Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

We're going to need you here. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. We'll call the meeting of the Liberty County Board of Commissioners to order. Mr. Mosley, has the meeting been properly advertised? Yes, sir. I see evidence thereof. Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Ms. Mosley? No, this morning we had a session and had a powerful prayer here. So let's follow with another powerful prayer. Please stand for the invocation and pledge of allegiance led by our county administrator.

Let us pray. Gracious and kind, most benevolent Father, we thank you for this beautiful day and your bountiful blessings. We thank you for the rain as well as the sunshine, Father God. We thank you for all that you do to make Liberty County a great place. We thank you for the people, and we thank you, Father God, for these Board of Commissioners who give their time and their talents and their gifts and graces to deliberate the business community and make it a better place. We thank you and we praise you. We pray that you be with them tonight to give them divine wisdom to transact the business of this community. These and all other blessings we ask in Jesus Christ's name we pray. And everybody said amen. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. If Commissioner Walden is looking and listening, hello, sir. Glad you were able to make it out to the ribbon cutting. And we're continually praying for you. I don't know. I'm just doing it just in case. I'd like to make one minor modification. We have with us today some special guests. Ms. Makia Frazier, would you please come and tell us who you have with you today, please, ma'am? And if that spokesperson would come with you.

Hello, hello, everybody. Good evening. I am Mykia Frazier, the director of the Riceboro Summer Youth Program, and we have a few of our summer working students who are here today to visit the meeting to see how decisions are made and discussed. So my few that are here, would you please stand? Some of them are on their way, so they will be trickling in and out throughout the meeting. Come on up front. Come on. He said come on up front. Come on up. Y'all can support your co-workers.

Well, you want me to give you a little more time for others to come? Okay. All right. Okay. Your name, please, ma'am, for the record.

Good evening, everyone. My name is Malia Jones, and I'm a rising senior at Liberty County High School. I also serve as the president of the inaugural Riceboro League Council. And I am here today on behalf of the students participating in the Riceboro Youth Program, as you can see. The Riceboro Career Readiness Youth Program began in summer of 2010. The idea was presented to the Riceboro City Council by Mr. Spencer B. Clark and our current mayor, Mr. Stacy. Throughout the duration of the summer youth program, our city has provided us with not only the funds we need to reap the benefits of our hard work, but also the tools needed to get a job and then establish a career. In this program, we all acquire many work-related skills, which make us well-rounded employees or employers in the future. We are excited to attend the county commissioner meeting today to learn how decisions are made in our community. Thank you for having us.

All righty, Dr. Bell, you want to make a presentation? How are you?

Good evening. Good evening. Um, at our last meeting, um, attending meeting, we told you about the good stuff that keep little beautiful was recognized for, but we wanted y'all to know that we could not do what we do without the board of commissioners behind us. We, um, appreciate all of your support and we, um, know that if without you backing us, we could not do what we do for our community. So we have a certificate of appreciation. This is a certificate is presented to the Liberty County board of commissioners in recognition of your experience. Exceptionary dedication and voluntary service. You went above and beyond to help keep Leary beautiful. And that's in every aspect. If it was showing up for a meeting, you just don't know how much that means to our members of our board or the community. If it's showing up to a cleanup or beach cleanup, You would not believe what impact that has. Your commitment, time, and effort make a lasting impact on our community. And it was signed by myself and Willa Lewis, who is the chairman for Keep Lyric Beautiful. So we thank you. And then we also have a certificate of appreciation for Liberty County. And you are Liberty County. That's everybody that's here, all of our cities. And this is a dedication to what we get from our community. the support that we get from all of our volunteers. Right now we have over 700 volunteers throughout the year. We pick up tons of trash. We have over 46 adopt Liberty groups and that's all volunteers. We have a beach cleanup. We just had one and that was just people going out. That was for over 40 volunteers and for our regular, uh, um, annual beach sweep, a regular beach sweep is over 60 people. And that's people with boats volunteering their time, their vestal, and their gas, because it costs a lot to put gas in a big boat, to take volunteers out to go clean up an island that's in Liberty County. and the recycling program that we have, and going out to do our educational program in our schools, our summer school programs, and senior citizens. So we appreciate Liberty County, and we definitely appreciate our Liberty Commissioner Board.

Well, we appreciate you keeping it beautiful, all that you do. You win award after award after award, so we appreciate what you do. It's very important that we take care of our community, take care of our environment. There's a group of here the other day that was concerned about the environment. So not only that part, but the trash part, too. Go ahead. You sure can.

Dr. Bill. All right. You had an event down at the Midway Complex, Ocean Day, I think. I'm going to tell you all what I've seen. I went there to see what it was about. DAVID BURRAGE.

What did you see? DAVID BURRAGE. I'll make it real quick.

What I've seen there, at one time I counted, there were 60 small children, probably from 5 to 10 years old. And there was another bus that pulled in. So I don't know how many quite got off of that one. There got to be so many kids. And the events that she had staged with how trash and things can get, litter can get from one place to another through our storm drains and out to the beaches and different things. And these different scenarios she created, these kids were very involved. They really enjoyed this. And I made the comment to several people down there, I hope that these kids will go back and help educate their parents. What you do, I highly commend. And I believe that these kids will go back and maybe tell their parents. Maybe a lot of people don't realize I seen a jar. I don't know how many cigarette butts in it. Had the cigarette butts in it. Simple thing. But when it starts adding up in places, you know, it becomes a lot of litter, you know. And they have many different scenarios. I just highly support what you're doing, keeping Liberty County beautiful.

Thank you, sir. We had 269 children that attended three, um, 38 adults that help out with 20 volunteers, which is over a hundred, um, volunteer hours for that one event. And we appreciate you coming down and supporting, um, that event also. And we also fed every last one of them. Hot dogs and hamburgers.

Yes, sir.

Great.

Great. You know, I'm reminded, um, this past Saturday at the beginning of the 5K at the pavilion by James Brown Park. We got to sweep up cigarette butts and all that kind of litter on the floor before you can get started with any event. So people use it. And there's supposed to be no smoking in our parks, but guess what? And then there was even something like tobacco or something. Yes, sir.

We had to sweep that up because we couldn't pick it up. Any little thing that you can do is a great impact. So just that little cleanup before our run, people came into a clean area and not something dirty. They'd be like, ooh, what's going on? Y'all having a good time? a community event in the 30s. So just doing that made a big impact that when they came in to volunteer and to the second Saturday of every month, family fun run free, free, that it was also a place that they enjoy coming and not tip and towing because they're over trash or litter.

Thank you. So you want to photo op?

Yes, sir.

If you will come up. You're in the compadre. Yes. Display them prominently.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, baby.

All right.

Thank you again, Dr. Bell and his team. I can phone back on. Approval of the, I'm sorry, the financial reports. Ms. Samantha. Samantha.

Good evening. First on the agenda for finance is the April 2026 financials. Starting with the general fund, as of the end of April we have collected 96% of our anticipated revenues and have spent 77% of our anticipated expenditures for the year. Happy to report we currently have 7.1 months in our unreserved fund balance. How many months? 7.1. This time last year, for April, we reported 6.5 months. Turning to the departmental expenditures, there's only a few that are running ahead of schedule for the year. Superior Court. And this is due to all of the law library expenses being paid at the beginning of the fiscal year, so it skews the rest of the year's budget. The road department For equipment repairs, this is coming down, but it's still showing over budget for April. And same with recreation. This is for our part-time wages, but the variance is coming down as we move throughout the fiscal year. Turning the page to solid waste. For April, we have... Total revenues of $4,256,000 for the year, fiscal year so far, and have spent $3.1 million. So we have an excess of revenues over expenditures currently of about $1 million. We've collected 85% of our total revenues for this year and spent only 63%. The, none of the solid waste departments are showing over budget for the month. If we flip the page again to the special revenue funds, none of those are showing over budget for April as well. Sales tax. For sales tax seven, we collected, 1.2 million for the month of April. I've collected a total of 41.5 million and have spent 29.1 million on our SPLOST projects. The next page is TSPLOST. I'll call it TSPLOST 1. The collections for this one has ceased since October, but we are still spending on our TSPLOST projects. To date, we have spent $35.8 million, the total $59.8 million collected. And as we start to receive the next round of T-Splust, starting in May, so next month when I come back, I'll have T-Splust 2 included in your packets as well. And then the last page for April report is FLOST. It just shows what we've collected in total and then the four entities that participate in FLOST, what their allocated share is through April. So Liberty County has collected 2.1 million so far that we can apply to our current year budget for property taxes. So this will help us when we come back to do the millage. That's all I have on April, unless you have a question.

I had a question. Go ahead. On the floss.

Yes, ma'am.

OK, I see it. We've only been collecting that four months?

Yes, ma'am. January was just a tiny, tiny bit. January was.

We didn't get a full month?

No, ma'am. The tax started in January, so we didn't receive our distribution from the state until February.

and that's only to be used for homeowners relief?

That's to be used to apply to our property tax, not just homeowners, but it has to be used to property taxes, yes ma'am. So we anticipate collecting through June over three million.

And how much is a mill right now?

1.3, so it should be a couple mils. That's what I'm thinking too.

I want the audience and those that are online to hear that.

We are expecting to be able to decrease the millage this year just for floss. Right.

And that's what it was supposed to, you know, it has to be used for. Yes. Okay. Okay.

What does the state say? Our tax bills generally go out in December, but we will be still collecting 2026 floss.

That will be applied to our 2027. We can only apply what we've collected through June.

That's right. They went back and added that. Yes, that's right.

They changed that collection period with the new law.

Yeah, because I was looking for a whole year.

Okay.

Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Yes, Samantha, on this... I mean, it's good to see that we only got three that's over budget. And I had the pleasure of riding up the elevator with some ladies from where they told me the clerk's office. And when I looked at this report, when it says superior court, but that's not to be confused with the clerk's office, which is under budget. And I was going to take the stairs. There's about six or seven of them, and they were ready to beat me up. I know they didn't have a gun because they had to come through the metal detector, but they made it clear that they work for the clerk's office. And please don't confuse that with Superior Court, which is a little over budget.

All righty. Just for very quick, young people, SPLOS is the extra penny that you pay when you buy something anywhere in Liberty County. T-SPLOS is one more extra penny. SPLOS for capital IE on Tuesday. You heard me bring reference. You want to brag about Tuesday? Since that's kind of your baby, what we did on Tuesday.

Oh, yes, sir. On Tuesday, we had the pleasure of opening up our new health department on Highway 84 at the red light by Zaxby's. And that was paid for by your extra penny that was on the SPLOST referendum several years ago. So you see by what we built there, why that penny goes a long way. So, but that's one of the buildings that we were able to build with TSPA, I mean with SPLOST, excuse me.

And to speak to the spirit of collaboration, the Coastal Health District also set aside some of their funds.

Yes.

for some time and they contributed greatly to the project. And a third collaborative part is a few of our local doctors gave us a good deal of simplified on the land for the project. So put all that together and you have what you see on Highway 84, the healthcare showcase of Liberty County. That's kind of how it works. Then we hear talk about T-splash as for transportation, so that's roads only.

Road and sidewalks.

Road and sidewalks, okay. T-transportation, okay. Also extra penny. And when you buy your McDonald's, do you even think about that penny? No. But guess what? As they say, it adds up. And we're able to do these kind of projects using those funds. T-SPLOS, as Commissioner Stevens said, roads and sidewalks, SPLOS itself for capital projects like the new EMS building that's going up on South Main. All the work you see Hinesville doing going down South Main, that's got to be T-SPLOS dollars they're spending for that. transportation. And y'all, those kind of improvements are not cheap. On South Main. Sir? South Main. Uh-huh. Into Charles Bridger Boulevard. Here we go.

Just for clarification.

All right. Just so you know kind of what the language you're speaking here. All right. Any questions for Mr. Samantha on the finance report? All right. Then we'll go on into the budget.

Yes. Next on the agenda for finance, I'm here to present for your consideration and adoption the FY27 proposed budget for the county's general operating fund, special revenue funds, and capital project funds. These will take effect on July 1st, the first day of our new fiscal year. A copy of the budget has been provided to you all this evening. Additionally, this information has been made available on our website. and a copy is available for review in our administration office. We held a public hearing at our mid-month meeting last month on May 21st, where we discussed the proposed budget in detail and gave the public the opportunity to speak. And so we could hear from our county residents. Um, but this is the product of our combined effort with the board of commissioners, um, admin and finance, um, resulting from the budget process that's been ongoing since March. We've met with all the department heads, elected officials to carefully review the budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year. But as you know, the county cannot afford to fund every request that is made. Total requests that came in for FY27, 74.7 million. This was cut down by approximately 3.4 million to bringing us to our proposed budget of 71.2 million. Additionally, I want to point out that we have been very cautious as a group to make sure that we get a complete picture of our anticipated revenues for the upcoming fiscal year in order to make the best informed decision that we can for our county. With this being said, we're proposing a modest increase to the general fund of 4.05%. With the county having a June 30th year end, we are at a slight disadvantage due to the fact that we do not have the current year's tax digest in order to anticipate or calculate our largest revenue source, which is property taxes. The digest is currently being prepared and hopefully should be finalized July, August. But once the digest does come in, we'll review the FY26 budget again to see if any amendments will be necessary. But our goal is to be fiscally responsible, not have to raise the millage rate to support the budget that's adopted. Additionally, we are expecting, I mentioned this a little earlier, but to decrease the millage as a result of the state allowing us to apply flossed collections through June to this year's budget. Originally, we were going to have to wait until we collected a whole year, but they changed that to allow us to, so this should will decrease our millage. But I'd be happy to answer any questions that you all may have.

Questions for Ms. Samantha?

Just a moment. Ms. Samantha, with the Enterprise, the Enterprise, the vehicles?

Yes, sir.

What is the amount on that? I know, is it breaking out or does it go by the department?

It's included, let's see, it's in our 8,000s. Enterprise itself is not broken out specifically, but it's included in the debt service for vehicles, the 8,000 department. But it will also have some other finance vehicles that we have. So it's not 100% Enterprise, but that's the bulk of it.

Okay. Mr. Chair, I have a question. I guess going back to the general fund, the expenditures for this upcoming year, for 2027, if you look down at, I'll just skip all the way through it, to 7620, that line item, you programs, what was it last year?

About the same.

How about the prior year?

I think it increased maybe a smidge.

And the year before that? The year before that? The year before that? And the year before that? Okay, so that's what I was getting at. So Mr. Chair, I sent out an email earlier about this. And I think it's quite fitting for today for us to have the Riceboro Youth Internship Program in here. Riceboro started that program, I think, what, 2010, if I'm not mistaken. And I think our first year having it here was maybe prior to 2014, if I'm not mistaken, 2014, 2015. During that time, we had, I think we started with almost 40 kids that year. And this year, we're down to 30. And I think this year with City of Riceboro, if I'm not mistaken, you all have how many students? Y'all have 25. City of Riceboro has 25. We have a $72 million budget. And we have 30 kids. And out of that $72 million budget, we are budgeting $58,000 towards youth development. Mr. Chair, I've given presentations for additional funds. I've broken out. I've even did PowerPoint presentations and everything, requesting for more funding. Our kids aren't just our future, they are present. And as we see, like even the presentation I did for our Safe Summer program for Liberty County, there's always been silence every time we talk about these particular programs. So I'm asking for an increase of another additional $150,000. That'll put us at $208,981. And I think if my math is mathing correctly, I mean, that won't even put a dent into to increase in our budget. So Mr. Chair, I guess this is a, I guess I'm requesting for a motion to increase that particular line item from $58,981 to $208,981. First thing, are you making a motion? I'm making a motion. The motion is to increase the funds allotted for

Use services to $150,000. Is there a second to the motion?

Mr. Chairman, I'll make a second, but I do have a question, Commissioner Frazier. When would this take place, July 1st?

That's correct. So it'll go in place for next year, for our next year program. So we'll be able to increase our programs for next year. And also, we'll make sure that we have enough money to fund our safe summer program as well. and be able to expand our youth development programs.

But when you say next year, I'm talking about July, which is 13 days away. You're not talking about increasing it for July, 13 days from now.

That's correct, because that's when our general budget will go in place. Am I correct? That's correct. So we have to do it now to make sure that we have the funding for next year. But more importantly, we do have some programs that we're trying to expand, where it's not just for the summer, but more importantly, year-round programs to keep our kids active, not just from an athletic standpoint, but from a STEM program and everything else. We had a meeting the other day with the Board of Education to do a collaboration with that. And I think Ms. Frazier, she was on that call as well. So we're looking at doing some more collaborations to make sure that we keep our youth involved in all different types of capacities. Mr. Frey. Yes, sir.

You do have a director for us right now, correct?

Yes, we do. We have Larry Lights Out.

I hear you saying that year round. So will you have a director year round?

I think with the right funding, we will. I don't know if everyone knows, but the city of Hinesville has just hired actually a state employee slash county employee to go move their youth development program forward. And with all due respect, Our program is moving a lot more, I guess, structured-wise right now than where the city is at now. So I think it is time for us to look at having somebody full-time as well.

Mr. Chairman, with that being said, I was just wondering if you're wanting to hire someone I mean, you're asking for $150,000, but do you know exactly where it will all be broken out?

I gave everyone a copy of the presentation. I did a presentation.

I see the one that you sent. What did you call it? The Safe Summer Program? The one that's from 10, the ages is from 10 years old to 21 years old?

Again, whenever I gave that presentation, I said that the age limits, you know, we have an opportunity to adjust. And I requested support and also input on the age and everything else. And no one had anything to say.

I did give you my input on it.

Okay. Well, I apologize.

Do you remember?

I do.

OK, thank you.

I mean, if you want to repeat it for the record, you can.

I said I was willing to go look into it at half of the amount that you were needing, and I asked you what the plans were.

I mean, I gave you the plans, sir. I mean, this is the thing. I mean, you know, if we're going to be committed, we need to be committed. And again, we have a $72 million budget. I'm not a math major. But I think, what is that? Less than a tenth of our total budget? I think I did the math. I think out of every $100 that we spend, I think it's like $0.06 on every $100 for youth development. $0.06. I ain't.

Anybody else?

You don't think that's bad? I'm sorry. I didn't hear you.

I said anybody else? Hello, sir.

We just started, sir.

Good to see you, sir. Talked about you earlier.

We thought you was on the phone. Wait a minute.

This, in talking with staff today, in light of what Mrs. Samantha said about the process, we worked very hard on getting this budget to where it is now. And we're looking forward to, I mean, and I do think only a 4.05% increase is minimal for a growing community. and all that we have to do. I also, in talking to my staff, Commissioner Frazier, they are willing to work with you to look at ways to enhance what we're doing now without increasing the budget by $100,000.

OK, Mr. Chair, I'm just wondering why you all are having that conversation without me being present.

Well, it wasn't because you sent the information. We were just talking about the information you sent.

I mean, I'm always available. That's the only thing I'm saying. So we're saying that we're going to increase The programs without the money. That's not what I said. What can you repeat?

Approve the budget that's presented, and then you will work with staff so they can look at ways perhaps to, what's the word? Enhance what we offer our young people. They wouldn't do that. They think they can do that.

So I guess maybe I'm missing. So enhanced programs with financial help or no help. No increase?

They're going to be, yes and yes. Some things they feel they can do now without increasing the budget. There may be some things we have to go after some funds to fund.

Okay. Ms. Richardson, you just told us we have, what, 7.1 months in reserve? Yes, sir. In layman terms, how much money is that?

A little less than $40 million.

And I'm asking for how much? How much?

$150,000.

And we have $40 million in reserves. Explain that to Samantha, please. Oh, trust me.

Oh, no, let her do it for the audience.

Okay, because I was about to say, I mean, I could do it. I've been up here for 13 years. I understand how that works. I understand the 10 months that we have.

Well, let's be transparent then. Let's be transparent.

And I'm being transparent. I think I truly am. What I'm saying is I understand we go through 10 months. I'm a taxpayer as well. But even with that being said, We are still on a level prior to what we were last year. You just said that. Was that 6.5 last year? We're at 7.1 this year. So even with that 0.6 difference, that's way over $150,000, correct? Yes. All right. That's the only thing I'm saying. I just feel that we have the money. We just have to have the will.

Samantha, how much money does it take to fund the county for a month?

For one month, it's a little over $5.5 million.

That's just an average month.

Sir, I've been up here in some of the most difficult times in American history. I was here when we had COVID. I was here. That was one of the most critical times that this government, locally, state, or federal, has ever been through. And we made it. We have some of our, our, uh, our employees here. You all know what we went through during that time. And during that time, let me, let me tell you the impact that we're still having to this day. Mental health, the mental health is still with us to this day. We call deny it, but it impacted our, our, our kids, even my kids. But again, I'm just, that's my motion. And I think Commissioner Gillard made a second. So I'm just requesting for a vote. And if you all voted down, you all voted down in public.

We're in discussion. Young people, just so you know too, this board funds the Liberty County LCRD. All that you see them do is fund it through this body. Well, let's talk about that.

What's the budget for the rec? The parks, recreation, and leisure. And that's another thing. Recreation is not just for the kids and the programs that we have. Recreation is for everyone from nine months to 99 years. I would agree. So, Ms. Richardson, since the chairman brought that up, what's the budget for recreation this year?

$2.8 million.

Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Last year, what was it?

Probably 2.6 million, 2.5.

Prior year.

About the same.

The year before that. Yes. The year before that. The year before that.

How about a year before that?

My point exactly.

And there's been some discussion about the necessity to increase the LCRD budget.

And that's the point. We discuss to discuss. To discuss. To discuss. I sent out an email earlier. And we're going to get to that, and I have a long speech for that, too, about the Liberty County Economic Development Authority. But now we have it on agenda that we're talking about economics. That's later, and I'm going to leave my spiel for that later. But I've been talking about expansion of recreation since 2013, about bringing on a revenue-generating project since 2013 to offset these taxes that we're about to vote on. A revenue-generating project. I mean, I have receipts from Bullitt County where they're saying that it generates money. But we haven't moved. And my son, during that time, he was two years old. He's about to be a sophomore in high school. So...

All right. Mr. Chairman, of course, I got in late. I'm sorry. Excuse me. Excuse me for being absent the last few months.

Is this on the agenda that we're talking about? Well, Commissioner Frazier sent that in today, so he made a motion.

He sent an email?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, he made a motion. as far as to put it on the floor. But I'm sorry, I missed it.

I was just looking here and thought I was lost.

Yeah, it's not on the agenda. And we had to pledge allegiance. In fact, it came in today. That request of his came in today. Yeah, I'm sorry. And everything was already prepared by that time.

Excuse me, Commissioner Frazier. No problem, Commissioner Walden.

Everybody ready? Everybody good? All in favor of the motion as presented? Will it be known by a show of hands, please? All against?

Raise it high now.

I'm against it.

Raise it high that you are against expansion of youth development programs. There we go. I love it. Love it.

All right, Ms. Samantha.

Yes, so we'll need three motions on the budget.

Before we move forward, Mr. Chairman, I want to make a statement. I appreciate everybody's... Warm thoughts and all during my absence and the cards I've received during my wife's death. And I've been gone a long time. But back up on what Commissioner Frazier sees, a lot of the people in this room and these sitting up here on this board, we never had a youth development program growing up. Now, I don't know what the plan is, and I don't know where the money's going to come from, Commissioner Frazier, but I mean, we probably need to have that the day before. I mean, I just read a little bit of it right here.

You were gone. I presented this a couple times.

You were absent. You're talking about the swimming pool, burrow splashing a burrow?

No. You've been gone. It's okay.

It's okay. All right, then. I'm not going to be for raising anybody's taxes for something like that.

Mrs. Richardson, again, can you please explain to us? I guess the vote is already. been done, but it has not, it will not raise taxes. That's less than 1% of our entire, actually, what is that, 1.01% of our total budget? The $150,000?

Right.

And then Commissioner Stevens told me yesterday that, well, my bad, before the election, he said he was in support of it, but I guess he changed his mind.

I was in support of one, not, 150, sir.

It's okay.

Okay. Not the 150. Come on. Clear the air.

It was cool on Monday.

Mr. Chairman, we voted to approve the budget, right? Yes, we did. Because we worked on this budget since what? March or April. March. Yes, ma'am. We've been working on the budget.

And I've been requesting it.

And he's been requesting it.

And I've been requesting it.

You're exactly right. But your press was heard.

And denied, obviously. Well, that's government, young people. That's government. No, no, that's not government. That's being out of touch. That's what you call that.

Let's come back together. Before we, I would like to recognize Linda Thompson and your group of employees. I know we got a lot of employees in here, department heads, but Linda's just about brought all of them. I don't know if she's going to treat y'all to dinner or what, but she's brought them all. Stand up, Linda. We ain't seen you in a while either.

Y'all help her up. You and your department.

That's right. All you other ladies. I don't ever have to go over there.

There we go. That's what they told me.

Y'all don't whip up on any of us. All right, Linda. Good to see you. All right, now we're ready.

All right, Ms. Smith.

Yes, sir. So we would need a motion to adopt the general fund budget.

Ms. Chairman, I make that motion to adopt the general fund budget.

Second. Motion to second with the general fund budget as presented. And that has gone through a lot of work diligently to get to where we are now. I cannot express that enough. All right. Any other discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All right. We do know we can make adjustments. Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry. I wanted to say something tonight.

I'm sorry. We've already voted, and I am going to vote to approve the general fund, but I do want to say, and I did miss a lot of the budget sessions, and I want to apologize for that, but I did send an email that said that We have to operate, and in 13 days it will be July 1st, so we need to have that. But I would like for us as commissioners to be real frugal once it's adopted. And when July 1st come here, let's just kind of wait and see, wait on the digest, and you give us time to see how things are. because we do have to set the millage and we kind of behind the eight ball is I work for the city and they set their fiscal year starts November 1st and by that time all that information is in and they have that. We kind of blindsided because we don't have that. Here it is now the end of June and we don't have it but we got to have operating capital and everything for the 1st of July. So you know we'll put it in and Commissioner Frazier, I want to say that I think if we if we wait and see how things come about with the digest before we set the millage. And I'm not for raising taxes, and I think there was some hard work done on this budget to ensure that we don't. But we won't know until we know. And if it looks like that we have to, then I think we can revisit and maybe pull some stuff out. But if it looked like that we can, I think that may be the time, Commissioner Frazier, that we can maybe add that. Now, the chairman said that they're looking at ways that they can probably get it done with the $72 million that we got. And if $72 million is what we're going to have to operate in the new year, and it doesn't cause us to have to raise taxes or raise millions, then I think we'll be good. And we got the... What's that thing? Floss. The floss. We got that to consider for the first time. And I've always been one since I've been here, maybe not my first few years. But I would tell Joey back when he was here that what we need to do as a county, because we got a dedicated group of employees, that we start the budget process every year from zero and do zero-based budgeting. And you take all our employees and you put them in. You put them in and you give them a cola. You give them the longevity. And then you build from there. But you put that in. And all the window dressing, if you want to call it that, that comes with that. Maybe it's a pickup truck that we don't have now that we want. Maybe it's a tracker that we don't have now but that we want. But if we take our 90, however many county employers we got, and we put them in first and take care of them, because they're going to be here when the tractor goes out. They're going to be here when we, they can still ride in the old F-150 for a little while longer. But when you put the salaries in, the longevity in, and the merit in, and all the new trucks, if you have to raise, and we don't want to raise taxes, let's take that additional stuff out and just make sure that our employees have what they need. Because without them, there'll be no one to drive the tractor. There'll be no one to operate the brand new truck. So let's take care of them first. And I think we've done that. And if, um, if we, when the digest comes in before we set the millage and do everything that we have to do, um, if we have to go back in and we got enough room to do something by all means, but if we got the trim, Let's trim, but let's leave our employees whole and maybe not by this or maybe not by that. So that's voting for the general fund now, blindly, not knowing what the digest is going to be, not knowing what we're going to have to do to keep taxes at a standstill. But we do have to operate. And that 13 days from now, it's going to be July, and we'll have that. But we don't have to run out and spend it like you got your rich uncle's credit card. You can hold back a little bit until we get more information to make a more informed decision. But I'm hoping to support the budget because there was a lot of hard work going in there. I think Samantha said we cut $3 million, some kind of way, to come down to $72 million. And if we find out that we need another million so that we won't raise taxes, then we're going to have to get that million from somewhere. But don't get it from the backs of these employees here. That's my comment.

Just because we approved this doesn't mean we got to spend it all at one time. Let's be frugal with what we got.

I'm trying to remember. We brought the first proposal to us. It was... What, about $100,000 out of?

Out of balance. Yeah. That first time I went.

And what was my direction to you? What was my direction to you?

Go back and cut it out. Yes, sir.

Go back and cut it out. And Mr. Chair, again, I mean, I'm the same way. Trust me. I pay taxes, a boatload of them, from residential to commercial. And with all due respect, the flaws don't even affect the commercial standpoint. or their investment properties. I opened up my assessments the other day. The only one I'm saving on is my personal house. Everything else at zero. So that's the clarification right there. I'm saving on my primary residence, that's it. Secondly, since I've been up here, our general budget was 30 something million dollars. Now we're at 72. And back to talking about recreation, 60% of that is employees. And again, I've always been supportive of the employees and the COLA and longevity. I understand that. But also understand when we're talking about the quality of life here in Liberty County. And the quality of life starts with our youth and end with our employees. We can't complain about everybody moving to Richmond Hill When you go over to Richmond Hill and you see their recreation department and their facilities and be like, oh, why are they going over there? That's the point that I'm saying. If we don't start investing into our recreation, parks and leisure, and our youth, we're going to keep having these same issues. We can't keep kicking that down the road. And we've been kicking that down the road since I've been up here. I mean, I had a whole lot less hair. Then I grew my hair. Now I cut it back. Now I got gray hair now. And we're still having the same conversation. And Commissioner Gillard, I commend you for what you're saying. But you and I both know whenever it comes down to things that we truly really want, we find the money. There's not been not one day I've been up here where it was something that we wanted and we didn't find the money.

All right. For the chief of the day, we found three fire trucks. Commissioner Frazier, please, sir.

I mean, we're talking about $72 million. I don't think this should be a quick discussion either. I talk longer than this. We've been discussing it. But I know. Even if I go by a house, I have more questions than that. And I mean, y'all, same thing. Oh, we care about the kids, but we don't want to put no money. Everybody has an opinion, my friend. I mean, no, that's factual. We're talking facts. It's either we're going to put the money up or not. There's not no opinion about that. Wow. That's the first time in 13 years I've seen you bring that up.

Well, I said to the commissioner, please, sir.

I got you. Use that first. Understood. I'm sorry. I'm just passionate about our kids. We're having kids getting shot and everything else. No, we don't need no extra programs.

All right, Smith. We need a motion for the general fund.

Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, no, it's been a motion and a second. We're just ready to vote. No, no, no. Matter of fact, they voted. No, you didn't ask for the nays.

We're at the nays. His discussion. You made a motion. I second it. We voted. Only you and I voted for it, and everybody else voted against it.

That was the first one. Then I made a motion to approve. No, no, no, no, we didn't.

There was two motions on the floor. One was for the money that you were asking for. And y'all said no. And then the other motion was on the budget. Absolutely.

For the resolution.

Right.

For the resolution on the general operating. Right.

That's the one that's on the floor now.

And it was the yeas. Y'all already voted yay. So it's just time for me to vote nay. That's where we're at for clarification. For him as a neighbor I'm they we and it's not against our employees. I but somebody gotta stand on business. And that's me.

Whereas the administrative staff of Liberty County has prepared and submitted to the governing authority of Liberty County an annual general operations budget for the year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027. And whereas the Board of Commissioners of Liberty County has studied and reviewed the prepared budget is considered in the best interest of Liberty County Board of Commissioners to adopt the budget. Therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Commissioners of Liberty County that the annual budget here to attached and made part of for the period beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027 is briefed.

Chair, I'm taking a motion to adopt the resolution. So moved. Second. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All opposed. We're in opposition. All right.

Is that for the special revenue funds?

Yes.

Okay, yes sir. Whereas administrative staff of Liberty County is prepared and submitted to the governing authority of Liberty County all special revenue operational budgets to include ARPA, E911, victim witness, jail construction and staffing, multiple grants fund, confiscated assets, record service center, law library, technology, drug abuse and education, juvenile services, hotel motel, child support recovery, jail commissary, opioid settlement, floating option sales tax, transportation assessment fees, and the Liberty County Projects Corporation for the year beginning July 1st, 2026, ending June 30, 2027. Whereas the Board of Commissioners of Liberty County has studied and reviewed the prepared budgets, is considering the best interests of Liberty County to adopt the budgets. Therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Commissioners of Liberty County that the budgets hereto attached and made a part of HERO for the year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027 is approved.

Special Revenue.

Yes, sir.

Chair, I take a motion. Second. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. Special Revenue Resolution is adopted.

Or as the minister said, Liberty County has prepared to submit it to the governing authority of Liberty County special purpose local option sales tax three through seven budgets. The TSPLAS transportation special purpose local option sales tax number one and two capital projects fund budget impact fees fund and the Right Army Airfield fund budget for the year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027. Whereas the Board of Commissioners of Liberty County has studied and reviewed the prepared budgets is considered in the best interest of Liberty County to adopt the budget. Therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Commissioners that the budget hereto attached and made a part hereof for the year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30, 2027 is approved.

Chairman, take the motion. So moved. Second, someone? Second. Further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. All opposed? All right.

Thank you. Thank you, Samantha.

Thank you, Samantha.

Thank you, Samantha. He's over there.

Hiding. He's over there hiding. I want to say, first of all, Eddie, super glad to have you back. So, glad to see you.

It's good to be standing up sometimes. Glad you're here.

I'm just going to run through real quick. I try to keep everything short as I can for you. St. John's Road, we're getting close on those plans. We did apply for some LRA funds for Allenhurst and have those so they have a little bit more money to make that work. Um, main trail, uh, Timmy, if we could sometime next week, let's get to go and talk about the one parcel that we have that's outstanding and maybe a direction we want to go about getting that last parcel and then we can move forward with that. Not main trail.

Yeah. Right. Just call me whenever you want to do it.

Justin's not keeping me straight.

No.

Don't worry, I'm coming.

Just call me when you want to do it.

Yep, I will. Main Trail, we're coming pretty close with those plans to be ready. We do have all the money for that. I do want to go get an easement down at the end of the project where it goes out beyond the right-of-way into the ditch that goes down the power line. Yeah. I need a little bit of extra depth right there to get to that.

You're talking about going back toward the power line toward Rick?

Yes.

Okay.

So Mr. Chair, so both of these projects are in District 4? Yes.

No. The trail's in District 1.

District 1.

He's going to catch what I'm going at.

Made a polite mistake again.

So St. John's is in District 1.

No, the main trails in District 1, but one is in District 2.

Oh, got you. Oh, so that's the trails.

Main trails off of 196. Can we back up for a second? Yep. Now, St. John's, that's in Allenhurst. That's my district. It is. Okay, now... Is this the project that we talked about when the city and everybody came over here six months ago, five months ago? Yes, sir. The same one? Okay.

Yeah, we have all the funding for it. We're trying to finish up plans. You had just asked me to include it on my monthly report.

Okay. So that's what I was doing. For some reason, I thought since it's been so long that we had already been finished with it by now. No, we're getting ready to get started. All right.

Okay.

King Grove Drainage Improvements, we're working on the... Just a minute there.

Before you leave that main trail, is there... You've already secured where you're going to put the water coming off of that road, or is that going to be a... You're going to have curb on that road?

Yes, sir. I'll have roadside ditches.

Do what?

I'm going to have roadside ditches.

Okay. And the water's going to go which direction? I mean, you've got...

It's going to split. It's got several different directions.

But you've got retention, is what I'm asking. Where's the retention pond going to be at?

Because there's a lot of... Yeah, there's not a retention pond.

Okay.

So we are just improving the drainage so that the water does go away from that road. Right. Because that's one of the key things I've got to make sure works on that road. If I don't get the water off, my base is going to fail. I want to make sure I get the water off.

Right. And I've been down that road a bunch, and the water comes off and goes in those people's yard. So you're going to have to cut the road down?

Well, so what happens is that everybody has a yard and a road, a a side yard that goes to the rear. So even if you're coming in, the houses on the right, they all have a ditch in their backyard that goes all the way down to the power line east, but we don't have access to it. So a lot of their water is still going there. Now, what I'm doing with my drainage plan is I'm making sure that my roadway is at the right elevation and that my roadside ditches catch everybody's front yard. And in most cases, I'm getting low enough or lower than the side yard drainage that they have that goes to the rear. So, if something happens with your rear yard drainage, there's a secondary outlet that flows toward the roadway that drains the project.

Trent, Trent, let's make sure that we don't push that water to that other subdivision right beyond it.

No, it's not going that way.

Okay, all right.

It's going the other way. It's going, it's all, it all either goes toward the state route, A little bit that goes in the middle. There's a wetland that flows through the middle. And I've got some relief valves for that. And then the rest of it goes all the way down to the power line.

Okay. All right.

But I need about this much. I need to dig that ditch out about this much for about a couple hundred feet to get to a better grade. So I just need a little easement right out the end of that road.

Okay. Mr. Chair, real quick. Mr. Long, quick question. If... Hypothetically speaking, I'm building a subdivision in unincorporated Liberty County. It's mandatory that I put curb and gutter down, right? It is. So just because this has been pre-existed.

Right. So this one was done, subdivision was done before. I know. And so, I mean, we could go back in. All our budget, everything we've done for this has been based on roadside ditches and improving it like it is. Now, what will end up happening is if you do curb and gutter, then I've got to lower everything so the water can get to my drainage. Or I've got to have longitudinal pipes and yard drains in everybody's yard. Then I've got to have more grade all the way down to the bridge underneath 196. So I run into a lot of physical problems. I'm just the curb and gutter.

I'm tracking.

I just wanted so our cost are exponentially more. Okay But and our goal is here to get them with a good drainage good road, right?

But but Trent I guess Just uh, yes, sir. Take it back on what? Commissioner Fraser said I was subdivision ordinance does call for curb and gutter, but we still, even with that, we still have the option to not have it. That's right.

There are a lot of cases that we go through when some of these roads we're doing, like a lot of times when we're doing stuff in Lake George and Woodland Lakes, you'll notice we went out there and did a lot of those with curb and gutter because they didn't really have any roadside ditches. and the curb and gutter work well. And so what we try to do is, our first option is to use curb and gutter. Actually with Butterblunt Road, I've looked really hard at trying to use curb and gutter at Butterblunt Road, but the way the roads, the yards and everything are structured, it makes it terribly difficult to do it, and then your costs become so much it's very difficult to bear. very much like your Live Oak Drive.

Right.

You know, that got to be almost an unbearable cost. Right. Just because I got so much pipe, I got so much water I got to move, there's just, it becomes a pretty difficult cost. So what you got to do...

Is this the price? No, no, no.

That's how much money we got in LBIC funds. But we've got a little short of a million dollars that we've all got budgeted for this. We've got the money budgeted for this.

Okay. When can we expect some activity?

I'm going to have this thing out for bid during the month of July. That whole road's got to be ground, though? Yeah, it's more than just grounding. It's kind of digging up. I've got to get deeper than just grounding.

You're going to have to start on the far end first.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're going to have to do it. The hardest part about this is keeping it passable. I've got to be able to keep it passable. I've got to keep everybody in and out as we're doing it. We're going to have to raise the road up a little bit, too.

Well, I wasn't on the board when it was done. I know. I just remember when the project was built, but it's a long time coming. Those folks, that's a terrible place to be. They've been waiting 30 years. But it ain't been 30.

All right, we talked about Butterblount Road already. Barrington Ferry Road ran about at 17. We're redoing some of the legs on that based on some speed questions that DOT had, trying to get that information over to them. I skipped over Kings Road drainage. We've got the CMPA permit. We're working on that. We just had Joseph sign the marsh jurisdiction determination request that they are requiring as part of that. So that'll be, that's moving along. It's, you know, last time we did one of these CMPA permits, it took them a year to process it. So we're going to process as quick as we can.

That's the one that's bringing the water across the road from the plantation. That's right. Okay.

That's right. We're not making the bigger pipe there. Right.

And going through the yard. Okay. All right.

I've met with the property owners, and we've got everything kind of worked out, but I'm still processing through that. Okay. Sunshine Lake Road. We've got the contractor going back out. There's a lot of reels in the shoulder. We had expected him out this week. He didn't show up, so we've kind of... called him to urge him to come on back and get those so it doesn't get so far out of hand that it's a problem. And that's working out pretty good. The live oak drive improvements, he's supposed to be out there first part of July putting down asphalt. So he's trying to wrap up another project and get over there. The Liberty County EMS building is pretty much finished. The contractor did a good job over there. We had the final walkthrough on the site late last week. Then I wanted to talk about...

Mary Todd.

I'm sorry.

Mary Todd.

I was coming to Mary Todd.

No, you said Long County.

I went past it up here, but I had to. All right, tell him what you got. My note.

Okay, got your note.

Down here. So I got county line ready. We're ready to send those out probably in about, not next week, following week. We're 80% finished on those construction plans for the overlay and letting that go. I've got all the appraisals in on the... Mary Todd, we've got all our folders. We're getting ready to contact everybody. But I do want to sit down with you and go over all our dollars as far as what the offers are for everybody and how that goes before I start meeting with everybody. So sometime next week if you've got some availability.

I'll try to make an appointment with you.

Yes, ma'am. Sometime if you have some availability, I'd appreciate that. That way you know before we start spending all that money.

Yes.

Okay. That was it.

That's the little map you got on the backside.

Mr. Chairman, I wanted to mention something to Trent here. Of course, it's in Commissioner Thrift's district, but I saw some people pulling off 196 going to, they were coming from the Glenville area, and they were pulling off to go into the recycling and the transfer station there? And that needs to be looked at as far as the D cell lane right there. We need to, I don't know if the DOT will do that one or not, but it's our, when they're coming from,

Coming from Glenville, turn it into there?

Yeah, they can make a right-hand turn right there. Yep. Now, the other way, of course, you know, they'll have to go across the lane, but we need to do something right there. Just a decel lane where they can turn and go on in there. If you get two cars.

Yeah, there's been several accidents there. Can you put that on your list? I can.

I didn't know there had been accidents here. There has been.

Rear end.

Okay.

We can look at that. Would that qualify as a safety?

Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Yeah. Also, got going too fast. It's your pleasure. I've got ready to go with the DCL lane intersection improvements at McIntosh Lake Road.

That's fine. You don't need to have my, I'll get the DOT's approval. Let's go ahead and do it. Okay, I'll get that out to Graham.

I got it. Well, thank you. I hope everybody has a great night. Thank you.

Young people, just FYI, Ms. Samantha, finance, looking for a career in finance is what she does. Ms. Maria, the administrative assistant, the air traffic controller, she runs everything. And the gentleman who just got done talking is an engineer. So you got to see three different, have I missed somebody who came up? Yeah. Vocations of what you could possibly be in your future, in your careers. All right, and these ladies who stood up earlier, you don't have to be elected, you can work on the other side of it. But they have to keep our court system running. It's a lot of moving pieces in the court systems. So these people have to keep it moving. Just a little brief synopsis of what they do. All right, Liberty EMS, am I right? Yes.

Chairman, commissioners, I am here regarding and asking for approval for an MOU. This is for an additional military unit that has reached out to us requesting that they conduct their clinical ride-alongs while they're back here at home to keep their skills up and whatnot. So we've been in collaboration with this particular unit, so I am just here asking for permission to obtain this at our service.

This is the one that you do every year?

This is an additional unit. This would be our fourth unit that has reached out that we've done and collaborated with. We've had success with that. It allows them the opportunity to train with us while they're back here at home. It also allows them to have the opportunity to possibly pursue part-time employment with our agency as well as looking at career after they complete their dedication to their military time. So we've had success. This is nothing, not a new, this is a new unit to us, but not a new MOU, so to speak. It's something that we have done before in the past.

Okay. Everybody good? Yes, sir. So I'll entertain a motion. So moved, Mr. Chair. Second. Second. Any further discussion? All right, people, show of hands, please.

I don't want people to think I'm against everything.

Thank you.

You're welcome. Thank you.

Chief, it's thundering outside. It's going to rain. Don't worry about it.

It is, yes, sir. Chairman, commissioners, I come before you tonight. This is for the renewal of the Riceboro IGA. This is a contract that I come before you all every year to renew. This is just an intergovernmental agreement for the city of Riceboro to respond to calls. No changes to the current contract. Current contract does expire on June 30th of this year.

Same contract?

Same exact contract, yes, sir. This is, and just a quick synopsis, this is the change that the board passed this time last year was paid per call based off of the FEMA reimbursement rates, which are set. They have to submit paperwork and data to us, which in turn I go through, QC it, and turn that over for payment for finance to cut the city of Riceboro a check.

Right, right, okay.

Where previously we were just cutting them a check Last year, the board wanted some accountability. So that's what we're sticking with.

So have we seen a savings?

So far this year, I have received one pay request that was right in the tail end of December, or sorry, beginning of January. $3,573.68 is what was paid out to them for the first six months of the budget year. I have not received anything yet for the remainder.

Okay. Sarah, you want to make that motion? Oh, sorry.

That's a question. Does Riceburg have a full-time paid fire department? No, sir, they do not. They have a volunteer. Volunteer? Yes, sir. Okay. So all their calls, we run all their calls all the way up to South Newport.

We will run the calls if nobody is there for them to run. This contract is for them to run calls in the unincorporated area around their city limits that we don't have a county fire station within that district.

You say this is for them to run their own calls?

Them to run calls outside of the city limits in the unincorporated areas. So we're contracting them, asking them to run calls on behalf of the county fire department or the county because we don't have a fire station close enough. But you just said that they don't have a fire department, did you? They don't have a full-time fire department. They do have a fire station and they have a volunteer crew. Yes, sir. So what will happen is if an emergency comes out, dispatch will tone them out no different than they do any of the other fire departments in the county. And volunteers will either answer up on the radio and say, I'm en route to the station, pick up an apparatus, respond to the call. Or if nobody does respond, then Miller Park Fire Station 18 gets dispatched and we respond out into that area. And if that takes place, then we will send a bill to the city of Riceboro for that.

Well, for example, at 620 on a Thursday, June 18th, if something was to happen down there, we'll probably get that call, the county probably, unless some of the volunteers are down there.

it has to go through the threshold of the Riceboro volunteer fire department getting toned first and then we'll roll to us. Yes sir.

How long? I think that'll help you.

So, so, um, and I'm going to turn if, or I'll let Miss Erica speak if I'm wrong, but a dispatch receives the call to, uh, they will dispatch us. They wait two minutes and we'll tone that first station again and tone the second station. So the first station is Riceboro, the second station in this scenario would be Station 18, Willard Park County Fire. So they have two minutes from the time that dispatch notifies them to answer up on the radio and let them know that a volunteer or a responding unit is en route to handle the call.

Well, yeah, and I guess... We got somebody on duty right now.

Yes, sir.

And we'll give them the chance to respond during that window. And if they don't, then we get it.

But what that does is it pulls our units out of their primary district and sends it down into the Riceboro area, which becomes taxing on the county. Which is why, this time last year, the agreement was that they can bill us for the calls that they run. And if we end up having to run the calls because they don't, we will bill them. CHRIS RODGERS.

Mr. Chair, with this billing, it's something I want to talk about. that I've expressed to some of my fellow commissioners is we're billing individuals for fires. You and I have talked about this. Why are we billing individuals when they're paying their property tax and their sales tax? To support a fire department.

Yes, sir. So that individual got billed because he violated a law.

Well, he's been to court. Well, that's what I'm saying. How can you charge a man for something if he's not been to court for it? Yes, sir. And I just want to say publicly that, you know, we got the fire chief, but, you know, you're not the judge neither. So let's just make sure that those things are addressed, Brian. Yes, sir. That's a $5,000 to put a fire out, and it took somebody from McIntosh County to see the fire. And you said we got fire departments all over the place.

So the individual from McIntosh County is Georgia Forestry. That has nothing to do with me. As far as billing them, that's no different than getting a bill from 911 or having to pay to rent a park here in the county. They're all taxpaying citizens, but there's a cost for things.

Right. I understand that. But that price was a price. Who put that price on it?

That price is set off the federal FEMA reimbursement rates that this board approved to use. based off of the equipment and the hourly. This is the same schedule that we have followed since 2019, since we stood up this county fire, sir. I'm just saying, I think those prices need to be, what else would they be doing? So that gentleman's cost also was looking more towards a $9,000 cost and was already reduced, as well as he was potentially facing felony charges, which all were not held against him as well, sir. So I did give him a break.

Yeah, I'm just saying we need to, things like that right there before a citizen calls. Of course, it wasn't in my district. He knew me. It was in Commissioner Stevens' district. Yes, sir. Where it was at. But what I'm saying is we've got the fire department. in all the county, and we had to have a fellow from McIntosh County to find it, which is nearly 30 miles away, and that was a little strange. And all of a sudden, he was in a fire tower. Well, I understand that he's in a fire tower, or they said he was in a fire tower. I don't know.

Commissioner Walden, did you reach your goal of expressing your public?

Yeah. Okay.

All right, sir.

I'm sorry, he's excused. Mr.

Chair, I just have one question, sort of what Commissioner Giller was talking about. I mean, I understand this MOU, and I know why we put it in place and implement it, but my question is, So, like, prime example, Gum Branch. City of Gum Branch. They have a volunteer fire department, don't they? No, full time. Oh, they shut that down?

Full time. City of Gum Branch Volunteer Fire Department was actually the first volunteer fire department absorbed by Liberty County Board of Commissioners back in 2012. And that's what stood up the Gum Branch community. the new gum branch station that was completed, which is station 15. Now we do have a substation that is located there at city halls.

I was about to say, I see something.

Yes, sir. We keep a piece of equipment there and that's to help with the ISO districts and the ISO ratings. Um, but that is a, what we call a substation volunteers. Our reserve program will respond to pick up additional apparatus if needed.

Okay, and that's like less than a mile away from each other, right? Yes, sir. And that helps the ISO rating? It does. Why, because, all right, is it because?

So as weird as this may sound, the intersection of 196 and Pipkin Road, there's an incorporated Liberty County area there. And you've got to have a county fire department within five road miles. Not a fire department. It has to be the responsible fire district has to be within five road miles of that vertical improvement.

At Pipkin and 196.

Yes, sir. VFW is county. It's not city.

Yeah, I know. That's why I'm doing that project over there. But what I'm saying is, it's a fire department on Airport Road with a city. 100%. A city. A city.

But that's the city.

A city.

And it goes by off of the annexation.

Or the lack of.

Or the lack of, yes, sir.

They don't want to be a part of the city.

Well, Joyner Road. All of Joyner Road is unincorporated Liberty County. First couple hundred feet of Live Oak Drive is county. West Pine Street, multi-family dwellings, apartment complex, that's county.

Yeah, that's my district.

Yes, sir. So that gets a response from Fire Station 15 out in Gum Branch. Not from Airport Road.

Okay, and I guess I have one more question. Let's go back over to the Miller Park, Riceboro situation. You're saying there is a two-minute difference, and I know whenever they get the secondary.

Yes, sir.

But what I'm saying is, say for instance, hypothetically speaking, I'm a city of Riceboro volunteer fire.

Yes, sir.

I'm at home. I'm way more than probably two minutes away from the fire station. So if I pick up the phone, I'm like, oh, well, yeah, I'm coming. I have to get in my vehicle, my personal vehicle. Put your shoes on. I definitely got to put my shoes on. Put my shoes on. Go to the fire department. Change into my – it is pretty cool how y'all just jumping in that. But, I mean, that still takes a few minutes. Then get into the fire truck.

Yes, sir.

So what I'm saying is – and then go to the destination.

Yes, sir.

Am I missing something? I know you're tracking.

You're not missing, and I agree with both of you gentlemen.

So what I'm saying is that might take 20 minutes to get to the destination whenever Miller Park could just jump in.

I think he's talking more so about when you explained that.

100%. So I can agree with you. Miller Park may be able to get to a call faster out there. 100%. I don't disagree with you at all.

Right.

But the reason why we have to go into these agreements is because while we may be able to get there faster, they are more than five road miles from the Miller Park fire station, which means insurance premiums and rates shoot through the roof. Trust me. This contract is to keep those insurance premiums lower.

Okay, cool. I understand the paperwork side. Yes, sir. When I'm talking about the response side.

Mm-hmm.

Because you and I both know, you know, most of y'all calls aren't because of a fire. I'm talking about response time if somebody is having some type of cardiac arrest or something. So do y'all communicate between those two?

We do. Yes, sir.

And what's the age limit, the average age of the volunteers out there? I'm not trying to be funny, but...

I don't mean this in any way.

Because what I'm saying is, I mean, I'm 45, and I know I look like it.

I know that Chief Fitzgerald is up there in age, but he's still getting out there and running calls. I want to say he might be in his early 70s. Man, I'm 45 years old, man. Is he bumping his head?

And I'm not as fast as I was when I was 20. So the only thing I'm saying is I'm looking at from when we talk about public safety, I understand insurance. One thing about insurance, insurance is something that you pay for it. You never want to use. I get that part. I'm talking about response time. Do you all communicate? If what I'm saying is if I live off of Barrington Ferry and I'm saying, hey, I'm going to take this call because because also with them taking a call, don't don't they still get paid per call?

So they only get paid per call if they actually respond to the incident. So what will happen?

So I'm responding. Say, for instance, I'm responding.

So if you're responding, Liberty County is not responding. If you don't respond, Liberty County will respond. And then we build a city of Riceburg.

I got you. Yes, sir.

Now, and some other misconceptions is people think that these fire trucks go. They don't. They are governed at 62 miles an hour by the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.

And that's why we need the rapid response vehicles that I've been talking about.

So the distance from Miller Park to, call it, exit 67 in Riceboro. 10, 15 miles we can. So you got 10, 15 minutes of travel that that fire truck has to take to get there.

And, sir, that's why I said we need some 250s.

Yes, sir. And we're working on it.

Preferably some Chevys. Yes, sir. Don't go with the Dodgers or the Fours. Go with some Chevys. And we have the vehicles.

We're working on getting the personnel.

Okay. Yes, sir. Because that's what I was saying.

Yes, sir. You brought it up. Years ago. And the board was authorized it to happen. We have it. I've got to get the people to put in there.

And then we just bought three more trucks, big trucks that are governed by, like you said.

Yes, sir.

Chief Dobby. Yes, sir. Question. Oh, man. I heard what Commissioner Frazier said about the first response truck. They don't carry water.

They do not, no, sir.

Okay. They are mainly there to get on the scene and triage, look around and see what's what. The only way that we can cut down on the response time is build more fire stations.

Yes, sir. On both sides, I would say yes on both avenues. I do agree with you. Those vehicles do not carry water. Their primary focus of what the board asked for was because 70% of our call volume is medical. That's the point. That's what I'm talking about. To limit the wear and tear on our million dollar apparatus. But we still have a primary focus of having to put Fire trucks on scene at structure fires respond to fire alarms. So I will say both of you gentlemen are correct, and it's my job to figure out how we're going to navigate that. I appreciate it.

That EMS is on the way from 17. Right.

Yes, ma'am.

So we've got a station there that's going to 67 or whatever.

Yes, ma'am.

If it's a car crash or something.

Chairman, I didn't mean for Brian to do an insurface in here today. Not a problem.

I just have one other question. I got six hours of text messages on here from a guy that's real passionate about fire, and he accused me of having a vendetta against the fire department, which is pretty strong, but I got six hours worth of text messages. I have a question because I've also heard, and when I ask questions, that's not part of the vendetta. I ask questions because I don't know the answer.

Okay.

Yes, sir. I've never asked anybody how much is one-on-one. I knew that for a long time. I know the answer to that one. But my question is, and I've heard that the first responders or the firemen respond to every call.

No. They don't. That is incorrect.

If there was a fender bender at Crossroad right there by the two churches. We would dispatch. Y'all would send somebody there for something like that.

I'm going to give you a response, but I'm going to lean to see if I get hit in the head by Ms. Erica. It's all solely based off the information that the caller gives to dispatch. If the caller calls dispatch and says, hey, I was just in an accident. There's no injuries. Okay. Fire is not getting dispatched. And there are numerous times that law enforcement will get on scene for the traffic accident and somebody will go, oh, my neck hurts. Just as simple as that.

Okay. And I'm glad you said that. So fire wouldn't be dispatched. You're talking about fire from the county. From anywhere. Not even Riceboro. Not even a volunteer would go down the crossroad. Anywhere.

I believe what I'm saying is the proper protocol. So if a caller says, hey, I've been in a fender bender or a traffic accident, no, nobody's hurt. The only people that go is law enforcement. It's police. Now, if law enforcement gets on scene and out of safety and liability and somebody goes, ow, my neck, ow, my big pinky toe, what is going to happen is that officer will go badge numbers to Central. I have an injury here on this. Can you go ahead and send me fire and EMS?

And that's when the two minute thing between the county of Riceburg kick in.

Yes, sir. And I will say that a lot is on our callers. I can't tell you how many times I've sat down with Miss Erica and it's a plane crashed into a train and blew up this building and we get there and it's iPhone crash detection because somebody dropped it in their floorboard of their car.

So we don't respond, fire does not go to every call.

We go to the calls that are dispatched.

Because I did actually, maybe you didn't understand my question. I actually, I said I'm down on, way down there on the coast, Colonel's Island. Yes, sir.

Farthest point is Yeoman Road and the island type.

Way down there. And I was actually, I said, if somebody got rear-ended and broke the taillight, would y'all go? And you told me, yes. You said we wouldn't send a fire truck. We may send a pickup truck. Correct. But that's still responding, right? It is.

And yes, we would send it if it came in as traffic accident with injuries. Doesn't matter if it's just a broken taillight. Doesn't matter if there's any damage at all. If somebody says, hey, there's a traffic accident, and somebody complains of an injury, myself and EMS have a responsibility and liability to be dispatched, go and ensure that aid is not needed, that everything, all hazards are mitigated on my side, all medical situations are mitigated on EMS's side, and clear the call. So it does, it ties up units. We deal with a frequent flyer in Liberty County who misuses the 911 system.

Misuses it.

Thank you. Yes, sir. So back to, I'm coming for y'all for the Riceboro agreement. And again, this is on the pay per call. And I'm just looking to extend for, or not extend, to renew a new contract for 12 months with an effective date of July 1st, 2026, expiration of June 30th, 2027. Who wants to make that motion?

I'll make that motion, Chair.

Almost three seconds. All right. I don't think there's any further discussion. Am I right? No, sir. All in favor? Yeah, we don't know. We got it.

I don't think we need the check because they probably responded within two minutes.

There's been a good response. Yes, sir.

Okay. He said we got one check this year.

We've only done one payout this year. I'm sure that it'll be coming here in the coming weeks, if not right after July. Or June, sorry. Thank you, Chair.

Young people, for pointing out once again, you might want to be a fire chief. I lost all my young people? I think you got a couple. All right. All right. And now coming is my Director of Public Works, Mr. Clinton Wells. He and Commissioner Gillard have similar interests.

Jobs. And Commissioner Blount.

And Blount, yeah. They're a lot better than me at ours. We sent out bids, spec sheets to get bids to replace the front end loader. I think one we have now is a 03 model. Got four bids back. Hills Machinery, which is the Hitachi dealer in Savannah, was the cheapest. $180,000 even. $180,000.

So let me guess, we got money.

That's just, we found some sales tax money we're going to use.

What brand is this? Is it Cat?

It's Hitachi. Hitachi.

We got money. It's not the same comparison as what you got.

Yeah, the Hitachi dealer, they've got some decent equipment, pretty good equipment. No complaints. It was cheaper.

And no complaints on their equipment? No. They've been pretty easy to work with? They're getting there.

All right.

I do have one question, Mr. Chairman. Go ahead. Mr. Mosley, or either Mr. Wells, this is not a budget item from the current budget. This is something that, I mean, this is not a budget item that we did this time last year for this piece of equipment.

It's in the CIP. We put it in the CIP. Oh, okay.

We're just trying to get it.

Just trying to get it.

So, I mean, again, we got 12, 13 days for the end of the year. And if it was a budgeted item, why hadn't we got it before now?

No, it's in the upcoming CIP. We just got some self-tax money. We're trying to get it now.

whether it's going to be charged to the budget that we just approved or the one that we own now. Strictly SPLOS. It's on the sales tax. SPLOS is not with the sales tax.

Okay, okay.

So we're buying a front loader out of SPLOS?

Right, yeah. Capital? Mm-hmm, capital. Okay.

Well, I can attest to you, Mr. Chairman. I've seen him with the other one, and it needs to go. I agree. I make a motion we approve. I second it.

I make a motion we approve to get that tractor.

Second.

Run-in loader.

Any further discussion? All in favor, show of hands, please. Run-in loader. Once again, young people who are still here, that's the penny money. All right. Anything else you need? Mr. Wells?

We got a tractor up next. Tractor's a little... We sent out bids to try to get some pricey replacement tractors. We're having problems. I know y'all have seen the non-contract stuff we spent in the last few years. We've got some 2020 models that we took prices on and was trying to replace them all. But we got prices back, and they was high. More than I would come in here and recommend that y'all we spend right now. But we do have to replace one of the smaller tractors. It's a 2008 model. It's about to quit, about to give up. Now, we did get prices back. I sent out prices to Kubota, John Deere, and New Holland. And I'm Master Ferguson, trying to shop around and get some different, because even though Kubota's cheaper, I mean, I'm not going to come here and recommend you buy them. I've got some numbers here of what we spent on tractors over the last, Mr.

Chair, I'd like to add that Clinton was sending quite frequent emails saying we're having issues with these tractors.

I see them as a side road all the time.

He sent those emails quite a bit to Samantha.

Side road.

I see one on Louis Frazier that had the hood up the other day.

I know. Every time they come to District 3. We're going to get that straightened out right now.

I think, Commissioner Thrift, because we got the mushrooms.

I said John Deere.

I'm sorry. Lost his wealth, Mr.

Senator. Yes, a lot of kids that live in my district.

I wanted to get that out of the way. Everybody know that John Deere is not the cheapest. No, but it's the best.

One of the best.

How many tractors do you have? How many tractors do you have?

We have four tractors. We have two little tractors and two, no, I'm sorry, we have five tractors, including the side mower. We have 200-horse Kubotas and two 50-horse Kubotas. One of the 50-horse Kubotas we pretty much parked at the side. I mean, it's just, it's an 08 model.

So you need really two tractors.

I'd love to have three. But if you got people to drive them.

I'm just saying really and truly, you got people, if you buy the tractor, you got to buy the mowers, you got the mowers.

We got the mowers. We got the mowers. We got the people to run them. But the 100 horse John Deere tractors is 17,500. Oh, I forgot.

I get it. Everybody's kids up here are grown but me. I get it.

Smaller tractors, how many horsepower? 60. How many? 60. You like the tractor?

And nobody's kids live here.

I like the John Deere. I haven't had any deals with them in a while. That's the reason I made the recommendation to Mr. Mosley. Hey, let's buy a John Deere now. Let's run it.

Oh, man.

Make sure we ain't jumping into something else we don't. That's the problem.

Yeah.

And then we can revisit the bigger tractors later.

Well, this is one other question. I know we have some inmate labor, but inmates don't operate none of it.

No, they just pick up trash is all they do.

No, the reason I ask that, I manage a project in southeast Georgia, and they have inmate labor. And when that city had it, they let the inmates operate equipment, back holes and stuff like that. But when we came in, we told them for liability purposes that we couldn't do it.

You know, up until this point, we all required CDLs and license check and all that good stuff. It's hard to get in and pass all that.

Commissioner Gillick, I think if they try to run, y'all can catch them.

What they were doing over there, because he was locked up and he had that skill set, he can operate a backhoe, and they let him do it.

We've had some come through that didn't do a lot of things.

Got the wrong uniform on, Playboy, is what I told him.

Samantha.

The grass is getting higher, folks. Let's do something.

Were there, on his CIP request, did you have two tractors listed as high priority?

On the CIP, we had the front end loader, and I think we just had one tractor listed. Okay. But we had all the problems with the other two that I went ahead and got some prices, hoping that it would be something we could make work. But when I got them, like I say, my recommendation was to buy one. Let's make sure we wasn't.

How long will it be before you know? I mean, I'm trying to look for you another tractor, I guess, if you've got somebody ready to go on it. Because I know those tractors, they get used a lot. And, you know, maybe something we need to do, look at every budget cycle for a CIP in that department. Or every two or three years at least because they get ran ragged quick.

There's the 2020 models, and we've run tractors a lot longer.

2000 and what?

20. The newer tractors. The older tractors are 08 model.

Yeah, that's the one we're going to replace.

Yeah, that's the one I'm telling them to replace.

But the next one in line is a 20.

Right.

So that's already six years old.

And that's the ones we've had most auto trouble with.

The newer models.

I'm not trying to replace them right now. I've just got some numbers so we could look at. I'm just trying to get the little one replaced. I'm just letting y'all know that that's what we have to do.