind of a confluence of things that happened all at once that kind of drove that. Um but hopefully that change in the the rate structure will kind of help correct that going forward.

Okay. We do have some required communications here. Uh as I kind of mentioned at the start, the financial statements along with the disclosures, all the accounting policies and estimates are the responsibility of management. They're considered to be an integral part of the financial statements. We did not have any uh difficulties in dealing with management. We didn't have any disagreements. We don't believe there are any uncorrected misstatements in the financial statements and the firm and the audit team are independent of you all as we're required to be by professional standards in order to uh give our audit opinions. So this will be my last slide here. Uh the Gazsby uh governmental accounting standards board, they set the standards your accounting department is required to follow. They do like to issue standards. So, we do have a couple more coming down line for next year. I don't expect that they'll have a big impact on you all. Uh, and they are always working on other things. We do provide some free CPE to our uh clients. So, hopefully keep your finance team up to uh up to speed on those and if anybody else needs it, we can get them signed up as well. So, with that, I'll close just by saying that, you know, you all had a y'all have some good opinions here. you have a strong B strong balance sheet at your both in your general fund at your governmentwide level. Uh you know overall I think you had a good year. Uh just end by just thinking Samantha and her finance team. I don't I there's a ton of work that goes into what's kind of you know a short report this in front of you but there's a lot of time. Her and her team are wonderful to work with. They get us all the stuff that we need uh in addition to doing their regular job. So hats off to them uh for doing a great job.

Thank you, sir. Any questions? Your name again, sir?

Uh it's Kirk Arch about the audit or any comments? Um let me start. Um 6.9 months. Um, commissioners, as you remember when we were pondering the millage rate, uh, we had option A, B, C,DE, E, F, Z, several options to look at. And the one we chose allowed us to benefit from the increase of the digest as well as to place some additional funds and fund balance. Not as much as we could but because we wanted to make sure Commissioner Gill said that we help the citizens out as much as we we could. Um I say to say this that is a healthy fund balance. So once we look at that capital uh list of there's some things that we had deferred that we I want to find out where we are with those things now and then that should if we and if we handle that wisely that should put us in good position next year.

Yeah. Yes sir. And then that gives us time for floss to to um kick in to kick in in 2027. So you've done well with that. Done well with that. That's the picture I see. If I'm wrong, Miss Auditor, you I'm near 100% right.

Tell me we're in a good position. So, Mr. Moses, Miss Hunter, y'all keep our feet to the fire as they say, so that we'll be in the same position next year, we can uh because the citizen I got an email over this week about u property taxes and and I was able to answer the question, but my point is if we have the healthy fund balance, we're able to provide the our employees what they need to work efficiently, you know, not have equipment that's breaking down and all that kind of stuff that's antiquated, but yet be mindful of our fun, maintain and sustain our fund balance. and then be in a good position next year so that we won't have to make any kind of drastic change in our ministry

and then uh wait for floss to kick in and we should all be saying glory glory hallelujah thank you sir thank you appreciate all right

Richardson now don't you undo anything that he just did I know Um, chairman. Yes, sir. Before M. Richardson give a report, I just want to remind uh the commissioners. I think it was about nine days ago we talked about that sooner or later as they say in church soon and very soon um the financial report will be here and um and it's here today. So all y'all that was crying poor mouth here it is.

Correct. Um, if I may, can I just add one comment on the uh on the audit presentation? That's something that we did change as a county um starting in FY25, and that was to go partially self-insured.

Um, and so now we've been through one full fiscal year. And so part of that, um, addition to fund balance in the general fund, we did not have claims exceeding our expectations. So, we do have a reserve for both um the health insurance and workers comp side as well as the property and casualty. It was a pretty tame uh claims year, but certainly there's going to be years where we have more claims, but um so far year one, I'll call it a success. So, good. I need to go and ask this. How about that retirement account? Go ahead and put that out there. Yeah. Are we are we where we are we where we need to be if the retirement

um so that yeah I think I think we have paid um a little more than what was recommended the past couple of years. Um we are uh coming up in the what do they call it that the funding percentage to where um once we get to a certain percentage they will allow us to use some of those excess funds in harder years, harder times. So we are we're getting closer every year to that. So yes, sir. Well, let's put that on our review list too then in case you might need to inter a little bit. That's right. So it doesn't hit us like it did before. If the fund balance will support it. It sounds like the artist just said it will. Yes.

All right. It will. Yes, sir. And that payment is due uh the end of this month. Okay. We pay along uh every every bi-weekly pay period um pay into it, but certainly that lump sum is due in January.

Okay. Um so yes so fast forwarding uh to November of 2025 I'm here to present the financial statements and starting with the general fund uh we've collected about 22% of our total budgeted revenues um and have spent 38% of our total budgeted expenditures. Um this point in the fiscal year being five months in um our ex expectation for expenditures is to be 41.6 6%. So coming in at 38% we are we're trending in the in the right direction to be under budget um again uh for this fiscal year if it stays on course. Um as far as our revenues, it is pretty common for this month of the year. November is one of our leanest uh cash flow months. Um but this does turn around in January um with the collection of our property taxes from some of those uh escros um and those financial institutions.

I heard a few checks have come in. Yes. Yes. Um and yes, currently so um we have 3.2 two months in our um unreserved fund balance for November, which last year at this time we were at 2.3. So, we are certainly getting more financially sound. Um and but it's still, you know, for our leanest time of the year, this is it's not going to get no down to zero where it was, you know, a couple of years ago. Um so, we're

Yes, that was that was an interesting year. Um but looking at the departmental expenditures for the general fund, um there are still a few that will that are and will continue to be as a result of those contracts that are recorded um required to be paid at the beginning of the fiscal year. Um those are going to be for it, um the jail for their food service contract, superior court, and the law library. um additional uh departments that are showing ahead of schedule for this month um the elections which is based on the elections for the the November um uh public service.

Yes sir. For the public service and additionally those for those city elections that they had for um for their positions that were open. So we um we are going to bill Flemington and um Midway.

Midway. Thank you. Yes, sir. um for their services and I'm working with Rhonda right now to get those um costs identified. Um road department had some unexpected repairs uh for the fiscal year causing them to be ahead of schedule. Uh recreation um for their temporary employees. We've identified that at this point it's really the timing of when those sports um they incur a lot of expenditures in fall when they have multiple sports going on. Um so we'll continue to monitor this and make sure uh they're going to be they're not going to go over budget for the year but um winter time they shouldn't have you know as near as much as they do um in the other months where they have a lot of sports going on. Um, additionally, a couple of things. We knew that they were going to be ahead of schedule, so you all um approved a January 1st uh budget amendment for FY26, and that included tax commissioner um for a payment required to be made to a previous employee um that was unexpected and for animal control uh their new officer that they have. Uh but everything else um nothing is really concerning us for this point of the fiscal year but we will continue to monitor it every month. And turning the page to solid waste

before you go on the concern me a little bit and we need to watch it carefully is that I heard your explanation about the recreation department but that is a good size number. Um um I got a question on that one too. I'm not sure that we added any any anything. I know recreation um activity is doing very well. I understand that. Yes, sir. Okay. Um should dig a little deeper into Yes, sir. Absolutely. That 170 kind of stands out. It's not 70. It's 170. Yeah. Um addition chairman. Yes.

Uh additionally, there was the um the youth youth center, Riceboro youth center that we started taking over the electricity. Uh So that that's also I forgot about that. A January 1st budget amendment. So it will help we in the initial contract we agreed to do that but we had not been doing it. Correct. Right. So that you'll see that adjustment. We posted that for January when it was approved. So that will that will certainly help recreation. But I can I can dig into the temporary employees and also excuse me Mr. chair.

Uh with the animal control, that additional uh employee that was with the city, correct? Yes, sir. Um and the city, I believe we have a contract with the city to receive uh we build them out now one 12th of the contract every month uh for a total of 50,000 over a year period. Um those will be that that revenue will be recorded in revenues and won't offset the cost directly. Um but again that was a January 1 budget amendment so it will help the expenditure side um once we get to January. Oh so that is not a 100% reimbursement with the city. I I don't believe so. No sir

Mr. chair uh the contractual amount was 50,000 50,000 and when we were negotiating that was the previous number given that that didn't include and we actually had discussion today include for uh vehicle insurance and other uh ancillary costs that went along with that. So um that's why when we made the ag when I presented the agreement I shared that I really wanted to monitor everything so that when uh this agreement come back up that we would need to ask for a substantial amount of money to cover costs if we were going to continue to do that in the future.

Mr. Mr. Chairman, I I believe that that should have come back to the commissioners before even though we approved 50,000, not 75,000. You know, like that would have came back to us so we would know rather than the budget going over continuously. Shouldn't that was just my thought. If we approved for a new employee for animal control to work within the city, that was a contractual agreement.

Then if the contract was for 50,000 and here it is, it's going to be I'm just throwing a number out there. But if it was going to be more than the 50,000, it should have come back. So we would review it and decide if we wanted to make to have the contract with the city. We did not purchase any additional um I'm not mistaken equipment for that person other than clothes and things like that but um person didn't need we moved around some vehicles but that person didn't need a vehicle whip some other call Sam that we had well I I thought that work on the weekends

that yeah that's that was um that we were going to hire someone I guess at that rate 50,000 whatever, but that's what the city was paying and they wanted that uh mostly for after what we would call non-traditional hours like Saturdays and Sundays, weekends or just whenever. They want us to have somebody to respond to uh animals, you know, loose animals in Hinesville mostly on weekends or or whenever. And I I don't know if that would be um if it was one of our regular officers that was working on a Saturday. That would be at a overtime rate, wouldn't it? It was an additional employee.

Yeah. Additional employee that that just handle Hinesville calls. Uh we were talking about today that predominantly Hinesville. So is that person on per call on demand or just working straight? Working straight straight sadness and sun is image if nothing is going on. It was it was my understanding that that Hinesville wanted to give us $50,000 and we will respond as needed. But we won't respond to some of just on over the weekends. We would have a person to respond on weekends and midnight if the city of Hinesville for 50 grand. Yeah. Yeah.

Not a new hire. Yeah, we do. That would be a part-time hire. It's a part-time u 50,000. Well, according to what the salary is. Um, let's just get um so so the the overages from the uniforms and those things, not from the not from the employee. I'm not sure what month that new employee was hired in. But I do know that that budget amendment that you all passed is not in this budget number. So, okay. It will fully this month. This 26,000 overage will be offset. Okay. when I put the budget amendment in. I just didn't want to do it before you all had approved it.

But uh I'm pretty sure the gentleman was hired. I think it was November. I mean the letter part of October. So technically it's going to take us out of the red. Yes. Yes. If that budget adjustment was in here right now, we wouldn't have Okay. All right. It wouldn't be on the radar. All right. And also at the end of the fiscal year saying hopefully it offsets our cost. Um, they're thinking it's going to be I want to know how much more over 50,000 it's going to be. Okay. Yes, ma'am. I can get that. Get back and let us know. I didn't uh because you know Yes. contract. Contract. You get $50 $50 service, right? That's right. And that uh IGA it was was that one year or two years?

I think it's one. We did one. Correct. We did a one year with because you want to with another but that's why I shared with you when I brought there that I want to mark it closely because I knew concerns y'all brought forward were valid concerns and I had those concerns as well. Okay. All right. Just one other thing on that. So are we tracking the activities for Hinesville? Yes sir. I got I just got the report and I certainly can give y'all but I got the report. I'm going to submit it to the city of Hinesville. Okay. Uh tonight before I leave. How does that work with duplicated services though? Am I guess that's getting in the weeds. Okay. Good question. All right, ma'am.

Okay, moving right along. Um, yes. So, solid waste, uh, for the end of November, currently sitting at a net loss of about 86,000. Um to date, solid waste has collected 29% of total uh revenues and spent about 31% of total budgeted expenses. Um there are currently no single departments showing over budget for solid waste and at this point we don't anticipate any of them to go over budget. Um their revenues will turn around uh with the collection of the assessments that went out on the property tax bills. Um and turning the page to the special

one question. Oh yes sir. Mr. Chairman, we are no longer picking up household garbage in Flemington, right? We are currently doing it, sir. We will um come out of it of uh January the 31st. Yes. 31st. Okay.

They asked us because of having to go back and redo the contract to cover them for one more month. Um so turning the page to the special revenue funds. Um all with the exception of one are operating within their budget. Uh the one that is over is for records. Um it's just $1,100 at this point in the fiscal year uh for electricity that's running ahead of schedule at this time. Um but this doesn't cause us any concern. Uh hopefully it doesn't continue, but we will we'll we'll keep an eye on that as well. Um now for the sales tax reports.

Here it is. Um sales tax 7 for the month of November, we collected 1,174,000. Um another great month. And to date we have spent 21.1 million of our uh collected revenues. Uh to date we have spent 21 point is that what it said 21.1 million um and collected in total 35.5 million.

Okay. Um now for teeslast um the collection of tees ended um and October was our last month of our regular collection. We do have uh the following couple months we did have a little bit trickle in from the state uh 14,000 for the month of November. Um but to date um since the inception of Tesla we've collected 59.8 8 million and have spent 20 28.3 on um Teslas projects. And that concludes my presentation unless you have any additional questions.

That was conversation forgotten where I was. The conversation was with the um floss and especially when T+ starts collection the some government agencies send notices out to the taxing agencies to the the commercial people to to inform them that okay now you need to increase your your sales tax from seven to eight or eight nine. We I'm not sure. I've heard that the county does that, but someone was telling me that some engineers do that trying to ensure that you know there otherwise you have to business have to go to this department of revenue website or whatever to find out what

they're updated. Yeah. How that works with uh with the Georgia uh sales tax you you every month you have to uh apply and and put your numbers in. So it automatically do it. But it would be good if if the city did or the county did. Be honest with the only reason why I know cuz I'm up here. Yeah, I was going to say the city's when I was in business, the city never sent me a notice to remind me to just change it in my computer, whatever. If I didn't collect it, then I had to absorb that extra. You had to absorb the loss once you put it into the Really? Yep. So, Mr. chair. When um I think when T Splash passed the first time, Kim did send some letters out.

Yeah. Because I was I have to draft some letters. I've just heard that over the weekend that some do that. What do y'all think? It'll make it a lot easier. I'm I'm not talking about from a commissioner standpoint. I'm talking about from the business business because I mean some of these these be just those in unincorporated delivery county we'll get less from Nikki I'm not sure I'm not sure city of Hindsville hadn't they didn't but but what I'm saying is years I never I know we could do our part but if we could uh just get with the other municipalities and and ask them to do the same

because be honest with you I get us doing it in an unincorporated area. I mean, how many businesses is that? 15. Not a lot. Yeah. Short list. A little bit more. But something something tells me though that Kim Ryan gets majority of them are inside. That's possible. Yes, sir. I could call her. Yes. Yeah. Give her call, right? Something tells me she gets her money. Oh, yes. So, so probably what happens is like you said, most business owners, they they're going to absorb that first and then they and then they they realize they shorten their I see. Thank you'all for the insight on

because let me tell you, you go to that GTC website, they don't get there. Guarantee you that calculated right you got it or not. It's going to calculate something for you. Any more questions? We reserve the right. Yes, sir. Always. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Long, guess my turn this time. Yes, sir. How's everyone today? Good, sir.

Good. So, I'll run through a few things on the report. Everybody should have a copy of it. It's got a lot more detail in the report. Uh, St. John's Road, we've got a little bit of field work done on that. We do have a meeting with the city uh coming up Tuesday, Tuesday at 3 o'clock right here. That's right, that way we can get it all squared away. Allen, me and you and whoever else. We are ready. And I've already talked to Simon about their portion of it so we're good shape. Um I read in the report, I'm hoping not jumping the gun. Uh maybe you're going to talk about that. This is the Allen Hurst project. Oh no, not not and what's happening. Allan Hurst is trying to pave the roads of St. John's rear road area. Talk about live oak in a little while. Live oak's on the agenda. All right.

I'm going to do that last. Okay. All right.

So, uh Barington Fair Randabout just waiting on DOT right now. Butterblunt Road. Uh we have letters out to the residents requesting the uh rightway. I know that uh Timmy's talked to one already. I talked to one today. So, we're we're uh making decent progress on getting right away we need on that one. the water line on Pecan Lane. All the construction is complete. Um I think they finally passed the pressure test today. Uh they had to get in and uh replace a couple of pieces that were leaking a little bit. U has made a pretty tough test to pass 2 hours at 150 PSI. So they got that squared away. That should be chlorinated and ready to turn loose very shortly. Uh Freeman Grove Road, we took bids on that. We got one bid for 322,000. which was a little more than I expected uh for the amount of work that we have. Uh we are going to look at what we need to do to try to lower that price a little bit and get a better better price on that. Um

any particular reason why the only one bid you think is the it's a tough little job. Gotcha. And and that that's the biggest thing is it's it's little and and the guys that have the equipment to do it are super busy. So, uh, Bacon Town Road, um, we had talked earlier this week about trying to pave this week. Um, and we we decided to, uh, postpone to next week. So, did the weather have anything to do with So, when I when I walked out the door this morning, it was like 49 degrees and I was like, we made a bad decision. And then about 10:00, I was like, no, we made a good decision.

Yeah. So, uh, hopefully we have that on, uh, tap for next week to get the asphalt down in Bacon Town. Uh, Sunshine Lake Road, we did have a pre-constru preconstruction conference on that job. Uh, so they'll be getting started soon. They're going to give us a schedule for that. Uh, we gave them their notice to proceed and it starts on Monday. Um, Sue King Taylor Freedom Park is looking really, really good. Um, if you haven't been out there, I encourage you to go look. Um we did get the power turned on. Ah

so uh they are trying to get the power now back to the uh water well so that we can get water on the site and we are in the throws of being through with the first two parts of the fourpart right

of that. Uh we have some lighting to go and we have some uh landscaping to go and we're hoping to have all that done uh in the April time frame so that we can have our uh have some events out there. Uh Mary Todd Road uh talked to the consultant that's helping us get the appraisals and trying to get uh uh everything moving forward with the rightway acquisition on that road. Uh he is he told us that uh he was going to be February March and he has already started on it. So, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from him uh yesterday. State Patrol parking uh we did take uh bids on that. We got five bids on that. Uh we had a low bidder of $289,217.15 which was curb and gutter professionals. Uh they did not submit a MWBE package. So, I'm waiting on to have some guidance from Delisa on that particular project as well as I'm looking for how we're going to fund that. Um, we had four other bids that were within 5% of each other. The next lowest bid was $327,021. Um, so we kind of got to we're keeping those two open for right now. Uh, so we know what we can make a recommendation to you. Uh hopefully we'll be making that recommendation to you at the regular monthly meeting next month. Um Live Oak Drive is uh the last one. We've talked about it several times. Uh we did receive a couple bids on it. The low bidder was um JW Oliver. Uh they had a bid of 2042 $2,428,920. Um that includes uh money for the additional water that we have to do. Um so I'm sorry I take that back. That does not include

the the 79,000 for the water. We have to do that as a change order. So um we've looked back at the uh contract. There is money available. um that Commissioner Fraser does have enough does wipe him out, but we also have some prospects for some additional money. So, um what we'd like to do is go ahead and recommend that we go ahead and enter into a contract with JW Oliver for a price of $2,428,920 plus a 10% contingency plus $79,10 uh change order for the additional water that we know that we have to do. sense a bit.

I'm going to give you a Commissioner Gill approach. Now, you said they have prospects for the or they have prospects. So, I I don't want to mess it up. If I don't mess it up, I leave it alone. I don't know how much. I'm just We're talking. That's the best way to say it, right? U Mr. chair. I guess uh I had an opportunity to speak to Councilwoman uh Nelson earlier today and she was saying that it might be some prospects. I guess that's the word that we're using,

but uh nothing was totally committed. Uh and again I I know this project needs to be done but you know just like what we discussed you know uh in my particular district there's a there's a lot of uh concerns and issues with drainage and also with uh pedestrian walk you know uh what we talked about Honey Ridge definitely that ne that neighborhood needed sidewalks when I was a kid over there u um and other two that we already discussed the back side of Eagles Landon and all of that and Honeyidge and Honey

Bernard in Varnado right so with that being said I'm I definitely need some help from from the city or anybody to cuz that that one project yeah that Mr. Mr. Chair, that can't be tapped out. Totally. I was going to ask you about city participation. So, there's no I'm I'm still waiting to to hear back from as a question on that, Commissioner F. Now, this the waterline now and I know coming up to 196 they did up there around um Trinity up to Trinity Church,

the city did all of that. What is it the same water line? Do you know if it's is that that transact line Trent? So that when the city did their part, they they placed replaced the line in the city even though it's still the same line, same city water should have been running. They cut it off and let the concrete stay. So at some point that had for a future project. I guess at some point that had to have happened cuz it's definitely the transite pipe. Well, but well, well, I guess I'm saying let's say there is no sidewalk drainage project over there. Let's say there is none. And that's a city line. And clear my throat when I say this.

That's a city line all the way up to 196 because there it's outside the city limits and

they play um a percentage higher for outside services. But if a leak happened right now and it's in the county, it's still a city line. And if that line needs to be replaced, they wanted to be replaced because we putting in sidewalk and drainage. So the our project, let me back up. So the way we have to do our drainage, we will have conflicts with it in like nine different locations. Plus, it's underneath the roadway. So the conflicts uh create several several places that you've got to connect to and from to I'm struggling to form my sentences and I apologize that I'm struggling but um when we're trying to make those crossings and I have those to make the drainage work I've got to adjust the water line and it's a pretty big danger when I'm adjusting the water line. Now, if we were not doing the project at all, the city would operate the water line just like it is and be moving right along.

And if it breaks, if it breaks, then they got to fix it at their Would they fix it or would they replace it with the new line? I I guess my question was again was that it's a city line. the city owns it and the city gets a a extra charge for outside rates for providing that water to that side of town and it needs to be replaced and um Justin wants to um improve the infrastructure sidewalk streets uh curb and gutter or what have you and the water line needs to be replaced and that's going to be included in his cost Even though uh even when it's replaced, it don't belong to the county,

right? Yeah. So, in other words, what he's saying is that that's definitely something that that the city Yes. And I think talk to him, please. I really think there's a strong case to get the city to contribute to this. I really do. Yeah. It's a strong case for for their land that they that they own, not only contribute to it, but pay for it. Yeah, but let's let's talk. Let's We can do that next week. That's okay. After the holiday and the snow and everything, we'll get over there and see him. I mean, we both got trucks. We'll make it. Yeah, we'll make it. Was that part of your conversation with M Nelson today?

Right. She wanted to get with uh our administration team and and and theirs. And of course, I would love for Commissioner Gillick to the city with that. But, you know, and and um I I I totally get what you're saying. It's good that she would um you know talk with you about helping finding money, but her line ends right there at Trinity for this uh that's her that that that's her district or is that um I think that's Ortiz too, right? I think it is his um cuz that used to be that's where Carl lives up in there and that's where um and Ortiz replaced him. So that's really district fourth five

five and see that's the thing Mr. Chair well obviously you know your your old district it changed a little bit but now I literally represent a portion of four out of the five council members. Yeah, boy. I got four of them, too. Yeah. Oh, and the municipalities, how you sleep at night? Sleep good. Sleep good. Oh, man. Crying every two hours. All right. So, they powers that be going to meet. We We'll work it out. And Yes, sir. If all else fails, I got some money for you. I appreciate you. And And I know we're coming up on the deadline, aren't we? We're We'll pass it before we have another meeting.

There any way possible you could just I already got it extended 15 days. So I I can ask one more time. I What do you want to say? No. He'll probably say okay. I'm about to say with that type of money on the line. Yeah. Problem is is if he feels like Well, I I'll ask him. So, you know, what what we're doing is we're we're tying up $2.5 million of his bonding capacity whether he gets the job or not. So, I mean, it seems like he's going to get the job. We just have to figure out just get the funding. Absolutely. It's just a funding mechanism that that we're kind of work it right. We'll be able to work that out by next week. Work it out.

Okay. So, what I'm hearing is I need to talk to the contractor and ask him if we can go to the February second meeting. What's the date for next meeting? Oh, midmon. They said midmon. No, February. That's too long. February 3rd. That's too long. That's fine. February 3rd is our ex that's our regular meeting Tuesday. Yeah, I can be back at regular meeting. I'm glad my attorney is here. Or or can we make a motion contingent upon the finance package being compiled in the amount that you presenting here? Can we do that?

Yes, sir. You can certainly do that. Once you say that and you can give Mr. Masley the authority to tell me to go. Yeah. But but also I I guess for clarification, if we do that and hypothetically the city, we can't find any more money from that, we'll still be obligated. Well, I mean, if if if you don't find the funding and you say no on the funding, then we'd have to turn the bids down. You can you can actually put all that in the motion based on the funding. Yeah. This way it keeps the bid alive. Keep the bid alive and go ahead and still continue the point.

Yeah. Yeah. Let's try to uh but as soon as we can next week, Justin, let's try to meet with them. Right. I I I feel a little bit more comfortable doing that. The only reason because I I don't want us to approve it and then, you know, city just say, "Nah, we're not going to help." And then because I it has to be done. Well, if that's a very I heard correct if I heard correctly, Commissioner Giller is going to help you out. Yeah. Yeah. We we'll have the conversation with them and then if if they don't have the you know, if they don't have it, they don't have it, but we we we'll get it. We'll get it from somewhere. We we'll get we'll get the funds, but we do need to have that conversation because I'm I'm still concerned about um

you know, it's it's their waterline, right? I mean, it's kind of like paving um highway 84. It's DOT, right? comes to Hinesville, Alenhurstville is still so they're responsible. Yeah. And this is that waterline is Hinesville. Whether it comes through the city or the county, it's we have that conversation. If they still say no, then we'll figure it out. I don't think we have to explain to them that it's their line. I mean, I think they know it's their line, right? They got to know, right? But, um, they're going to try. And for us to, you know, we're going to pave the road that ties in But that water line is their line. That's the that's the part that

and then I'm I'm almost certain, you know, uh you know that's I guess that's the only portion of the unincorporated area. Well, that's not even unincorporated because that's still that's the weirdest part of my district right there. And I'm not the smartest guy in the world and it might not happen while I'm in this seat, but I know in the future that will not be nothing but the city of Hinesville. They tried it before. I remember they tried it. Yeah. But see, I think when they tried it then, that was the only way you could do uh annexation. See, now it's three different ways you could do it, right?

Can't the city just do it just like how city rice world is doing that annex sanction. They normally if the property owner ask that's a different ask legislative. That's legislative method. Yeah. It had to go through Atlanta. Yeah. I'll I'll say this after the meeting. You can um take it but but you can't like this be on TV every night. We'll talk about it. Let's move forward. Um, one of you all want to make the motion that we do that contingent upon.

Just trying to keep the bit alive. Otherwise, even though I mean what I can do is I mean if you want to wait it sounds like Commissioner Fraser really like to wait until the February third meeting or second third. Okay. Uh what I'll do is I will I will send a letter to the uh um contractor and ask him if he'll extend it to February 3rd and then that way if we'll have to take action on February 3rd one way or the other, right? Because we can't I mean we're going to take action. Yeah. We just don't need to hold his bond and you know hold him hostage. Okay. Right. So Okay. Okay. All right. I can do that. Yes, sir. All right. Thank you.

That's all I need. That's all I have tonight. Any questions for Mr. Trent, before you go? Come back. Come back. Come back. No. Run, Trent, run. Uh, Mr. Mosy, do you do we want to Trent, you want to bring him up to speed from this morning or you want to wait till the next go around? Okay. All right. All right. Go ahead. Go, go, go, go, go, go. Attorney Davis, welcome. Good evening. How are you? Good. How are you folks? Okay. Well, sir,

uh before you is a resolution authorizing the transfer of your vacant property on South Main at 135 South Main. This was the property we've already discussed and it authorizes the transfer to the downtown development authority of the city of Hinesville. Um as you know, they've identified this property as a great opportunity to help revitalize the downtown business district. Um, and I think originally it might have been contemplated that they would offer the property for sale, but I think more recent conversations indicate that perhaps they themselves, the development authority, would renovate it and lease it to an operator. But either scenario, the property would be revitalized and uh that this resolution authorizes the transfer and authorizes the execution of an intergovernmental agreement to accomplish that transfer. And as we discussed, it imposes different conditions on the transfer of the property. It has to be actively developed in a fairly prompt fashion. Um, you have the right to repurchase the property for nominal consideration if it's not developed in a timely fashion. And of course, you'll have say and some input as to architectural design and how the renovations uh occur. Uh, but it's consistent with our prior conversations about this property. But if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them. And it authorizes the chairman. I expect, you know, the development authority has not had a chance to review the agreement. If they do, there might be some questions. There might be some modest revisions or tweaks we have to make to the agreement. And the resolution authorizes the chairman to to make those revisions so it doesn't have to come back before the the board

because I think come back would not if it's if they're substantial, they would, but the kind of modifications I'm thinking about are just very small changes. Uh because I think they're anxious to get going on the project. So, we we don't want to wait. I bet. Especially when they're getting some for free. But, uh, Mr. Chair,

well, that's another thing. Not entirely free. You know, the board would would share in the net proceeds. Uh, if there's a sale, it'd be easy to qualify, but uh if it's uh or quantify, but if it's a lease, it might take longer to realize any profit, but at the very least, you'd be entitled to half the net proceeds uh up to the amount of the fair market value of the building at the time that of the transfer. So, as you folks know, the property's been long vacant. You know, it has uh significant uh issues. I don't know if they're structural, but it's going to take quite a lot to renovate and and um restore that property. So,

Mr. Chair, uh Mr. Davis, uh what and I I was looking for that that part in in the contract, the uh the sharing on the profits, right? It's I believe it's paragraph three, Fisher. Let me see. Yeah, it's paragraph three under the consideration and it just provides that you know we don't really know yet what kind of investment the development authority will make. So it provides that the two bodies will get together and decide how to um allocate the the net proceeds. But in any event you're kind of your minimum return is going to be 50% of those net profits up to the fair market value of the property. So net profit from the lease agreement or the sale

or the sale. Yeah, if it's a sale, it's kind of easy, like I said, to quantify. It's whatever the proceeds are pretty much up to the, you know, half of that up to the value the fair market value of the property. But

my expectation is you wouldn't realize that because, you know, I think the I'm not sure what the fair market value of the property is, but given all its uh challenges, I would say that, you know, I wouldn't be expecting a lot of money. uh but whatever the fair market value is uh you know you would share half the proceeds up to that amount and if it's a lease a little bit more difficult you just have to track the proceeds but at a certain point during the lease term whether that's five years or seven years whatever the length of period they'll start to realize a profit and you'll get to share in those profits up to the fair market value of the property

okay so it's saying the profit so But how would how would that work? So what I'm saying is so if say for instance the H DDA they put the money in to do the renovations. Yeah. If they for example if they retain title and say they have to invest half a million dollars in the renovation then we won't get a profit until after

that's right. So it it would be perhaps some time before you realize it. But you know, under the circumstances, I think we I think at one point we discussed whatever return we can get would be welcome considering it will help revitalize the downtown given the right, you know, the vacancy and the state of the of the property. But yes, at some point you would realize a return, but under the lease scenario, if they invested substantial sums, it would be a much longer period than if they would just uh had a sale of the property,

right? And Mr. chair. Uh again, I'm I'm not I think I've voiced my opinion on on this particular project. You know, I'm definitely not against it. Uh you know, we've talked about this this vacant corner lot for for years. Uh but honestly I am against the way how we going about it because I feel like this is an opportunity for us to truly be in a partnership with the Huntsville Downtown Development Authority and also have us an opportunity to create our own economic development authority from the county standpoint and do a partnership instead of just giving it to them, letting them do it and then we sitting back. I I think you know uh uh we've all have witnessed the increase in in our in our tax bills uh and you know just like I said last week 10 years ago I know the rate was 14 today it's 20 and 10 years ago I sat in the same seat and asked if we could come up with a revenue generating project I've I've done it through uh whenever Mr. Brown was here. I've done it since M. Mosley became the assistant county administrator. Now he sits over there being the county administrator. I've done it before Miss Richardson was here. And I and everyone on the financial side said we need to look at a revenue generator project. And I think Mr. share this is our opportunity instead of just pushing this over this project over to the city that we do a partnership. Uh I I know it was a question asked how could we fund the economic development authority and this is one of the ways that we could do it.

We could do it with doing a partnership with them. You know uh there's money out there for us you know through the department of community affairs. There's money out there, but we have to create that economic arm to be able to receive the money. So, again, I'm not against this project. I know the project needs to be done. Uh I'm I'm a a huge fan of everything that they've done in the Hindsville downtown area. Matter of fact, I own a business in the downtown area. So, I understand the work that they're doing, but I just question the work that we're not doing. And this is the time because At the end of the day, everybody else is going down on the Miller rate except us. So, what are we going to do? What projects are we going to do to help create commercial growth? What are we going to do to help offset the uh the tax rates? because I I don't I don't know, but I could tell you me, I've been getting phone calls from people in my district where their mortgages are going up to $300 extra a month. That's unacceptable. And matter of fact, my mortgage went up not because of the board of education, not because of the city of Hinesville, not because of nobody but the county. You know, Commissioner Fraser, I take issue that you as a commissioner who sat here with us through not all but a lot of the budgeting and mill process would say that we are are are being unfair to the public. That's that's just that's such a miscommunication.

I without respect, Mr. Chair, I never said that we were being unfair. Did you not vote for the for the military? I I did, but also, Mr. care for years I've asked you for support with with offsetting commissioner mil I'm not going to entertain you see this as a part of this proposal that's here now okay u if you want to make a motion that that happens and I'll allow you to make the motion and we'll see where it goes but this is a a motion a motion that I need to make a motion for what sir just for clarification the motion that you the direction you think this project should go as versus where okay our county attorney

uh And and you all know the city came to us with this proposal. Uh they have someone who's ready uh to move forward with this project, who's done this kind of development. The building, you're right, the building has been sitting there for all that time and and it's further deteriorating every day. And if we keep waiting, it's going to fall down and not be any good to anybody. The city is willing to put its resources uh behind it already. The mechanism are in place as we speak to move this project forward. So, I don't see a reason to hold it up. And and with all due respect, Mr. Chair, for I I have receipts that I've been requesting for this Liberty County Economic Development since 2020.

And and I should say this resolution doesn't foreclose the opportunity of having some sort of joint venture partnership with a joint venture with the city. But um you know, I think as we discussed earlier, the ultimate goal is to help revitalize the downtown area. Um and so whether it's a partnership or not, the you know the objective is accomplished by you know what's proposed in the resolution. The benefit is as we discussed earlier the county would not be responsible for any financial contribution to the project. So you get the benefit of the project without the investment other than the investment of the building itself. Uh but if you'd like for um Miss Richardson or someone else to do a financial analysis to see what kind of return, but I would expect when we're talking about you know revenue enhancing projects or generating projects, this probably was not the time the kind you folks had in mind. I mean I would be hardressed to see u you know a real robust return on this investment or if you would it would be for quite some time you know given the the state of the the building and its condition and um but but again all those things could be explored if you'd like. Doesn't help to answer ask questions and enter into a discussion with the development authority and see what you'd like to do but uh but absent that you'd have the benefit of the of your agreement with them. you achieve the objective of revitalization without any sort of major financial cost or but I'll be happy to answer any questions.

I think we should move forward. Mr. Chairman, if you accept the motion, I'd make the motion we approve the resolution with an inter government u agreement for with the h with the hinesville downtown development project. Motion in a second. We approve the proposal as presented by council. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All oppose. All right. Thank you, folks. Thank you, sir. Election of the city of Walville. Mr. Mosley.

Mr. chair and members of the board. Uh you have before you here contract with for with the uh city of Walterville to collect taxes uh on behalf of the tax commissioner. Um basically the same document uh that you saw before. Uh, one thing I want to do bring to your attention if you turn to page two for your consideration is um on several months ago we we also did with the city of Flemington and um the one thing that was left out of the city of Flemington was the payment to the tax commissioner. Um and the city of Flemington in the meantime has contacted us about uh it where you see right there payment to the city um a payment to the county they want to um us to re look at their the the amount um in the city of Hinesville's agreement is capped at $9,000 but you see here in the city of Walterville's is also $9,000 um in light of city of Flemington um want to re renegotiate that price I would um request tonight that if y'all would approve it that we could go back and look at uh this amount because I don't think it's fair if that um we pay uh Hinesville has 9,000. You have a smaller municipality paying the same amount as a larger community.

So Warville we will be looking for the lesser amount. Well, this is this is what they agreed to because based on the the the um agreement with city of um Hinesville, this basically tax commissioner copied the one they had with copy and paste just changed. But but in all fairness to them, I don't I don't think if with city of Flemington saying, "Hey, look, can you relook at our numbers and they're about the same size?" I I I don't think it's right for them to have to pay that kind of money. So, wait a minute. So this is the amount that they are paying to the tax commissioner.

This is the amount they talked about. But with Flemington saying because Flemington is even lower, but they want to go even lower because I think Flemington's about 6,000. They want to go even lower. Um and here Walterville, which is not too much bigger than them, you ask them to pay a price that we're paying. Yes. Okay. Even less people in Walterville. Now was that something that Right. Mr. that the uh tax commissioner would negotiate with them the prime the cap.

Yeah, that that was my question. I mean it's 9,000 for Hinesville and so when Flemington say that you know that they wanted this contract they say okay we'll do it for 9,000 and then Wal say say they want the contract they say we'll do it for 9,000 and you saying it should be based on population oh parcels or parcels that's what should have been done but I mean who who from the I guess the tax commission said but you know this is what we have with Hinesville this is what we do for you knowing that it's smaller. I mean, I don't think I just think, sir, he was trying to get a contract. I I don't think Well, yeah, you get a contract. I'm assuming, sir,

you get a contract that's worthy. I mean, that's why LeBron makes more than So, you you get what you pay for, but but I'm saying if it's that much smaller, you just don't use the same contract. And and if and if Wal wants a contract, they say, "Yeah, yeah. Yep. Give us that one." But if it should be based on Yes, sir. And but but you know, in all our fairness, they they have already adopted the agreement. That's what I was going to say. But I was just trying to be fair in the process.

And and let's be fair now, we because this this is what I built. Okay. and we and we um been knocking on the door and ringing their phone to get some some other contracts that they were a little slow paying. Okay. So, now we're going to give them one now that maybe they say they agree to it, but we'll find out in three months. Where does the tax commissioner come in at on this? Does he come in at all have any say so? all to say I know I know well yes sir he he actually put the agreement but the board has to sign off on it right

yes sir through the county so in hearing so wall five bills agreement has already been signed yes sir then and it's for a year yes sir yes sir I believe so because it's it's actually says starting in um December and then starting renewing in January on January one and we're run to J to December. Commissioners, you have two options. I heard what Commissioner Gillip said this this is signed. It's done deal. We can just say, "Hey, it's already signed. It is what it is. Come back to us next year and we look at the numbers again."

Or we can say, "Right, let's create something that's fair to Flemington and Wet and and just kind of ignore, it's not a good word, uh, amend I guess this contract." So, those are the two options you have. Do you want to amend so that you doing something comparative for both of these smaller cities or is it a done deal while that bill sign delivered and we look at it again next year? Yeah, because you know, Mr. Chairman, we because we may be getting other cities may follow follow suit, you know, Riceberg Midway may may do it one day if if they decide to. But I just think I agree with Mr. Mostly probably just don't need to be the cookie cutter for everybody's it cost everybody 9,000 if

unless it unless it costs everybody 9,000 I but if it's 9,000 for all of this and you ain't got but a portion of that then it shouldn't be 9,000. Yeah. So Mr. Chairman did did the uh Mley did the city of Fleming did they already adopt theirs and signed off on theirs? Yes, ma'am. They have. Then they called it and said, "Hey, wait." Yes, ma'am. What made them realize it? Uh, I I believe when they understood that Hinesville had capped theirs, they they kind of wanted something along those lines. I thought I was think Excuse me. Go ahead. Thank you. I was thinking that Flemington has not. So, Flemington has

Yes, sir. Y'all have actually adopted Flemington's because when when when I came before you guys, y'all said, "Where's Walter Tyro?" So, that's right. Yeah. Right. Well, yeah. Okay. So, it's already a done deal. We we well, unless you I yield, but I was going to say we'll review it next year, but I yield to Listen, we want to always work with our Right.

Yeah. No doubt about that. And we're not here trying to to have exorbitant prices for anything that we do. In fact, our IGA, our you know, the monies we get for the maintenance we do in cities is is very low. But even outside that, this is one of our sister cities, a partner. So we want to build and maintain or maintain, you know, a good relationship. So So but the but the Kelly's left now, but I don't think we need a lawyer. If both contracts are signed, they are signed. But that still does not uh for uh what's the word? Forbid us from taking a review. You could renegotiate. Yes, sir. That

Mr. there. I I I guess the the question that I have uh have anyone spoken with with uh Commissioner Sharp about this? Uh this kind of came up today with uh City of Flemington that they've reached out to Samantha and they also reached out to me saying, "Mr. Mosa, can we talk sit down and talk?" Well, my conversation is y'all adopted the contract. I will have to bring it back to you guys to either renegotiate renegotiate that portion of the contract because y'all have adopt both bodies have adopted it. And in light of that, that's why I uh is talking to the chairman today that I I wanted to bring that to y'all attention because I I just want to be just about with everybody.

I I appreciate the transparency, but I mean I I think the collector of of the money should be contacted and communicated with too because I mean, Mr. chair. He he might he might say okay. Yeah. And what I'm saying is also have have you all put a formula together to say okay well with Watville and Flemington because of the amount of parcels. See they never had to until now right because we only had one. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So what

and then I I will say this um Mr. Sharp uh drafted his contract in consultation, is that a good word? With Mr. Moses and our staff because he had not done this before. Right. Right. So he had the consultation of our let's say our office help him up. So So there I agree. I think this kind of if we just take it back to him. Okay. Let him know that Flemington has called and asked for some reconsideration and um and if he say no and and he is Mr. sharing in additional information. He is trying to re renegotiate with the city of Flemington because the section in terms of payment to the tax commissioner was left out was omitted. So he is trying to renegotiate with with Flemington, right?

So that contract would have to be amended anyway. Yes, sir. Because he's the one that actually gets the money. We the commissioners do not get he gets his payment and then we get our payment and then we get that's how we get involved in it because it's a Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. Just take it back to him and see um Yeah. Um how he feels about Well, he um this is not time sensitive. No, ma'am. I mean, no sir. No, sir. Okay. Have a discussion with him. Let us know what it Yes, sir. Can you have it back by by the next meeting?

Yes, sir. We will. Especially since he's already having to relook at the Flemington contract and and I'm and I sent a email back to city of Flemington. They wanted to meet with me. So I wanted to bring be able to have some information to bring back to you guys in terms of what they want. All right. Right. Minister report.

Uh Mr. chair. The only thing I wanted to just share, uh, we got a lot of stuff going on, but what I want to share is, uh, tomorrow will be the first meeting of the, uh, ACCG policy, sharing what what, uh, bills have been introduced. Um, and we've, uh, meeting with Jimmy, um, McDonald, he's already shared that the one of the biggest issues and the governor, I mean, uh, speaker has already mentioned it is, um, how to address the rise in Avalor taxes throughout the state. And so, uh, we believe that they may try to do some things to introduce legislation that curtail that. Um, so we want to stay on top of that and keep you guys posted on that.

Hold right there. I told someone today and I just wish I had a a magic one to get information out to everybody, but it's not a Liberty County problem. It's a statewide statewide problem. It's a state. It's not just a Liberty County thing. You know, you hear the same thing, counties to our right and counties to our left. No, it's not a Liberty County thing. Stay with it. But I still advise some people. I said, "Please go and see your tax assessor." You know, even those bills I write out, you know, that next year's coming. Said, "Go see your tax assessor. Make sure that you have all the exemption that you qualify for, but it's not just a liberty county thing." It's it's a little frustrating, but um Sunday I heard Speaker Burns announce that publicly. This is a statewide issue that we're working with with property tax increase. And

Mr. chairman to re-emphasize that with we attended I attended the meeting last night at Riceboro and Keith Payne was there and he really did stress that last night to the citizens of Riceboro who did attend and you know Riceboro is talking about millage so all of that was brought in last night

and also Mr. chair. Uh, I do sit on the ACCG policy and council. So, we're going to we meet doing session every Monday at 9:00 a.m. So, after you all get updates on Friday, if y'all have any questions, concerns, please let me know because we will be doing the voting on those Mondays on on those particular uh issues, state issues. So, thank you, sir. Please keep us up on the the data center conversation. I I can tell you where that's going now, but that's a hot issue. I'm sorry, sir. That that's all, sir. All right.

All right. Thank you so much. Uh appreciate everyone. Uh this is MLK weekend. A lot of activities going on in Canada then. Uh been publicized, but the uh kicks off tomorrow 7 o'clock at First Line Down in Riceboro. What's going on? The breakfast. It's the opening night which we do there. In fact, you'll get to see Mr. Mosley. He won't be doing Shakespeare, but he'll be doing some parts. Oh, man. He's not doing Shakespeare. 7 o'clock tomorrow at First N Riceboro.

Uh the breakfast Saturday morning at the complex, the youth event Saturday evening at um First Sign, then Sunday to close out at uh at First at 5:00. those comments, but you have the uh a flyer was given to us a couple of weeks ago. I guess that was signed. Send your paperwork. We'll be happy to share it with you again if you need that. All right. All right. Chair entertain a motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? Thank you so much.