Board of Commissioners Agendas and Minutes - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the Meriwether County Board of Commissioners July 13th, 2026 meeting, 6 p.m. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Please silence your cell phones and other electronic devices. Please stand with the invocation given by Derek Pardue, followed by the pledge.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for bringing us all together. Pray, Lord, that you bless our community, Lord, and bless the leaders and the and citizens of the community, Lord. May your work be done, Lord, in this county and with all the decisions that are made here. Lord, I bless these kids here tonight, Lord, that are representing the Merriweather County Football, Lord. I thank you for each one of them. I'm proud to be a part of those kids, Lord. I ask you to bless each family, each member, each coach. These things I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

We'd like to adopt the agenda. Any changes to the agenda?

No, sir, Mr. Chairman.

I'll make a motion. Second. Second. All in favor? Presentations. At this time, I'd like to read a proclamation congratulating the Meriwether County Recreation 9U football team. Whereas the Meriwether County Recreation 9U football team demonstrated exceptional dedication, teamwork, and sportsmanship throughout the 2025 football season. And whereas the team compiled an impressive season record while competing against teams from across the region, showcasing the talent and determination of young athletes representing Meriwether County, And whereas during the 2025 regular season, the Eagles secured decisive victories over Butch County, 20-7, Pike County, 36-0, and 31-0, Brooks-Bears, 35-0, and 50-0, Peachtree City, 57-0, and Thomaston 34-6, finishing the regular season with only one loss to Monroe County 24-32. And whereas the Eagles continued their success into the playoffs, defeating Butch County 21-0 and Monroe County 7-0 to secure the 2025 CGYSA Super Bowl championship title. And whereas throughout the 2025 season, the team scored an outstanding 315 total points, allowing only 45 points and recorded seven shutout victories reflecting the strength of both their offense and defense. And whereas this remarkable achievement was accomplished through the hard work and commitment of the team members, Jason Richardson, Carson Alexander, Caden Anthony, Forrest Kirk, Blase Thompson, Huxley Patterson, Braxton Ford, Rylan Waddell, Mason McInvale, Bowen Pardew, Brody Connor, Owen Muller, Prince Hardnick, Draper Crawford, Jordan Parks, Bentley Pittman, Braylon Anderson, Levi Griffin, Allen Adams III, and Benton Strickland. And whereas the team's success was guided by the leadership and dedication of the head coach, Drew Kirk, and assistant coaches, Matt Crawford, Toby Waddell, Chris McInvale, Travis Strickland, and Howard Patterson, whose guidance helped shape the team. These young athletes, both on and off the field, and whereas the Meriwether County Board of Commissioners wishes to recognize and commend the Meriwether County Recreation 9U football team for their outstanding accomplishment in becoming the 2025 CGYSA Super Bowl champions and for representing Meriwether County with pride and excellence. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Meriwether County Board of Commissioners hereby extend their heartfelt congratulations to the Meriwether County Recreation 9U football team, their coaches, and families for this outstanding achievement. Be it further resolved that this proclamation shall be spread upon the minutes of this meeting by the county clerk who is hereby directed to transmit a suitable copy to the Meriwether County Recreation 9U football team and coaching staff. Thank you.

I just want to say thank you to the commissioners, Farrelly County, Mr. Randy Carter, our leader, through last year and the support. from the community and we've got a group of wonderful young men that work really hard. We appreciate it. Thank you. We're proud of you.

Why don't you step out in front of the building and make it a nice one? This can't get in this corner.

Yes, I have. I had a friend before. Well. Well.

i was gonna try to make some money out of there

I just wanted to say something. Is that the place that's on the original bike? Yes. They call me and speak to everybody. All right. All right, we'd like to move on to the finance report given by Ms. Tammy Lackey.

I commissioners on the front page of the report of the bank balances as of this afternoon. At the bottom of the page or the loss lost and to spot distributions we received for June. On the 2nd page this loss balance is a negative 100 and $8,611.80 and that is lost balance is a negative $279,060 dollars and 2 cents.

Anybody have any questions? Department heads?

There's none present, Mr. Chairman.

Citizen comment?

No, sir.

Minutes from the 2023, I mean, June 23rd, 2026 regular meeting, 6 p.m. Did make a couple of typos and corrections, but they've already been made, so. All in favor? I abstain. Next is public hearing case PC. 26-006, request from Rodney Lantham, requesting a hardship variance to allow him to put a smaller home on his property than allowed. Partial number 202-023, 3.7 acres. The address is 6156 Cove Road, Woodbury, Georgia.

Good evening, commissioners. We're coming before you with a public hearing.

I need a motion to go in the public hearing. So moved. This wasn't a continuance? No. OK. I'm sorry. So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Mr. Chairman, you want to keep it at 10 minutes?

Sir?

I want to keep it at 10 minutes.

Yeah, 10 minutes only. For 10 minutes and against. Yes, sir. Go ahead.

All right. Good afternoon, commissioners. We're bringing this request, BC 26006, from Mr. Rodney Landrum to you. He is requesting a hardship area to allow him to put a smaller house on the property. Our current standards are 1,375 heated square feet, and he is requesting 1,140 square feet. And all of this was sent over to you if y'all wanted to look at what he has wanted to put in. And Mr. Landrum is here tonight and would like to speak.

Okay. First, we'd like to call anybody for the change. So come on, Mr. Latham. I know you for it.

Really for it. Yes, sir. I'm just asking this because when I bought my property, Rodney Landrum, 6156 Cove Road, Woodbury, Georgia, 30293. And, uh, When I first bought my property, I was working full time and my health wasn't bad, but then my health went down and I had to get a medical release and my health went down, so I couldn't afford the $1,375 square foot, so I can afford the $1,140. So that's basically the reason I'm asking y'all if I can do it. And I'm going to fix it on the count. because I can't work full time. So that's, I do have a medical release, you know, saying that I'm in a medical, you know, report that I can't work, so.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Rodney. Anybody else for it, for the rezoning? Nobody else forward? Anybody here?

You want to second favor?

Okay, come on up. Okay. Go ahead.

I'm a sister. He's working. You don't, you ain't trying to speak to me. He's always worked real hard all his life. He was the one that always felt so mom and dad, helped us all. He's a good person and his health, when he bought the property, he was working full time. He's got a list of health issues. Y'all saw that in his, I guess, the doctor's release report. He just worked. When he got the land, he wasn't nothing but that's an old home place there. He had to clear it out. He got wells, everything's going good. But his health, he just can't work full time. So that season, he's found something he can afford. I hope that y'all will grant that for him.

Thank you. Anybody else like to speak in favor for it? Anybody here to speak against it? All right, nobody against it. Any discussion between the board?

Anybody make a motion?

I'll move. I'll move a second. All in favor? All right, it's in my district. And I've looked closely at the homes. near this partial and found that all homes to be close in the size to which Mr. Lantham is trying to build. And I even went as far back as looking. When I was born in 1960, how big my house was. It was 60 square feet. Oh, yeah. So I'd like to make a motion that we approve Mr. Lantham. And I'll second it. I'll be glad to third it. All in favor?

Thank you. There you go, sir. Thank you very much. Take care of yourself.

All right. Next public hearing is case number PC26-007. Request from county to close Hoss Bowden Road, aka Pony Farm Road, approximately 3,410 feet. The road has no substantial public use. This was continued. From the June 23rd, 2026 regular meeting. I guess we continue. We didn't close.

No. And they're not here tonight, right?

Not there.

Mr. Todd.

Nathan, do we need to continue it? Or can we continue it? Or do we need to close it and redo it?

It's up to the commissioner's pleasure. I mean, you can put it on it tonight. You can continue to publish it. The only thing is that if you... close it with no action and they want to ask again, it has to be reactant. That's the only downside to not continue. It's up to the board. It's what y'all's pleasure is.

It's been continued a couple of times already.

Well, it's in my district. Well, let's close the public hearing first. Yes, sir. If there's no more discussion, motion. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? Well, it's in my district, and we've talked about it like this is the third time, so I make a motion we close the road. I'll second. All in favor? All right. Case number PC26-011, request from Zohar.com. Gersani, the new owner of Riverside Store and Barbecue, now known as SK Riverside Inn Incorporated and SK Riverside Inn Convenience Store, located at 29 River Cove Road, is requesting approval to sell and serve alcohol. I need a motion to go into public hearing. So moved. All in favor?

Pardon me. This is case PC 26011 request from Zora Jasani. That's the new owner of Riverside Store and Barbecue, also known as SK Riverside Inn Incorporated and SK Riverside Inn Convenience Store. And they are requesting approval to sell and serve alcohol at Riverside. And he is here tonight.

We will allot 10 minutes for and 10 minutes against. Go ahead, sir.

Is this a rezoning or a request for alcohol? Oh, it's a request for alcohol. That's fine.

I live in Peachtree City. Been in Greenville, Merriweather City for a long time. I used to own the Texaco down here. Opened up the car lot and then we did open up the Laundromat at Piggly Wiggly at one point. Had to sell it because we couldn't make it. Currently, we are working on two more projects in the city. We are opening up The big check down here, the plant's already done. We acquired Riverside Country Store from Ms. Darlene about three to four months back. Went through background check, have done a lot of improvements in the building. We have done our health inspection, got approved, everything is in place. Also, we have upgraded a lot of our electricals. We did take all the permits, so everything was done in accordance to the law. So the whole new panels, whole new circuit breakers, which was not needed, but we ended up doing it. Currently, we also got Pisa, 100 Brothers Pisa, in there. We are waiting for this approval so we can have a grand opening get started. I think it's a good potential as that store is between Upson and Pike County. So that piece down there, I own the Sunnyside Country Store going towards Crest Highway right there. And we opened it a year back. That store had zero revenue. It did win the best business award. It's very hard, you would say, like a convenience store wins a business award, and we did it. I believe there's a lot of traffic on that road. Pretty soon I'm working. We have done our surveys. I think so with the service and the environment we give to the people, it has a good potential. We can get more revenues, which is not even coming, which is going to Upson or Merriweather. So if we can have gas pumps, I'm already working with my engineer to put up a plan. Hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be coming forward again to see if we can do that, that would be good help.

Where would you be serving the alcohol? Are you opening up a restaurant part there? I know that there was a difficult situation where she was unable to open the restaurant part of that and had an exterior barbecue place there. So when you're wanting to serve the alcohol, where are you going to serve that?

If you've been in the building this week and sweetly right, so we didn't bring the plants down here with the health department showed them so it's going to be still the restaurant part okay so like it has to be within the security area, they cannot walk out so. It would be well taken care of down there and and I think so five county has one restaurant they open only on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday so. I think the people are starving to get good food and sit somewhere and have some good time, you know?

Yeah, well, it used to be a restaurant a long time ago.

A long time, yes. That's what we heard, too.

So who is the representative in Mayweather County? Since you don't live in the county, the ordinances are that you have to have a licensed representative or an attorney.

My employee, she's there. She can be on the, as an agent.

Do you have her listed on the application already so that we can get that done? Yeah. Okay. And you said you already have your background check?

Yeah, everything is done.

And did you buy the building from Ms. McDaniel or did you lease the building? No, we bought it. Okay.

Any other questions? I don't have any questions.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

If it's not a rezoning, we don't speak to you.

But just need to ask, that's correct. You just need to ask if anybody else is here to speak on that.

Anybody else here to speak on the matter?

Close public hearing and support, please.

I need a motion to close public hearing. So moved. Second. All in favor?

Show district again.

Show district again? It is. All of them. I don't have a problem. I'll make a motion to approve it. I'll second. All in favor? Thank you. Thank you. Appointments. Appointment to the Airport Authority District 2 to fill an unexpired term. This is a five-year term. It will expire on October 31, 2030. This was tabled from June 23, 2026.

I found a great person for this, and his name is Greg Brandner. And so I make a motion to appoint Greg Brandner to the Airport Authority District 2. Absolutely.

B-R-A-N-D-N-E-R.

Second. All in favor? There is no unfinished business. We'll move right on to new business. Approval of Civic Plus accessibility and media services and sole resource procurement.

I'm going to do a little talking on this one because this is a clerk request. The next couple. Commissioner Stafford is requesting approval of the attached Civic Plus proposal and sole source procurement for audio I managed doc access and civic plus media. Mayor of the county currently utilize a civic plus for its county website, the civic clerk agenda management system, and the next request open records platform. Because these services are proprietary to the civic plus platform and integrate with the county's existing systems, Civic Plus has provided a sole source procurement justification. Audio I managed and doc access will help the county comply with the U.S. Department of Justice's updated ADA Title II accessibility requirements. State and local governments serving populations of fewer than 50,000 residents must comply by April 24, 2028. These services provide website monitoring, document remediation, and accessibility to support, accessibility support to help the county meet the federal deadline, improve public access to online services, and reduce the risk of accessibility complaints and potential legal liability. Civic Plus Media provides the county with a dedicated platform for hosting and preserving board meeting videos and other public media. While the county currently utilizes YouTube to make meeting videos available to the public, Civic Plus Media ensures that the county maintains ownership and control of its official meeting records while providing seamless integration with the county website and agenda management system. Searchable meeting archives, closed captioning, and long-term records retention. As an existing Civic Plus customer, the county will receive implementation of all three services at no additional cost. Civic Plus has waived implementation fees totaling $9,621.53. The proposal includes a first-year prorated cost of $6,271.53. and an annual recurring cost of $18,661.20. The proposal includes a first-year prorated cost and annual recurring cost. All implementation fees have been waived, and that results in that $9,621 savings. Staff recommends approval of the attached sole source procurement justification and Civic Plus proposal for audio I manage, doc access, and Civic Plus media, and authorization for the chairman to execute all necessary contract documents. And this is basically to get us compliant with ADA. There isn't any ruling. It did give us an extra year, but as we go back and I look, you know, we've had several instances with YouTube and when we're recording the meetings. Last time uploading, I got to make sure closed captions are there. They're not. They weren't there. So there's things that we need to make sure we have control over, especially having control over our own data therein. But the accessibility features as far as the ADA compliance with the doc access and audio, I went through that with a representative at Civic Plus. It's very helpful to those who need that service. And I thought going ahead doing this all together, yes, it's a cost, but it is saving us over $9,000 just to implement it because there will be implementation training and stuff like that that we'll have to go through, so.

make a motion to approve and allow the chair to sign all in favor thank you i'd like to ask you a question nathan before we go to the next one uh when we approve the closure of horsebound road yes i would like to add something to that what would we need to do to get that added what would you want to add i would want the road has not been cleaned up have brush cut out of it in 25 years and it's grown up i would like to if we're going to leave and abandon the road i would like to send our bush yak boomax in there to clean the road out i mean you don't that's not a condition to closing the road i don't know well i mean if you're going to close it you want to clean well i mean it's it's

If you close it, it reverts back to whoever owns it on either side. It's not yours anymore, so you can't go spending money on it.

Okay. All right. I just thought we'd leave it.

They want it closed, so it's theirs now. All right.

Well, forget it. I just thought it'd be a nice thing to at least make it at least make it accessible to people who land on us but anyway I think we closed it because of the bridge I don't know that's why we closed it because there was some talk about maybe not closing the whole thing that y'all abandoned it and it goes back yeah okay good deal yeah I can understand I wouldn't want nobody to spend no money on nothing else either especially taxpayer money Approval of Confidential Document Destruction Agreement, River Mills Data Management.

Another request from your clerk. So staff is requesting approval of a Confidential Document Destruction Service Agreement with River Mill Data Management LLC is to provide secure on-site destruction of county records that have met the requirements of the Georgia Archives Local Government General Records Retention Schedules. Unlike traditional shredding services that transport records off-site, River Mill performs the destruction at the county's location, providing an added level of security for confidential records. As the county clerk and custodian of board records, the clerk's office is responsible for managing the county's records in accordance with Georgia Open Records Act and the Georgia Archives Local Government General Records Retention Schedules. The service will provide a secure and documented method for destroying confidential records that have reached the end of their required retention period while supporting the county's records management program. The agreement that you have for you includes two locked 95-gallon shredding containers located at the administration building with on-site shredding services provided every eight weeks. Records remain secured in the locked containers until the scheduled service date. are shredded on site at the county's location eliminating the need to transport confidential records to an off-site facility river mill performs all shredding in accordance with the national association for information destruction in aid standards and will provide a certificate of destruction if upon request the agreement was reviewed by the county attorney who recommended several revisions river mill accepted a number of those recommendations and returned revised agreement. While not every requested revision was accepted, the county administrator has reviewed the final agreement and recommends approval. The provisions that remain unchanged include binding arbitration clause, limitation of liability, early termination provision, and exclusivity requirement. The cost is $150 every eight weeks for two locked shredding containers with additional container service at $75 each if needed. Staff recommends approval of the confidential document destruction services agreement with River Mill Data Management, LLC, and authorization for the chairman to execute the agreement. And John can tell you some more about that.

The contract commissioners, it's legal. Legal always marks up those items and it's up to staff if we want to abide by them. I believe it's worth it. They're coming on site, shredding it. They're not taking it anywhere. It's a shredding company. And I asked them, if the truck breaks down, do we retain the records, keep them in house? He said, yes, until we get a truck on site that shreds right here on site. So there's a shredder built into the truck. Because of that nature, I'm agreeable to the clauses that they were not willing to adjust.

Let me add to that. We're going to tell them to change everything. But at some point, they're a business and they're not willing to. So at some point, it's

Yes or no.

Yeah. Yeah. Is it worth it? So it's not that he's not ignoring us. He says, we just say at this point, they're not going to budge. So you got to decide if it's worth it.

We have used them.

That happens all the time with everybody.

We've used them for all of our shredding needs. But right now, the way that it happens is I don't have locked containers. I have to get boxes, fill them up, get enough retention. write everything down, and then call them and say, hey, when can you get me on schedule to come pick this up? They've always shredded on-site. I will not use a company that does not shred on-site. I'm not comfortable with the records going down the road.

This is for accounting-wise. It's not declared. Finance has records that used to go off-site to get destroyed. This secures everything is done right here on-premises.

Well, I think $900 a year is worth it. So I make a motion to approve and allow chair to sign. Thank you. All in favor?

Thank you. We would certainly tell you, John, don't do this. We've never told them once.

Award 2026, Merriweather County, LMIG Phase 2.

Commissioner's bids for the additional three and a half miles of Alton Road would open on Thursday, July 9th. The bids received listed from lowest to highest are as follows. C.W. Matthews, $899,726. Schroes Company, $900,912.86. Blunts Construction Company, $990,637.94. Piedmont Paving and Grading, $992,390. And McLeroy Incorporated, $1,062,206.50. EMC Engineering Services has reviewed the biz and recommends awarding the contract to C.W. Matthews as a lowly responsive. and responsible bidder, awarding the contract will allow C.W. Matthews to complete the entire 5.5 miles of Albertson Road under one project and one contract. Funding for the project will come from the remaining 2024 LRA funds, the remaining 2026 early LRA funds, and fund balance if additional funding is needed. On your commitment sheet, you saw that that $94,000 was the fund balance. C.W. Matthews came in about $200,000 on the $25,000 LMAG, so I would anticipate it would probably come in under, so I don't think we have to use the fund balance. And why you see the T-SPOS as negative is these commitments are already in there for the LMAG. The staff recommends awarding it to C.W. Matthews for $8.99, $7.26. Yes.

And I can accidentally award C.W. Matthews again. So it goes to C.W. Matthews for $8.99, $7.26.

Second.

All in favor?

Move that out.

Withdrawal from awarded cybersecurity grant.

Commissioners, Mary Willie County was awarded a cybersecurity grant that was presented by former IT director Matthew Brown. There's a typo in that one. Staff recommends declining the award. The project deadline is August 2026 and the county has requested an extension which has not been approved. In addition, the grant application identified a specific vendor, but not under the county's procurement policy. The project should have been competitively procured through a request for proposals. Due to the limited time frame and procurement requirements, the project cannot be completed in compliance with the grant conditions. Staff request board approval to decline the grant award and authorize notification to the granting agency.

Make a motion to the grant. Go ahead.

How much the grant was for and how long we've known that we needed to act on it before we just realized that we didn't?

It was a $200,000 grant. It was a match going to come into IT's budget. I finally got access, and when we got into the details of it all, we never heard back from Ms. Cohn. And when we read the details, it listed a specific vendor, which in government, you cannot just list a vendor. It has to be bidded out. We requested extension. They declined it, and by procurement guidelines, we can't meet that deadline. And with the cybersecurity, we already have VC3, ThankGuard, which are two at the top. We have not had any breaches. So when COVID hit, the board approved those going into. I don't think we could afford the recurring costs that we spent $200,000 on software because this was strictly software.

I make a motion to decline and allow notification. All in favor? Aye.

Approval of airport assignment and assumption agreement required by GDOT and FAA.

Let me and John tag team this one because we both have something to do with this. But commissioners, the staff is requesting approval of an assignment and assumption agreement between Meriwether County and the Meriwether County Airport Authority as required by the Georgia Department of Transportation, GDOT, and Federal Aviation Administration, FAA. The agreement is the final step in resolving a historical documentation issue involving Roosevelt Memorial Airport property. Approval of disagreements necessary to satisfy FAA ownership and airport sponsorship requirements and to preserve the airport's eligibility for future state and federal grant funding. In 1984, the state of Georgia conveyed approximately 13.2 acres to Meriwether County. In 1998, the county conveyed approximately 165.583 acres, including the original 13.2 acre tract to the Meriwether County Airport Authority. Although the deed correctly transferred ownership, the tax assessor records were never updated to reflect the complete conveyance, creating a discrepancy between the deed records and the tax records. During a recent title review required by GDOT and FAA, the discrepancy was identified. After reviewing the reported deeds, the county attorney confirmed that the airport authority has owned the property since the 1998 conveyance and the tax assessor's office has since corrected its records to accurately reflect ownership. The Assignment and Assumption Agreement completes the documentation requested by GDOT and the FAA by formally recognizing the airport authority as the airport sponsor and assigning responsibility for the airport's federal grant obligations. This action does not involve the purchase or sale of property, does not transfer ownership of land, and does not expand the airport. Instead, it confirms existing ownership, completes the documentation required by GDOT and FAA, and helps ensure Roosevelt Memorial Airport remains eligible for future future state and federal grant funding. There's no financial impact associated with the approval of the agreement. Approval will help preserve the airport's eligibility for future funding. Staff recommends approval of the assignment and assumption agreement between the airport and the county and authorization for the chairman to execute all necessary documents. John, if you need to add anything on that.

You basically explained it all. So basically in a nutshell, commissioners, it's the county is recognizing that whole tract of land belongs to the airport authority by signing this agreement.

Well, it seems like it was just a clerical error. Correct. Making motion to approve airport assignment and assumption agreement so that we can maintain the eligibility funding due to the documentation issue and allow the chair to sign all documentation. Second. I don't know if I have it.

Request from Tax Assessor's Office, reclassify position in-house commercial re-available.

Commissioners, I'd like to table this to July 28th. Chief Appraiser William Harris cannot attend tonight.

I make a motion to table till July 28th, 6 p.m. meeting.

Second.

All in favor? Consider approval of firework services agreement with... Well, I would like to change this. Consider the approval of the fireworks show July the 2nd at Lake 2027 at Lake Merriweather.

Well, I mean, yeah, it depends. What was we all asking to approve the contract? And I'm assuming now you want Lake Merriweather to enter into the contract with them?

Well, no, I mean, I said at Lake Merriweather. Consider the fireworks show this the way this written up here is it is a fireworks agreement with southern sky so i i just want they're going to put it on they're the ones that we buy that furnished the fireworks so all all i want to approve is for the commissioners to have fireworks july the 2nd 2027 but you're not necessarily sure you want southern sky correct

The recommendation from staff does not mention anything about signing a contract with Southern Skies in this. So I think the title's fine.

So don't we need to put out a proposal for pricing to determine which one? I mean, we can make an agreement all day, but if we don't have a cost on it, we can't determine who's going to provide that service.

You've got to have a contract for you. I was just assuming that was...

No, this was just to get a pricing for a proposed contract. So I think his title is fine and in discussion.

Yeah, I just misunderstood. Okay, so just leave it like it is.

I think the title is fine, Mr. Chairman, and we can discuss it when we go through it.

Yes, it is fine. I misunderstood.

Okay, consider approval of firework services agreement with Southern Sky LLC for the 2027 Lake Maryville fireworks.

This doesn't say we're looking for a pricing, though. This says it's an agreement with that company to be held on July 2nd, 2027.

Yeah, when I read it and the board can decide if they don't want to go with Southern Sky, they just want to allocate the funds.

I would say that.

Yeah, so Southern Sky LLC has provided a fireworks display of Lake Merriweather in 24, 25, and 26. The contract amount for 24 was $15,000 and for 25 and 26 was $20,000. For 2027, staff recommends scheduling the late Merriweather fireworks display for Friday, July 2, 2027. Once Southern Sky Fireworks provides pricing and a proposed contract for the 2027 event, the agreement will be presented to the board for consideration. The 2026 fireworks display lasted approximately 20 minutes. Staff has requested pricing for both a 20-minute show and an extended 25- to 30-minute show to compare costs and determine the best option for the 2027 event.

I'd like to make a motion to approve it. We'll add a chair. I mean, I don't know what we need to do just to prove it.

If you don't want to go with Southern Sky, we have to just approve it.

You can instruct staff to approve that date. You can even approve an expenditure amount if you want to, but they would have to bring the contract back to you. You just need to give them some direction.

If you don't want Southern Sky, we can find another vendor.

Approve that date, July the 2nd, 2027, not to exceed $25,000. I'll second all in favor.

I'm opposed. I don't think it's accurate as to what we need to look for. I don't think it's what we... I mean, it states that it is with Southern Sky. I know we can go out and change that, but I'm not comfortable agreeing to it with this and then it come down the road without any pricing. The date I'm good with, but I'm just not okay approving that.

I didn't think... What was the most...

But does it say on here, it says to consider their approval.

Make a notion of whatever y'all want.

Well, that's what I did. Approval of fireworks, get Southern Sky, July 2nd, 2027, not to exceed $25,000.

So you're good with Southern Sky as long as it's not exceed $25,000?

I'm in. I thought you said earlier you didn't want Well, I mean, I just didn't want to tie them in. I wanted us to get prices from other people.

Just set a date in the event. Proposals to the board.

Okay. I would think then, Mr. Chairman, I think, because I think I understand what you're wanting to do is go ahead and have the board approve July the 2nd, 2027 for fireworks at Lake Merriweather with consideration of Sky or another contractor, not to exceed $25,000.

That's what I thought.

Yeah.

I would say make a motion to withdraw your last motion, and since it was passed, vote on it. I'll make a motion.

Make a motion to withdraw my last motion. I'll second that. All in favor?

I'm good with that.

Now make a motion to... Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion. Make the motion. I'll make a motion for us, the board, to... approved july 2nd 2027 to be the official uh celebration for lake merriweather fireworks for the merriweather county with the consideration of southern sky or other vendors to submit not to exceed contracts not to exceed twenty five thousand dollars i second all in favor

Is that for or against?

It's very confusing every time.

That's why we should be having a discussion before we vote on it. I tell you what, I think the easiest thing to do right now would be to table this to get a little bit more clarification at the next meeting and then let's move forward.

Just to approve the fireworks on February 2nd, 2027 and not name any vendors at all.

Can we dingo?

Wait a minute.

No, because it didn't pass. Wait a minute. Yeah, because it wasn't even true. It was four. Yes. I mean, I want to proceed to her toes.

We approve the Lake Merriweather fireworks display for Friday, July 2nd, 2027.

I'll second that. It's clear. All in favor.

Okay.

And then we'll come back.

I mean, that's what I was trying to approve the first time, and you said we couldn't do that unless we had a RFP.

Then we'll come back and find a supplier. That's how much we're going to spend.

July 2nd, that works. It's all out, Paul. It's not here. All right. Reporting County Administrator.

I had a meeting with a GMA district rep at a late Mayweather firework. This was a good turnout. I want to say thank you to the staff that volunteered and Lake of Ives Reborn for organizing the event. I met with River City and Penco several times on remediation at the courthouse and planning the remediation. Jones Tree Service has agreed to the legal change and we're working to schedule a Saturday to remove the trees and turn back the rest at the courthouse. Third floor renovations at the courthouse are being prepared for approval. Exterior scaffolding should be coming down next week. The roof on the annex building is being put on this week at a teleconference on software for a recreation department. Attended the Allentown Road bid opening. And then we'll be reviewing department requests for the 26-27 budget before the work session for capital needs and personal requests, and then working on balancing the proposed 26-27 budget. And that's all I have, Mr. Chairman.

report from County Commissioner, Vice Chairman Sneltz.

I want to write this down in history.

I really don't have the, for the fact that, you know, the road crew's been out there trying to do the best to get the potholes cut off from all the rain. And I see they've been doing a lot of boom acts on several roads over my area. So that's looking good. So hopefully they keep it up.

Commissioner Tregear. I know we've talked about the trees at the courthouse. Coming from Woodbury, that tree at the church is what leans over in front of the part. I wonder if they would allow us to take part of that. Well, that's what we're looking into. That's what we're looking into. Okay. Yeah. That's the one thing blocking the main part. Yeah.

Yeah, I took pictures of it when I came back from Woodbury today to send over to see if GDOT would do it. If not, I'll reach out to the church and see if it's something we can kind of correlate with.

Because it is leaning over. It is. All right. That's all I had.

I'd just like to say thanks to staff and all employees for the work they do. We're getting there with the roads, it looks like. Like John said, we had a good turnout at Lake Merriweather. Fireworks were great. Just thank everybody. That's all I have.

She's got something. Sorry, I knew it was too good to be true. Tomorrow night at 7.14 is the National Day of Prayer, and they're going to be reading from Psalms. Casey Harp is going to be doing it, and we'd love for anyone in the community to come out there and bring your chairs and come at 7.14 tomorrow evening at the courthouse.

The Bible will be read all across the whole state, right? They'll read the whole Bible, correct?

Yes, sir.

Reporting County Attorney.

Chairman, I did not have anything.

I do have one thing, y'all. I think I sent this email. I just want to make everybody aware that Ms. Cynthia Kilby at the Pine Mountain Regional Library wanted to let everyone know that and present a copy to the board of the library news. It's the monthly newsletter of the Georgia Public Library Service, the state library. It covers activities of the 408 public libraries throughout Georgia. And this is the first time a branch of the Pine Mountain Regional Library System has made the cover. And she said she wanted to say that it was the Manchester Public Library that is featured. It had small mentions, but never made the cover. So just wanted everyone to know that it did make the cover.

That's so cool. Congratulations to the library.

Our future meetings are Tuesday, July 28th, work session at 4 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, 2026, regular meeting at 6. Monday, August 10, regular meeting at 6. And Tuesday, August 25, regular meeting at 6. Do I need for executive session?

Yes, sir.

I'd like to get a motion to go into executive session for litigation personnel, real estate, tax matters, and cybersecurity. So moved. Second. All in favor? I need a motion to go back into regular session.

So moved.

Second. All in favor? Some items were discussed in executive session. We need a motion to approve personnel matters address as discussed in executive session. So moved. All in favor? Need a motion to adjourn. So moved. All in favor?