County switching insurance carriers, getting better benefits for employees
Jones County Board of Commissioners covered a lot of territory at their first May meeting with zoning, health insurance and spending excess funds main topics of discussion.
Board Chairman Chris Weidner called the May 3 meeting to order, and Commissioner Sam Kitchens led the opening prayer and pledge.
Weidner called Capt. Travis Douglas to the front to accept a proclamation from the Board of Commissioners to show the county’s appreciation and to honor Jones County Law Enforcement Officers during Law Enforcement Appreciation Week. Douglas accepted the proclamation on behalf of the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
Planning and Zoning items were first on the agenda. The first item was a conditional use to allow a ‘type C’ manufactured home on property located on Highway 22 East. The property where the home would be placed consists of more than 60 acres.
The petitioner told board members the home would be placed in a wooded area at the rear of the property. He said the home could not be seen from all sides.
Commissioner John Wood made the motion to approve, and the vote was unanimous.
The items that brought most of the individuals in the filled room to the meeting were the requests of Aggregates USA to rezone property located off Skinner Road for the purpose of creating overburden areas.
The requests were the second by the quarry. The items were brought to the commissioners at their Oct. 5, 2021, meeting and denied. The petitioners and objectors were the same, but this time the outcome was approval.
The attorney speaking for the petitions, Jack Nichols, pointed out accommodations made by the quarry to issues brought up by those opposed to the conditional use at the October meeting.
Nichols said the Vulcan quarry is the largest in Georgia and employs 80 workers. He said the cemetery brought up at the last meeting would not be bothered, and there would be a 100-foot buffer on each side of the creek running through the property.
The attorney said the biggest issue brought up was the future land use map, but he pointed out that requests deviating from the map had been approved five times with two of those times initially the same request by Martin Marietta.
“We just ask that you be consistent,” Nichols said.
Julia and Jimmy Simpson were the first to speak in opposition to the request, and they were joined by others living near the proposed overburden areas.
After giving both sides of the issue equal time to speak, Kitchens made the motion to approve the conditional use to allow the overburden areas.
“We are tasked with a criteria to look at,” he explained. “Based on that and the relative gain to the public compared to the hardship of the few, we can’t deny the 80 employees compared to the few people who live around it.
“It’s hard to say the use doesn’t fit, and it’s hard to deny the request.”
Commissioner John Wood said it is a tough decision, but he agreed with Kitchens’ comments.
Commissioner Daylon Martin said it was a personal decision to him because it is dealing with people’s property.
“I’m looking at the criteria but there are consequences for people who live in the neighborhood. I’m not supporting it,” he said. Weidner said he understands conse
Weidner said he understands consequences, after having a big part of his property impacted by the North Gray Bypass.
“I can tell you first-hand how it feels,” he said.
The chairman went on to say the EPD oversees water quality for that should not be part of the issue.
“I know these people, but I have to look at the whole picture. The quarry is big in this community. We need industry to offset our property taxes,” he said. He called for a vote and the condi
He called for a vote and the conditional use for both items were approved 3-1 with Martin opposed.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn was not at the meeting. The final P&Z item was a conditional
The final P&Z item was a conditional use for two dwellings on a lot less than 10 acres on Old Highway 18. Kitchens made the grant the conditional use and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Insurance renewal
Employee health insurance is one of the county’s biggest budget issues with last year’s cost just less than $2 million and a nine percent increase proposed by its current carrier.
Insurance broker Johnathan Shaw presented options to the board that had some good news with a quote from another carrier that was actually a small percentage less than the previous year. With that information, commissioners had a big decision to make.
Jones County’s current insurance provider is Anthem through the ACCG insurance pool, which in the past has been the less expensive option.
Shaw said the biggest fear in leaving the pool is the penalty to get back in. He said he was, however, able to secure a rate cap that could lessen the county’s risk. The broker said the reason for the high quotes is the county’s loss ratio, which spiked at 107 percent in 2021.
What that means is for every $1 in premiums the company collected, it paid out $1.07.
Shaw also talked about the Brella supplement that could reduce the high deductibles for insurance.
Kitchens said for him it was a no brainer to take the risk and go with the lower premium.
“The biggest complaint we get from employees is insurance. If we can reduce premiums and include the Brella supplement, it’s worth the risk,” he said.
Weidner said he was torn because of the security with the ACCG pool. Kitchens said with the best-case scenario, it was going to take two years to get the risk ratio to acceptable levels. He proposed going with the less expensive plan and reducing employee deductibles to zero.
“We need to improve our insurance cost for our employees,” he said.
Wood suggested instead of zero deductible, lowering it to $500.
At the end of the discussion, Kitchens made the motion to change insurance providers to go with UnitedHealthcare and include the Brella supplement. The vote to approve was 3-1 with Weidner opposed.
New business
Elections Superintendent Marion Hatton asked board members to call for a special election Nov. 8 for the purpose of electing a Probate Judge. She said the election is needed because of the retirement of Judge Mike Greene, who retired in March.
Hatton also asked board members to set the qualifying fee for the position of Probate Judge at $1,491.66. Both requests were approved unanimously.
County Administrator Jason Rizner asked commissioners to put a temporary moratorium on applications for the approval of Historic Preservation projects. County Attorney Ashley Brodie explained the Historic Preservation Commission is down to one member and can do nothing until the selection of members to that board is completed. She said, without the moratorium, any applications would be approved because of no action taken.
The moratorium was unanimously approved.
Rizner brought the bid award for the repair of the county’s pickleball courts to the board. Parks and Recreation Director Bert Rosenberger said only one bid was received for the courts. He said other companies that looked at the courts said they were beyond repair.
Rosenberger said he checked out the company submitting the bid, and it was a reputable company with good reviews. The bid was for $32,171 plus an additional $9,000 for premium filler to fill the cracks. Martin made the motion to accept
Martin made the motion to accept the bid, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Consulting Engineer Tim Ingram presented commissioners with bids to begin phase I of the county’s water improvement project on Sand Creek Trail. He recommended accepting the lowest bid of $1,106,601 from SCI Construction Inc.
Ingram noted that, although the lowest bid was $400,000 over budget, the quote was not as bad as had been anticipated. Martin made the motion to accept the lowest bid, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Old business
Rizner presented commissioners with the tally from their choices for how to use excess funds in the amount of $640,000 collected from the 2015 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds. The administrator sent each commissioner a spreadsheet with department head requests, which were marked as far as priority and returned to him.
Board member’s priorities included funds to repair walking track issues in Haddock Park, purchasing patrol vehicles for JCSO, ground radar-replacement of a lift station call out system, Haddock well renovations for the water department and the Jake’s Woods grant match.
Called meeting
Commissioners had a called meeting Friday afternoon to add enhancements to the health insurance plan for employees that they agreed to Tuesday. Shaw was back with adjustments to the plan to include benefits that had been lacking in the previous plan.
He said the updated option includes therapy and primary care physicians’ visits with no copay. The prescription coverage was also better. Shaw said visits to a specialist would have a deductible, but the HRA account would help with that.
The broker said with the wellness component of the plan, it puts Jones County well above the benchmark of neighboring counties. Vaughn attended the called meeting
Vaughn attended the called meeting and made the motion to update the Health Insurance plan. The vote to approve was unanimous.
Weidner, who voted against the change to UnitedHeathcare at the Tuesday meeting, was convinced by the enhanced options presented by Shaw and voted in favor of the changes. “I really like this plan. It’s an upgrade for employees,” he said. “We know we have to increase pay, and now we can also offer better insurance.”
Shaw commended the diligence of board members for seeking the best for employees.
“You worked hard to get here. I hope Jones County employees know how you went to bat for them,” he said.
The next meeting of the Board of Commissioners is scheduled May 17.
