Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Tuesday, September 8, 2026Official site

The Rockdale Board of Commissioners deferred a Unified Development Ordinance amendment and a new water and sewer bill protection program for further review. Public comment raised concerns about UDO gaps and a potential conflict of interest, while the Board approved numerous new business items, including the purchase of two mini rescue pumpers.

About this meeting

Government Body
Board of Commissioners
Meeting Type
Board Of Commissioners
Location
Rockdale County, GA
Meeting Date
September 8, 2026

Published excerpts

Only published remarks appear here. The full transcript is not published.

24 sections

1:18 – 1:51•JaNice Van Ness

Okay. All right, can we go back to the slide for a second? All right. So many of them up there on the right side, it says, well, I think the comments on there will catch up at the end of the year. Oh, thank you very much. Anyway, so these amounts will even out because sometimes payments are advanced and quarterly payments are in advance and sometimes we are paying the bills laterally.

1:54•JaNice Van Ness

All right. So the ones in green are on point and are actually under spending. Under spending, yes.

2:14•JaNice Van Ness

Okay. Very good. All right. Are there any questions?

2:23 – 2:40•JaNice Van Ness

Thank you. All right. At this time, we will move to item three, which is our public comment. And first, we'll have Barbara Somerville, if you'll come to the podium.

5:55 – 6:41•JaNice Van Ness

okay it's all in there more than willing to talk with you about it would love to this is something that's really important to me absolutely and thank you for your interest I appreciate it very much please know on projects when they go through the application process we do have an obligation to hear them but we also can put additional stipulations and then for instance would be best they had 21 stipulations so That might also help look at that as kind of a guidance point. We hope to, in the UDO, we hope to incorporate some of those, instead of having to put 21 different delineations about thing

8:46•JaNice Van Ness

Can I ask you... Can I ask you why the exclusion from the UDO?

11:39•JaNice Van Ness

All right. We'll move to item number four, approval of the agenda.

11:50•JaNice Van Ness

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion carries. Item number five, approval of the minutes from August 25th, 2026.

12:13•JaNice Van Ness

Item number six, unfinished business. Go ahead.

15:49•JaNice Van Ness

We did also work on home-based businesses.

16:15 – 16:44•JaNice Van Ness

i'm sure i second the motion all right i have a motion in a second are there any questions does this not give you enough time yes ma'am get it done okay all right all in favor say aye aye aye the motion carries item seven new business okay item 437 is with the association county commissioners of georgia the insurance program that's making a lot of noise isn't it is that microphone on

34:49 – 35:24•JaNice Van Ness

So one of the challenges we have in the water department is when those leaks happen, people don't know for a period of time, it could be a toilet or sink, anything like that. Our goal is to get for them to fix it. But many people are challenged by finding a provider medium during the workday because they might have work obligations. How do you trust and pick the right vendor? Those kind of things. Are there any options for your company to help with that by creating a list of vendors, local vendors that are trusted and reputable?

44:39 – 44:52•JaNice Van Ness

Good afternoon. Good afternoon. We have a lot of good projects on the agenda today for your department. Can you talk about a couple of these 451 onward?

47:50 – 48:02•JaNice Van Ness

Can you talk about, this would be a good example of talking about why do we need somebody to do the design work versus the company that specializes in bridges doing the work?

49:37•JaNice Van Ness

Thank you. And I think next we have the fire department's item too.

54:05•JaNice Van Ness

With their increased pricing. Also, how long would it take for delivery?

54:26 – 54:38•JaNice Van Ness

Can you talk about just as a barometer the length of time it takes if you order a regular fire truck like we've had in the past, how long it takes to get that?

55:56•JaNice Van Ness

Well, thank you for researching new options for us in Rockdale County. I think this is a great solution to what we've been talking about. Thank you. Thank you.

1:01:11•JaNice Van Ness

Right. I have a motion and a second on per se. Aye. Aye. The motion carries. Okay.

1:01:39•JaNice Van Ness

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. The motion carries.

1:02:36 – 1:02:53•JaNice Van Ness

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any discussion? All right. All in favor say aye. Aye. The motion carries. All right. At this time we will move into board comment.

1:06:22 – 1:07:41•JaNice Van Ness

Good evening. I wanted to share some of the information from our meeting today. We have had conversation about the legislation that was presented last year, Senate Bill 238. And so Chief Sanders worked with the Carl Vinson School of Government to book a day for us to talk about forms of government. And so it was facilitated today by the UGA. staff members and so they came today and talked to us about an agenda of items and questions including the form of government review the current county charter which will be working to update alternative forms of governments for counties in Georgia home ru

1:07:44 – 1:08:08•JaNice Van Ness

For the next few months. So we're glad we can go ahead and move forward with that. We are looking to have another meeting in the community to get feedback from people and hopefully make a decision and recommendation with the people's input. Other than that, I think that's all that I have for today. Madam Clerk, is there a need for executive session?

1:08:15•JaNice Van Ness

all right well that being said i'll call the meeting to adjournment thank you and have safe travels

These excerpts are remarks by officials whose identity a person confirmed, from a transcript generated automatically from the official public meeting video and presented unedited. Accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.