Board of Commissioners Agendas and Minutes - Regular Meeting

Please welcome to the Meriwether County Board of Commissioners, September 14th, 2026 meeting, 6 p.m. I'd like to call to order this meeting. Please silence your cell phones and other electronic devices. Please stand for the invocation given by Assistant Pastor Single Rock, Joe Morgan, followed by the pledge.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for allowing us to be here tonight. Lord, we ask that you just watch over everyone that is here, and we ask that you give our County Commissioner, it is the wisdom of the hour to continue to make this county grow and be a better place. In the Lord's name we pray. Amen.

I pledge that it is the student 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.

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

Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, we need to add on a new business. Number 13, approve engagement letter for Scott Westbrook appraisal. So number 13, approve engagement letter for Scott Westbrook appraisal.

anything else no sir mr chairman need a motion to adopt the agenda so moved second all in favor presentations any presentations no presentations mr chairman finance report given by miss tammy lackey

Commissioners, on the front page are the bank balances as of this afternoon. And as you can see, we have moved the remaining funds from the 2020 SPLOST LGIP into the FNM bank account. And we'll be asking at the next meeting to close that account. We've also updated the last SPLOST and TSPLOST distributions we received for August. On the next page, this floss balance is $46,699.89, and the Teas Floss balance is a negative $67,586.13. Any questions? Thank you. Any department heads? No, sir, Mr. Chairman.

citizen comment. We have one. I'll read this out. Speakers must contact the county clerk at Stevens at a Stevens mary with the county ga.gov or call 672-706-672-3460 only before the dates and times listed below in order to be placed on the agenda to speak speakers must provide their name address and topic they wish to discuss for the second monday of the month 6 p.m meeting speakers must email a call before 5 p.m on the day of the scheduled meeting For the fourth Tuesday of the month, 6 p.m. meeting, speakers must email or call before 5 p.m. on the day of the scheduled meeting. Speakers must direct their remarks to the board, not the individual commissioners or to the audience. Personal disagreements with individual commissioners or county employees are not a matter of public concerns and personal attacks will not be tolerated. Speakers will be allotted three minutes to speak on their chosen topics as they relate the matters pertinent to the jurisdiction of the Board of Commissioners. No questions will be asked by any of the Commissioners during citizen comments. Outbursts from the audience will not be tolerated. Common courtesy and civility are expected at all times during the meeting. No speaker will be permitted to speak more than three minutes or more than once unless the Board votes to suspend this rule. And I'll send us some comments. I have Joseph Morgan. Please come up and state your name and your address, Mr. Morgan.

My name is Joseph Morgan. I live at 3601 Road, Woodbury, Georgia. I'm here to talk to y'all tonight about Cedar Rock Road. It is crumbling around us. Several people come up to me within the community and ask me to come up there and speak about this today. The road has been more than 40 years since it's been paved. And it's time that we do something about it. We have more patches than we actually have roads, it seems like in there. I myself have had to replace three rims on my truck at over $300 a piece. When you're disabled and on fixed income, that's not an easy thing to do. So I ask that y'all at least consider trying to figure out a way to get this road paved. I appreciate y'all's time and thank you so very much. Thank you.

All right, approval of the minutes. Need a motion to approve the minutes August 25th, 2026, work session at 4.30 p.m. Make a motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor? Now I need a motion to approve. August 25th, 2026, regular meeting at 6 p.m. Make a motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor? Need a motion to approve. August 31st, 2026, special call meeting at 6 p.m. Make a motion to approve. Second. All in favor? Made a motion to approve September 3rd, 2026 special call meeting at 7 PM. So moved. Second. All in favor?

I do.

I have. Public hearing. Case number PC26-001, rezoning request submitted by Chisholm Mills, Vine, and Beale, LLC. For partial number 027-029, position of 36.81 acres from rural reserve to R1 residential to allow the minimum lot size to be reduced from two acres to 1.5 acres.

We got to go to the public hearing. Second. Mr. Chairman, do you want to set a time?

We'll allow 10 minutes for and 10 minutes against.

the uh case uh pc 26001 rezoning request submitted by chisel mill design and build llc with parcel number 027-029 considering 36.81 acres from rural reserve to r1 residential to allow the minimum lot size to be reduced from two acres to 1.5 acres the staff recommendation It's conditional, the rezoning requires from LDR to R1 subject to the following conditions. Development of the property shall be limited to two acre lots unless and until adequate water service is verified. Prior to approval of any lot smaller than two acres, the applicant shall submit a letter from the town of Lono signed by current town staff confirming the ability and intent to provide public water service and a letter from Berrywood County Water Authority confirming system capacity and availability as applicable. Any development shall comply with all applicable zoning subdivision and health department requirements.

Okay. Thank you.

Good evening, board. Thank you for having me. Last time I was here, You guys should be, I think everyone's pretty familiar with this project at this point. Last time I was here, we were denied based off of the low note water pressure. And so last time when I handed you this time was we went door to door and asked people how the pressure was and we let people know that we were doing a development and we had several signatures that there was no complaints for the water. In that packet, there's also the LSA from as well as the hydrant flow tests that they would be able to serve the spending laws. Like I said, everyone here is really familiar with this project at this point. I know last time I came there was a moratorium passed in order to prevent this kind of rezoning from now on. The purpose of a moratorium is to give governments time to study a problem and fix a crisis. I don't believe that Meriwether County has a problem, one was invented to prevent Chisholm Hill from doing this development. There are not one and a half acre lots appearing in Merriweather and Droves because there are very few areas in Merriweather where such a zoning is even possible. There are very few opportunities where it makes economic sense for the developer to invest that much money into infrastructure to make the zoning work. The rezoning is a great way to upgrade Merriweather County infrastructure at the developer's expense and the development I referenced Chisholm Hill plans to spend $300,000 paving 2,000 feet of Ellis Roche and $600,000 on upgrading 12,000 feet of Lone Oaks waterline from 2-inch to 8-inch. Before our development, Merriweather had no intention of paving Ellis Road. Without this rezoning, upgrading Lone Oaks waterline will never make sense. We are in a home affordability crisis right now. The average age of the first-time homebuyer in the U.S. has reached a record high median of 40 years old. We should welcome creative ideas to increase supply and decrease price, especially when it comes at the developer's own expense. It is difficult to watch people who benefited from time and age and luck when buying their home fight to keep others out when it has become more difficult. My dad is the chairman and co-founder of the Georgia Residential Land Development Council. This year, the GRLDC succeeded in getting Senate Bill 447 passed to address LDP reform. He recently released this book, Zoned Out. how cities and counties make homes unaffordable. Here you can read about how what we are discussing with minimum lot sizes, density, and moratoriums have gotten us to the point we are at today. I serve on the executive board of the Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia, and it is these sort of property rights violations that we perform to combat. Getting rid of the one and a half acre zoning will decrease Meriwether property values. If someone owns 15 acres with public water available, they should be able to build 10 homes there. Without the option to rezone, we would only be able to build seven homes there. That drops that person's property value at least $100,000, but probably closer to $200,000. Planning and zoning and the Board of Commissioners have approved this kind of rezoning as recently as 2024. We personally did two on Charlie Fuller Road. I'm unfamiliar if others have also utilized this zoning in recent years. We believe people benefit from public water, but it is uneconomical to run without this added benefit of the rezoning. We have had notorious difficulty with wells in Merriweather County. Moreover, public water is better for the septic systems because the wells need to be 100 feet away from the septic system. We have built a lot of homes in Merriweather. We build on two acre lots and five acre lots when it makes the most sense. We even ran water down Primrose Road and Tenney Nelson Road and we still chose to build those 22 houses on five acre lots. It made the most sense for the design there, but some properties like this one make more sense to pursue the one and a half acre lot design allowed under R1 zoning. Something that has been thrown around quite frequently is this is how you look like the next Coweta County. I live in Coweta County, so I take a little bit of offense to this, but what areas of Coweta County are people referencing? I would think neighborhoods like Summer Grove or Arbor Springs would be welcome in Merriweather County. Those neighborhoods are septic and public water, and they're only one acre, and what we're requesting is one and a half. Now, if you're saying this is how you become Coweta, and you're referencing to a popular preserve type neighborhood, hopefully you understand that doesn't make any sense. Some neighborhoods in Coweta are allowed eight homes per acre, and that would be one of them. On our 36 acres, for instance, that would be 288 homes, and we are only asking for 20. One thing I do know that Coweta County has is good schools, grocery stores, restaurants, and emergency services, all of which are the result of increased development. People have also claimed that they are worried about the precedent this sets and that the lot size is only going to get smaller. Right now, Meriwether is trying to shut down the R1 zoning. So they clearly do not have intentions of making smaller lots. Likewise, Merriweather does not have the sewer infrastructure needed to accommodate smaller lots. So this fear does not make sense. Finally, the smallest lot Merriweather County zoning offers are one acre with water and sewer available. So no one would be able to afford the sewer infrastructure for one acre lots. So I know that you guys, everyone has voiced their opinion about this. I think that to get rid of the one and a half acre zoning would be a big mistake I think it's beneficial to Meriwether. One time, last time I was in here, I walked out and a lady met me outside and said, so you're telling me I have to have two acres to build a house in Meriwether County? And I said, I'm not telling you that, but it looks like that is what it's going to be. I appreciate you guys hearing me out, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Did you get a copy of it? Did anybody else want to speak for it?

Anybody else, Lee, need to speak for or against?

Mr. Knight, do you have a copy of that packet for a clerk?

Yes, sir.

Did anybody speak against?

We're wrapping up the four first.

Anybody else speaking for it? Anybody for it? Yes, sir. Okay, now somebody against. Yes. Okay.

My name is Joe Morgan. What this gentleman just said is he felt offended because we were talking about it being the new Calhoun County. I moved here from Calhoun County. I know what it's like. I can take him in the neighborhood as he's saying that it's not there. Also, it flew up in Clayton County. So I've watched two different communities destroy themselves by allowing all this property to be put in here. We can't do this. We've got to keep this county a little bit rural, but we do need to bring business in here. This is just not what we need right now. And I do not believe by any way that this is It is the worst idea you'll ever come up with. Make it a lot smaller. Next thing you're going to have is he's going to get down to a half acre and he can say what he wants to about it. But I know the truth. I lived in that community. I've seen what happened. Not only do you increase all the traffic that's coming in there, you get crime that you can't get out of. So let's think. hard and long on this before we let this guy have one and a half acres instead of two. I think we need to protect our community and show our citizens that we respect all of us that's lived here all this time. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyone else against?

Come forward.

Good evening, everyone. My name is . I'm at 2792 Coles Road, deep in the cold. And I am totally against this. I, too, moved here from County to County. And I've seen where it goes from a Bullsboro where you could drive down normal at two or three o'clock to where now is a parking lot. I am totally against giving this company the request that they're asking because we need to keep our code, our Woodbury, our Meriwether County as beautiful, green, and lovely as it is today. And that's pretty much all I have to say. Please, please do not do this. Thank you.

Thank you. Would you like to say something else? Oh, we got another against. I'm Patty Boggs.

I live at 5130 Coleton Road. And I've been here nine years. And I left that county after 31 years. And we built in Fayette. I loved it. We had cows. We had farmland. We had privacy. When we left, we had nuts. All that disappeared. Millers 24-7. I go back to Fayette and Leona to visit Nat. I'm so happy when I come back here. It's so much quieter. I only have two acres because that's all the house was on. If I could get more, I would get more. I'm surrounded by 48 acres and 74 acres, and it's nothing but a beautiful pasture. And that's it. I understand you want to build, and I get it. But I'm sorry, it's a little sensitive for everybody. And if you want grandfathered in, whatever it is grandfathered in, I'm sorry. Two acres is not a lot of money. You can associate your neighbors, everything. I'm for going back to work, you know, where there used to be five neighbors. I'm all for it. But I'll keep my old two neighbors. If I can get more, I'll get it. But it's not just getting people to move here. It's getting people to understand what this town life is. It's peace and quiet. I have my oldest who's in. more than just out of the county. He wants out. He wants what I have. But he can't afford it right now just with everything. I did. And I said, you know, in four years, I'll just give it a little more time and plan things out. And we can get down here and enjoy peace and quiet. So like I said, I am totally against it. And you guys, do have a lot of weight on them, and I understand bringing in fathers, but this is not the kind of fathers. I mean, our schools are schools. They're not the greatest according to everybody else, but, you know, I've seen where they were nine years ago, and I see where they are today. I do have grandchildren in there, and it is where they are now learning, and they are taken care of. So, for that sake, I am both As far as water, water is very, very special to people here. And we need to keep what we have. And the rail is a rail. And I don't care what we can get in part of the city or whatever. She's still going to have issues just like everybody else. So the more you keep tapping into it, the more it's going to disintegrate faster. And that's all I have to say.

Anybody else against it? Would you like to come up?

I agree with a lot of what you just said. I live on one acre and I think when people see my acre, they're like, oh, how big is this? I tell them an acre and they're always surprised. It'll surprise you by how big it is. But I wish I lived on Five acres, 10 acres. If I could afford 200 acres, that's what I would do, but a lot of people can't afford that. She said it best when she said her son wished she could have it, but not everyone can afford it, and her son can't afford it. One thing I really need to reiterate in this is that people are talking like we're asking for a little change, where actually this is something that has been done. This is currently in the zoning until the moratorium. that this one and a half acre zoning exists already. We've already done it in 2024 and been approved by the board as recently as 2024. Secondly, like I wanna reiterate, one and a half acres is a large lot. Maybe not for everyone, but it is for most. Most lots are... As I said, the place they're referencing, Coweta Fayette, they're putting eight houses per acre. So it's tough to say, oh, we're going to be the next Coweta, the next Fayette. I left these places because of that. It's apples and oranges. I hope everyone can understand that, that one and a half acres is not the same as putting eight houses on an acre. It doesn't compare in the slightest. So we're not... asking to make it smaller we're just asking that the board continues to honor the one and a half acres zoning that they have done in the past thanks thank you can i ask you a question yes so you mentioned affordable housing and the need for it where's the sales price you're expecting off of these properties uh 350 000 350

Y'all done that analysis against the average income in this county?

We've built a lot of houses in Meriwether at this point. I think we've built well over 50, and we've had a lot of success at that price point. So that's what we're trying to get to, yes, sir.

And what square footage are you talking about for those houses?

They'll be around 1750, four beds, branches. That's what we've done a lot of.

Well, one reason I personally have a problem is you saying there's, you've done this in the past as recent as 2024 and you have in Charlie Fuller Road is the example you gave. And as a matter of fact, I got an email from a resident on Charlie Fuller Road because of the water issues from Luthersville right now. I don't know if you've been up on that. They've been having a special, they're in our water emergency and they're told they can't water their lawn or wash the car or anything other than outside use and had a meeting with that mayor the other day. And they're talking about trying to get water from Long Oak in different places. So right now there is a water emergency, which is kind of what started this with the moratorium. I know that there's already not issuing any new tabs. Um, for developers, I'm sure you probably reached out and found out that through Luther'sville, Lone Oak still is, but Luther'sville is not for that reason. And so there is a water crisis in that area because they share water a lot right there. And so that area does have a water crisis and they're in talks with Lone Oak about getting water. And it concerns me to add more taps to an issue where they're already having to buy it from somewhere else.

Uh, yes, ma'am. Well, one thing is we already have approval from the water authority to use the water. And there's a two inch line that we're already allowed to use up to 10 on right up to our property. Now, if we were to do more than that, we're gonna get this approved. We have to upgrade it from a two inch to an eight inch to get the flow. We actually ran the test on a six inch and they said, the only way you can do this is if you upgrade it to an eight. So we already are gonna use the water on phases one and two regardless, because we already have the approval to do that. But to do this one, we would have to upgrade the wire line. And in fact, we would have to take it I said 12,000 feet. 6,000 of that feet would be turning two inches from the nearest fire hydrant to eight inches. 6,000 feet before you even get to our property. So we would be doing a lot of work for the loan of water infrastructure.

Well, and have you looked into how much the fire hydrants are going to cost? Because our county ordinances have where the fire hydrants are supposed to be if they're water supplied. So we're going to have to have fire hydrants is I believe every 500 feet a fire hydrant and then pressure test there to make sure, because I mean, if we're talking about running in water, they've got to have fire protection out there as well. Have you looked into that at all?

I believe that's included in that $600,000 quote.

Okay, because all I saw was the water line, not fire hydrants. That's why it concerns me.

I apologize.

On what you've given us. I mean, it doesn't say anything about hydrants. It only says the water line.

Yes, ma'am. I don't have the, I didn't include this. Wow. work both in the packet.

I just know there is a water shortage in that area right now. I mean, they're having meetings about it, and that concerns me about adding more.

We have done extensive testing on it. We even got an engineer report that after we did our flow test that had good numbers. That's when we had to do that engineer report. That's when it came back up to six inch to eight inch.

You said you had water authority approval. You were speaking on the Lone Oak water.

Yes, sir. Okay.

You made a comment earlier, too, of known issues with wells in Mayweather County. The Lone Oak water system is a well.

Oh, so I mean, from personal experience, and I've heard it is an issue that happens to a lot of developers here. We drill a lot of wells here, and typically our wells, we budget about $7,500 for a well. Here we have a budget of about $20,000 because we're drilling 300 feet and we're not getting enough water. We need at least two gallons per minute. So then we drill 500 feet. Often here we're still not getting it. And then we do an expensive fracking procedure. And we've done that on about 50% of our wells these days. And so I was like, what's going on? And I talked to several other people to do it. And they just told me that in Merriweather that that's kind of notorious. So Not that once you do the work, you can get the well to work. It's just expensive. And so that's why we kind of went down this, well, maybe we can get the water. That's how this whole thing started.

Well, my, my thing is, is, you know, like, uh, the mission of snails and said, we got a water shortage of Lutherville. We got all that's tied into the industrial park. So if there's a water shortage up there, things like me, we might jeopardize our. Uh, commitment to the industrial development authority up there on those projects and those warehouses and all that. It's already up there, the building, the businesses, you know, we've got a water shortage. We may not be able to even furnish what we got.

Understood. I can only speak on behalf of the test that we ran and what information I was given from the engineers and the water authority.

Mr. Chairman, if I may ask Mr. Knight a question.

Sure.

Staff recommendation from building zoning says a letter from Maryweather County Water Authority confirming system capacity and availability as applicable. Have you received that letter from the Water Authority from Maryweather County?

We've talked to the Water Authority and I've been under the impression that they didn't It was either from loan up or from that.

That is always one of the conditions. I was just wondering if you had a letter from him.

Can he clarify what that meant? He's under the impression it means either or. Is that what you've written or does it mean he needs both?

The way it's written in my notes here is that it says prior to approval be lot smaller than two acres. The applicant the applicant shall submit and it has to look on one a letter from down a long note signed by current town staff confirming the ability and intent to provide weather board service and bullet point number two a letter from mary weather from maryland county board of authority confirmed assistance capacity and availability there's two different legal entities

You've got Merriweather Water and Sewerage Department, and then you've got Lone Oak. They're very different water systems. I believe Lone Oak is strictly a well. Is that correct? It is. Yeah, so it matters for purposes of the right.

I do think it doesn't make sense to have both of them. It was kind of a lot. I doubt it does.

I don't want to make sure there was adequate water. I just want the board to understand Lone Oak has a well. The water board already has a water system. So it's two different things.

Right.

And our approval did not come from the Water Authority. It came from Lono. But we have spoke with the Water Authority before, and they made it sound as if, and I don't want to speak on that because we don't have it in writing, but that if we could not get the approval from Lono, that they would be willing to serve it from Mary Beth.

I was at that meeting. That's not what they said. I was there that day. They said their amount of water they had already had allocated that we get in was already at our limit. They would not be able to service any extra right now. they were already having to turn down things that the IDA were requesting. And like in the industrial part, they would not have the water availability. I was at that meeting.

And I'll add, we do have the zoning for the one and a half if county water is available. City water is not actually county water in my personal opinion. So until the county can actually come up with their own water system, then I just can't support sowing to the one and a half acres as a county.

In the ordinance, it does say water availability, and we did use City of Luther'sville in those past months. Lutherville's out of water.

Right. I'm not asking to do that now.

Well, that's part of our point, is that we've done that to Luther'sville, so now they're out of water.

And we don't want to do that.

Here we go to Lone Oak now to see can we do that, and is the potential to run Lone Oak out of water? But that's the concern and the dilemma we're trying to get through.

Right.

is do we have enough adequate water supply to maintain service to the citizens, to their homes, and for the fire service system in that area?

I'm pretty sure Lone Oaks Well is probably a small little bit larger than that.

But I do think they'll service a lot more.

That's what we're trying to not let Lone Oaks Service get so far out that then their well is shortened, their current citizens that are dependent on it.

Because if we bought meters at Lutheran Cell, I believe, We've bought upwards of about 60 meters from Lutheransville sensibility here, and we haven't done any amount of it.

And they're on a moratorium on issuing new water taps right now. They're not issuing any new water taps.

Thank you, sir.

Mr. Chairman, I did receive an email we need to put into the record from Mr. Brandon Larry, dated today at 9.29 a.m., Hey John, I want to follow up on our conversation from Friday. Hopefully this email suffices and no further action is needed to remove two of the three chisel mill home rezoning cases for tonight's meeting agenda. This request comes directly from our company's president and I as an authorized agent for chisel mill request that the cases PC26-002 and PC26-003 be removed from tonight's BMC meeting agenda. Case number PC26-001, the 36 acre tract, shall remain on tonight's meeting agenda to be discussed and voted on for rezoning. There was a good bit of confusion surrounding the case numbers and zoning, but the verb is used below to identify each case number was taken straight from Leslie's email. So it could be accurate and easy to address, but please call me and let me know if you have any questions or concern. To recap, remove PC26-002 rezoning request from Chisel Mill Design and Build LLC, parcel 027-009, 11.89 acres from low density residential to R1 residential for purpose from Pose used from two acre lots to one and a half acre lots. Remove PC26-003 rezoning request from Chisel Mill Design and Build LLC, Parcel 027-012 and 027-012-001. 25.87 acres from rural reserve to r1 residential for the purpose used for two acre lots to 1.5 acre lots leave on the agenda pc26-001 rezoning request from chisel mill design and build llc partials of 027-029 36.81 acres from rural reserve to all one residential for the purpose Proposed use from acres, two-acre lots or one-and-a-half-acre lots.

Since Mr. Knight's here, though, I think he needs to weigh in on that and make sure that he agrees with that.

I never need a motion, I guess, to go out of public hearing. Close public hearing. All in favor?

in your district yeah i i don't think that we should approve it because i don't want to put them long up in the same bind with adding that many more houses in on water and then them have the same problem as yoursville has and i see that that problem is common in that in the county right now is that a form of emotion i make a motion that we deny i'll second it all in favor

Any appointment?

No, sir. No appointments, Mr. Chairman.

No unfinished business? No, sir. New business consideration and approval courthouse third floor interior renovations.

Commissioner of the River City Contracting Inc. has submitted a project estimate of $577,158 for renovations to the third floor of the Maryweather County Courthouse. The proposed work will complete the renovation and finish out the third floor following remediation work. The scope includes demolition of carpentry, doors, suspended ceilings, flooring, painting, restroom accessories, interior signage, plumbing, electrical work, cleanup, and general construction requirements. The estimate does not include replacement of furniture, chairs, or equipment. These items will be purchased separately by the county. Following completion of the renovations, allowing the county to take advantage of governmental and other available purchasing discounts. And Mr. Travis Evans is here with River City.

Hey, Jason. How are you? Good, how are you?

And in your packet, you do have the outline of the project discover work.

This is an updated price based on the contract documents from last November. So there was a little bit of additional scope with this round as well because of the remediation for the moisture remediation where they took all the sheetrock off the exterior walls and then the south wall of the corner. So we added that into our price.

So that price is to redo the whole third floor. Yes. No hidden costs, no hidden prices, nothing.

The only thing I will say is related to item two is Mr. Ford had asked me to give a price. Currently, the building is not fireproof. And so we're working on a price to get you a fire system in the building if you choose to go that route. Now's the time to do it because the third floor is open and the ceiling is open. You wouldn't have to shut it down. It's not. It's not there.

Sorry.

No, sir. Wow.

But over the years, I would have thought we'd upgrade that. But sorry, sorry to interrupt. That just blew my mind.

So we're working with the county to talk about putting that on the third floor now and then bringing it as we come down with renovations. So

So what's it going to be from here on out? Another 577 on the second floor and then another 577 on the third floor?

I don't think it'll be that much because we totally gutted the third floor. And I think the first and second and the basement are more cosmetic than the floor.

So what are we up to so far? Apparently it is... We can't stop now.

Almost 2.6 million.

I just like keeping them out.

Mr. Evans is right. The second floor will require little cosmetic touch-ups, refreshing to make it look like third floor, along with HVAC on the second floor, first floor, and the basement. That HVAC for the third floor was $400,000, almost $500,000, so you can estimate that for the next second and first floor.

So what did we set a budget at for doing this when we started? $3 million? $3.3 or $4 million?

I have to look back in the cost analysis. We're knocking on the door.

Mediation came in 29 and 30,000 under budget, but that did require almost like my son said, gutting the entire third floor on the exterior perimeter of the walls, but it's been fully remediated.

This will put us at our budget.

From the original scope?

Mm-hmm. Do you have any idea what a fire suppression system is the ballpark? I know it's not commitment, though.

Yeah, I don't have a file number. And so what item two relates to is the ceiling scope. So If you come down and you want to add it to the other floors, I would recommend that we replace the ceilings at that same time. Because if you're going to run new ductwork and you're just cutting them in here and there, you might as well get new ceilings as well. And that will open everything up. I think the fire suppression system, you can get for the whole building about $200,000. Now, that's just the suppression system, not the ceilings included.

and that's actually much better than i originally thought we had them come through the building i was i thought about 300 000 they came and they gave me this tall one so we're looking at this five plus the 200 plus then the other floors and well i mean geez the insurance company never said anything about not having a fire suppression i mean we should get a lower interest insurance rate that he's not aware of.

We have fire suppression in there.

We should have never brought it up. Now it's on record.

I just, it blows me away that we don't have it. What you have right now is fire connections on the first floor that they can hook to, and you've got standpipes in the two stairwells, and that that can fight the fire with a hose that is in each scenario.

I was informed by Fire Marshal Smith that was the same thing. They have a wet system with the pipe that they can run the hose to to charge the system in the courthouse. But talking with Chief Stevens, he did recommend if we were going to put a sprinkler system in, that would be the time to do it.

Well, it's obvious, but everything's gutted out. Yeah.

And we would also have a dry system where you've got your file. So if it went off, you wouldn't work. Your file soaked.

I don't have any more questions about this. I don't have any. So we didn't make a motion on approving this or not. Which is the staff has a recommendation for a funding source.

It'd be spliced.

Do we have it available?

We do, because we're at 40,000 now, and then this is probably a four to six month project. And the spot is 150,000, so it's funded out. Everything has already been earmarked out. The only thing that may come up is a couple of shared vehicles, but I think we're fine on funding. We haven't even touched the million dollar reserve that we can borrow from the special projects.

So would that come with the possible $200,000 too?

I think we'd still be covered. because the $200,000 wasn't charged until each floor was done.

That's right. Hopefully the five. Oh, the five. Okay, the whole three floors. Oh, three. Okay, that's better. Once again, that doesn't include the sales. Will we get that in the finishes as we came to that?

I do have the EMC's cost analysis. We just did not put that out for bid because if they knew what the budget was, that's what they would bid up to. I'll get that number to the board for the next meeting. But I think the initial third floor, just the third floor itself was around $3 million to have everything done.

So other than the furniture and stuff, this covers everything up there. Looks like a new courtroom.

I'll make a motion to approve courthouse third floor interior renovations for $577,158 for nickel and swaths. Second. All in favor? Aye.

Direction regarding first and second floor courthouse ceilings for HVAC replacement.

I'll let Mr. Evans explain this one. This is for the ceilings on first and second floor. There's a couple of options that need to be discussed and direction on which way we want to go.

This is something we just need to talk over with the architect when we do this. As we come down to the new HVAC system, like I alluded to a minute ago, I think there was a discussion at one point about just pulling ceilings down here or there just to run duct. But if you do that, you might as well take the whole ceiling down. It would be my recommendation. You don't have to do that. But if you're going to do the floor and the walls, you might as well get new ceilings as well, especially if you're going to Swiss cheese them up to get the duct in there. And then if you put the fire system in, it's even doubly – beneficial to do that because then you can run your lines and drop your heads and everything. It's just something for you to consider. Like I said, it's just a recommendation right now that we can talk to the architect about as he's developing his plans for the renovations as we come down. Just something to consider.

So if we did like the combination approach, retain the ones that are in good and compatible, is it going to look like we piece milled it together like a quilt or is it going to look uniform? And I don't want it to look like we just left out half the ceiling.

Right. That would be my worry because you would have to take your grid down and then you're going to get stuff beaten and banged and, you know, knit it up and scratched. It just will look cleaner and neater. You can just go ahead and change the ceiling out. When you do all the other finishes, you might as well finish out in the top. There are two ceilings that I know of on the first floor that we have to talk about that are special. You've got a hearing room to the left, and then I think the sheriff is using a break room on the right-hand side of the hallway, and those are hard middle work ceilings, so we have to really discuss what we did in there so that we didn't mess that aesthetic up and how we get... Duff work above it and fire sprinkler if we go that route in those two rooms.

You just need direction from us on which way to move forward for the quote.

Well, yeah, I'm just bringing it to your attention right now that that's a possibility that we probably, we're recommending their sales.

I'm okay with you moving ahead and bringing a quote back to us on what it would cost. You can do that by the next, wait.

Yeah, bring us something back and write it.

We just want the numbers.

Temple, I can do that. Just put it on your radar. Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you.

I approve the IGA between Meriwether County Board of Commissioners and Meriwether County Water and Sewer Authority for payroll service.

Commissioners, the Merriweather County Water and Sewage Authority is requesting approval of an intergovernmental agreement for payroll services. The authority plans to hire a part-time employee to handle billing and day-to-day operations. Because the authority does not currently have its own payroll system, it is requested that the county process the employee's payroll through the county's payroll system. Under this agreement, the county will pay the employee through its normal payroll process and invoice the Water and Sewage Authority monthly for reimbursement of all gross wages and employer FICA taxes associated with the employee. Staff recommends approval of the IGA for payroll services. The agreement has been reviewed by legal counsel and has written it as a 10-year renewal every year unless we decide 30-day notice to suspend it.

So we will invoice them for the actual payroll dollars and benefits side, like all of those things? What about the time and labor it takes our staff to do that? There's more and more of these agreements we enter into, and our staff is taxed for doing that work, and then we come back and say, we need a part-time, we need a full-time staff, and we're not invoicing for that time and labor.

The way our system is set up is an export clocking system. It's literally 30 seconds to import it in. Our system, like I said, it's export and import into the payroll system and process.

We'll write that down.

It takes more time to queue them in and get them into the payroll system than what it does to actually process a payroll check.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Second.

All in favor? Resend the motion made on April 13, 2026, regular meeting for the airport apron allocation.

Commissioners, on April 13, 2026, the Board of Commissioners approved a request from the Merriweather County Airport Authority for a local match of up to $200,000 for the airport apron rehabilitation project with funding to come from excess revenue funds. Since the airport authority has indicated that it is uncertain whether the project ultimately awarded will be the apron rehabilitation project or another airport project, I'm requesting that the April 13, 2026 motion be rescinded to ensure the Board's actions and official minutes are will clearly reflect the project for which the county's funding is ultimately approved. Once a specific project requires a local measure to determine, a new funding request can be presented to the Board of Commissioners for consideration and approval.

I'll make a motion to rescind the motion made on April 13th, 2026, regular meeting for the airport acre and allocation.

Second.

I'll apply it. request to allocate funding for airport authority capital improvement plan account.

Commissioners, during the airport authority work session, the airport authority suggested that the Board of Commissioners establish a dedicated capital improvement plan fund that could be used to provide local matching funds required for airport grants and capital projects. My recommendation is for the Board to establish a specific funding amount during the annual budget process rather than addressing a request for local matching funds on a project-by-project basis. This will allow the county to plan for these expenses in advance and reduce the need for future budget amendments or potential reductions to departmental budgets to fund an unexpected local match. For FY26-27, I recommend the Board allocate $200,000 to the Airport Authority CIP Fund. These funds would remain under the management and control of the county and be placed in a high-interest-bearing account until needed. Any requests to use funds from this account will be presented to the Board of Commissioners for approval before funds are withdrawn. The funding level will be reviewed annually as part of the county's budget process with the board establishing the amount to be allocated to the airport authority CIP for each fiscal year.

I'll make a motion to approve. Second.

All in favor? approved 26-27 budget, Meriwether County Airport Authority.

Commissioner, the Meriwether County Airport Authority is present to discuss its funding needs for FY26-27 and present its proposed budget for approval by the Board of Commissioners. Board approval of the Airport Authority's budget is necessary because the county provides funding for the Authority's loan payments. The Airport Authority is scheduled to consider and approve its FY26-27 budget on September 14, 2026. And Chairman Watson is here for the Airport Authority.

Good evening, commissioners. I'm Mike Watson, chairman of the Meriwether County Airport Authority. On behalf of the authority, I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you on behalf of our budget request for the upcoming year. At this time, I'd like to introduce the members that are present on the authority. Doug Powell and our newest member, Greg Grander. At your August 25th work session, we expressed the authority's desire to work closely with the Board of Commissioners and shared our goals for the airport in the upcoming year. To assist the airport authority with implementation of our goals, we work very closely with the county administrator, finance department, and the tax assessor's office, and we appreciate their help in helping us get to our budget request. We have basically four goals. The first one is an annual in-depth analysis of revenue and expenditures to accurately project our budget numbers for the upcoming year. Second thing is to clearly present our capital improvement program projects along with our local projects and funding estimates needed to complete the capital projects. The third thing is to look at ways to reduce our expenditures and increase revenues where possible. And perhaps the most important goal is to improve our communications with the Board of Commissioners in all airport related matters. The airport authority members will take a more active role in presenting our needs to the commissioners and rely on our engineers for technical assistance only to this authority. Next item is the budget. As noted on your August 25th work session, the airport authority works closely with County Administrator of Finance and Tax Assessor's Office and other volunteers to complete an in-depth analysis of our revenues and expenditures that allowed the authority to develop and present a detailed line item budget that balances revenue and expenditures. That line item budget has been presented to the administrator, and you all should have a copy from the finance department. Coming out of that analysis, we were able to identify two areas of concern that should increase our tax revenues and decrease our cost in fuel sales. We're currently working on both of these issues. That's a work in progress, and we're making some progress in that. For our capital improvement programs, as well as our local capital projects, we are asking for additional funding for the upcoming year's budget to cover our capital projects. That amount you should have on the first column there at the bottom is $372,913. While we will not know until November which project GDOT will select, our requested funding will cover the GDOT project as well as our local project that must be completed. Once GDOT selects the project, then we'll come back before the board with the details of the project. Last thing is a staffing request. We are asking for consideration of funding for a part-time employee at the airport. We envision roughly 20 hours a week on average. It's a much needed position as all authority members are volunteers. We have to make numerous trips down there to the airport weekly to check on the fuel, the fuel systems, the lighting, lights, and any other issues that may arise. This position would also help reduce current costs. Right now, we're paying cleaning service weekly, and if we have a part-time employee, they could take care of that. He could also assist in grass cutting and ground maintenance at the airport and perform other routine maintenance that sometimes we don't find out about until a pilot calls us and say, hey, this isn't working, or the toilets are full or something of this nature. And also, we leave the workload from the finance department and by reviewing, organizing, tracking, and improving the invoices before presenting to the finance department for processing and hanger rental management. That's not in the line item. The ladies there in the department, when we do have an empty hanger, spend an unreal amount of time trying to get in touch with the people next on the list, give them time to decide if they want that hanger that's open for rent and go down that line, it takes up a lot of their time. So a part-time employee, we'd have him do that as well. So thank you for your considerations of our request. We appreciate being able to come to you with this stuff. And we do have, like if it was 20 hours a week at $20 an hour, that'd be $20,800 a year for a part-time employee. And if he insisted on $25 an hour for 20 hour week, which would be, If you work 30 hours one week over something, some kind of an issue, then you'd work 10 hours the next week. So at that amount, it would be $26,000 a year. That's not in the line item report that you have there. Thank you very much. Do you have any questions?

This part-time employee, I don't see listed out in the budget.

So it's not in the budget. That's something that we more or less approved at our meeting this morning to ask you all. We know that it's been brought up before, and all of us volunteers have been basically taking care of stuff, and we think that probably now is a good time to bring it for you all and get your ideas on.

So then we would have to do, well, they would have to do a budget amendment for that position once that was done, because it's not in there. It's not in the budget.

That's correct, Commissioner Worsley. I would recommend, we would know the personal property income, I believe it was October 1st, If that increases by $26,000, which all likelihood it probably should cover that, the airport may be able to do it out of their own budget. I would recommend just approving the budget amount and then let them amend the part-time after we get October 1st personal property assessment for the airport. Because I think they did identify several planes that have not been accounted for in the prior years.

We're going to get an update of that once that's done.

Yes, sir. It'll be the first meeting in October. We'll have that number for the board.

My biggest concern is you need somebody on the payroll doing that view, right? Yeah. Not your board members. Yep.

And we can do the same thing like IGA for payroll services, like I said, export, import system. There's no problem.

To his point of the fuel part, is part-time going to cover it?

Well, my understanding, you shouldn't talk to the chairman, but from my understanding, he'll be involved.

native person um no i agree i just part-time or full-time it sounds like to me mr watson okay i didn't understand the question do we feel like if they're gonna be doing the fuel services and invoices and the hangar management those things is full-time or part-time i mean to me it sounded more like it's getting to a full-time he would be a part-time in the fuel business that we're talking about here he would he has to we have to check the fuel

clearing bright checks and all of that, and check the fuel for water contamination, that sort of thing. And when it's pumped out, we check it. They've been to school on that, been certified, by the way, the last two guys that we put in there out there helping. And then they take that fuel, and instead of pouring it on the ground and wasting it, we have a system that goes back to a filter and puts it back into the main tank. So that's one of the things that we log each week. in a log that that's been done. We can do it more often than that, just to have a record. Also keep track of how much fuel was added in the tank, how much we sold and that sort of thing. The windsock volunteers, we put up a new windsock when that last storm came through. So we're going to get the windsock all up so it can do for a new one. did that. That's the type of thing we're talking about in maintaining the airport.

So if there are issues after hours, I know you all have had to go out in the night. Is this part-time employee going to also do that?

That's correct. The guy we have interviewed so far, I've been talking about it, he lives 10 minutes from the airport. He has also volunteered to, when people come in flying to Palm Springs, we don't have courtesy car. We don't have a taxi service or anything like that Uber. He does volunteer to carry people downtown or to the White House down there and, you know, so they need something to eat or whatever. So he would be available for that also.

That, that, if he's going to be an employee of that, we got to, that's got to stop.

Yeah, what I'm saying is this is some of the things that he's been doing.

I understand. That imprecates in all kinds of things. So we'll know October 1st?

Yes, sir, we should. I think that was at the last work session, October 1st, you would know the plane assessments. All the planes that the Texas is working on, October 1st, he's supposed to have that 19th. Yes.

So I have no problem making a motion to approve the requested budget and the additional amount for the part-time employee pending the October 1st results.

Second.

All in favor?

Thank you very much. Approved. Physical year 26-27 budget, Meriwether County Industrial Development Authority.

Commissioners, the Meriwether County Industrial Development Authority is present to discuss its funding needs for the 26-27 budget year and to present its proposed budget for approval by the Board of Commissioners. Board approval of the Industrial Development Authority's budget is necessary because the county provides the funding used by the authority for its operations. Approval of the proposed budget will establish the county's funding commitment to the authority for FY26-27. Ms. Jody Sharp is here to present that.

Good evening, Commissioner. We met, Ms. Jane Allen-Farm and I met with Commissioner Sneltzen and Commissioner Worsley this morning along with staff to go over our budget. I emailed a copy of the comparison of the 2025 fiscal year and the 26-27 fiscal year budgets. Some of the increases that we're asking for is in accounting due to the audit and other accounting issues that we have in our office. Engineering, you know, we're out of land. and we're looking for more, so we feel like there'll be some projects where we have to have some engineering work done, and that includes the legal. We're asking for an increase there. We have several bonds out this year with KB, one ton, and then some legal issues due to real estate with Ridgeline and BJK. And then the other increase within payroll and taxes, with Miss Jane retiring and me stepping in as executive director, we'll need to hire an assistant, some kind of administrative assistant. If there's any questions, glad to answer them. First off, congratulations on being named executive directors for the IDF and thank you

And thank you for adding the request we made this morning. It helps me a lot, I know.

Yes.

I don't have any more questions. I met with them this morning, so it's part of the budget review.

I make a motion we approve the Maryweather County Industrial Development Authority budget for fiscal year 26-27.

second all in favor thank you just for a record that budget is four hundred thousand two hundred fifty dollars consideration of in-house paving of anita drive commissioners public works director brian griffin previously presented a list of roads scheduled for paving during the fy 2526 And Public Works is currently completing remaining roads on that list. Crews are presently working in Roberta Drive area where Anita Drive has been identified as being in need of resurfacing, although it's not included on the original paving list. Anita Drive is approximately one half mile long with an estimated paving cost of $40,000. Since Public Works crews and equipment are already working in the area and road is in need of resurfacing, Director Griffin is requesting that Anita Drive be added to the current paving list. I recommend adding a needed drive to the paving list and additional costs not to exceed $40,000 with funding to come from T-Splots.

So moved. Second. All in favor?

Pretty quick, Director Durkin.

Award bid for Pigeon Creek Road Code.

Commissioners, I request that this be tabled until September 29, 2026. We have five bids come in and staff will need to evaluate these bids. So moved.

Second. I only have five more to bid for John Brown, Rose Gold.

Staff also requests this one be tabled September 29th, 26th, due to a seven, six bids come in and staff needs to evaluate the bids.

So moved. Second. I only have five. Discussion of network backbone redundancy.

Commissioners, a recent fiber outage resulted in county offices losing internet and network access for several hours, preventing normal business operations. Staffers request authorization to explore a secondary internet provider and the equipment necessary to provide network redundancy and backup service. I recommend authorizing staff to explore redundancy options and issue an RFP for the necessary equipment and backup internet service. Staff will complete a cost analysis and return to the board with pricing, potential cost savings, payment options, and a recommendation for transitioning services when inspection contracts expire in 2027 and 2028. And we had an outage last week that was out for almost the duration of the day.

Okay.

i think it's a good idea i think you need to look we had a conversation with kudzu and they recommended someone come in from the outside and kind of look at all the equipment and tell us what we need in the building and once we get that price we'll bring it back to the board with some options of funding sources for it do you need approval just let the board know we're good with it

I'm going to request from Grace Independent Baptist Church to seek right of entry for drainage repair at 2112 Gay Highway 85, Georgia Highway 85, Gay, Georgia.

Commissioner, the county has received ongoing concerns regarding stormwater drainage and flooding near the church along Oakland Road during periods of heavy rainfall, water collects around the church property and adjacent runway. Resolving the drainage issue would be beneficial to the county by improving drainage for existing pipe crossing on Oakland Road and help reduce stormwater impacts to the county roadway. Addressing this issue may require access to private property to clear and remove debris from the drainage area downstream of an existing pipe. A draft right of entry for drainage improvements have been prepared that would allow one-time access to a 30-foot wide by 100-foot deep area beginning at the outfall end of the existing draining pipe crossing Oakland Road. The drafted agreement does not create a permanent easement or convey a property interest to the county and becomes null and void once the authorization work is completed. recommendations for the board to allow the drafted right of entry to be presented to the property owners for their consideration if the county is presented with an agreed upon right of entry using the drafted version the agreement will be brought back before the board of commissioners for consideration approval before any work is performed attaining the right of entry will allow the board to consider authorizing public works to address the drainage issue on the adjoining property which would could which could improve drainage and help prevent future flooding oakland road you do have a couple pictures in your packet and i think director griffin has been on that area as well and this is just to seek from the church to get permission from the property owner if approved over back to the board before any work is done are we going to be willing to do this for any other property owner in this county we've had several requests in the last three and a half years i know people coming in with issues here and there that we determine on private property

And then we are not supposed to and can't do that unless we get an agreement entered this way. I know some people choose not to enter that agreement. But if we start this.

My understanding was this was a public agreement.

It is a drain that goes under. That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah.

So that, okay.

The outfall of orifice, there's no room for the outfall.

You need to get on their property to fix our property. You just can't go there.

I got you.

All right.

Then I'll change one. All the requests that we have been having has been... the roads, asking for the county to come in and do one of those things. Yeah, it's totally different.

My fault. I misunderstood.

We need to take it down.

So basically what we're doing, we're asking Independent Baptist Church, can we come on your property and fix our property?

Yeah, basically. It's not the church's property. It's the homeowner across the street's property. This gives the church permission to reach out to them if a right of passage to their property and allow us access. It's as clear as mud.

Yep, okay.

I'll make a motion. I second it. I only have five. I just thought we were going down a different road. Approve and gain letter from Scott Westbrook.

We need to get the engagement letter with Scott Westbrook approved so he can finish the appraisal of the George E. Washington School property located at 18425 Main Street, Woodbury, Georgia, 30293. Legal has reviewed the letter. Mr. Westbrook has agreed to the changes. Staff recommends approval to complete the appraisal of the George E. Washington School.

We'll make a motion to approve. Second.

All in favor? Republican County Administrator.

Mr. Chairman, I attended a Georgia disaster recovery and redevelopment plan meeting. We have two more scheduled for this year. We've got Civic Plus implementation of the county clerk software. Like I said, PANCO came in under budget around $38,000 on the courthouse remediation. Nice to see the savings come back to the county. Had a meeting with Kazoo on the redundancy of the internet. Meetings with River City on renovations, HVAC for the first and second floor. We'll be meeting to discuss the fire suppression system on all floors. Met with Enterprise about a proposal for fleet management. We're possibly looking at public works, you know, around 10 to begin to present to the board so y'all can see how that project will work. Got an update on State Route 41 Bridge by Juke Line Road. It's estimated to be one to two months before completion. Phase one of the LMIG is scheduled for next Monday, 9-21. Flat Shoal Bridge estimate from the engineers came in at estimated $700,000. I need to schedule a conference call with GDOT and Pike to discuss this. And then we had budget meetings this morning to prepare the budget to be in a lobby on Thursday, September 17th to be viewed by the public. And that's all I have, Mr. Chairman.

Vice Chairman Snipps.

I want to remind everybody that the Keep Berryweather Beautiful County Cleanup Day is September 26th. So we can get up there and pick up, try to get our roads clean and we'll have the dumpsters Spaced out. And then there's also going to be a community rally in Lethersville on September 26th from October 3rd that's sponsored by the NAACP. But I'll be out there speaking and we'll have other officials out there from the local area speaking and answering some questions that the public have for us. And I look forward to seeing anybody out there.

Thank you. Permission to speak. Well, I will say there was a situation with a person I work with today. So this is kind of an educational thing for people. So evidently, AI has come so far that they can go in and copy people's voices. There was a local sheriff. where this individual lives. And they were able to copy this gentleman's voice, use AI system, call them. It told them exactly who they were. They were coming to arrest them. If they did not send them $1,800. So the young lady who was a lot younger than me was afraid. And she went and took the $1,800 out and gave it to you. So I can assure you, Mayor Worthy County, none of our sheriffs, deputies, the sheriff, and probably none of the, not probably, but none of the police in any city will be doing that to you. So if somebody called you, please just call your local sheriff and let them know because it is something that's out there. And it did, it sounded just like the sheriff where they had copied his voice. So that's all I have.

mention the word. Thank you everybody for the job we're doing and the involvement here tonight. We get a lot more communication from citizens, get a lot of requests, a lot of questions, a lot of positive feedback. So it's a ton of engagement happening in the community and I appreciate it and like to see when people get more engaged and involved. Thank you.

And I just want to thank the staff and all employees for what they do, and the citizens, like Mr. Woodard said, for getting involved within the community and letting us be aware of problems that are out there, because we try our best to handle them. And that's all I have. Attorney?

I haven't had an appointment, Mr. Chairman.

We have a need for executive session, so let me read off the future meetings and notices. Future meetings and notices, Tuesday, September 29th, 2026, public hearing at 5 p.m. Tuesday, September 29th, regular meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, October the 12th, 2026, regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday, October the 27th, regular meeting at 6 p.m. I need a motion to go into executive session for litigation, personnel, real estate, tax matters, and cybersecurity. So moved. Second. All in favor?

7-7. I'll make a motion we go back into regular sessions.

Second. All in favor?

I can. I'll make a motion to adjourn.

So moved. Second. All in favor?