Jones County Commissioners considered zoning items and got an update on the county’s indigent cemetery and fire and ambulance coverage during a long first Tuesday business meeting.
Board Chairman Chris Weidner began the May 7 meeting by leading the opening prayer and pledge.
Zoning items were first on the agenda, starting with a request to rezone property on Damascus Church Road from Agricultural Rural to Rural Residential to create a 1.1-acre lot. Commissioner John Wood made the motion in favor of the request, and it was approved unanimously.
The next request was to rezone property on Sun Valley Drive to allow construction of a six-bedroom house. Commissioner Daylon Martin said he visited the property, and it looked like the petitioner was building a boarding house that was not compliant with the neighborhood.
Martin made a motion to deny the request, and his motion was approved unanimously.
The request to rezone property on Gray Highway from Rural Residential to Commercial to allow a picture framing gallery was approved following a motion from Commissioner Sam Kitchens.
The final zoning item was to amend the county’s code to allow metal siding on a dwelling as a permitted and conditional use in certain zonings. Terry Denson spoke in favor of the amendment, and Tom Payne asked the siding be required to be a higher grade that would last.
Kitchens made the motion to approve the amendment. The motion was approved with a vote of 4-1 with Martin opposed.
Joy Carr was unanimously reappointed to the Regional Advisory Council for a three-year term.
New Business
Len Strozier spoke to board members about his progress in State Place Cemetery. He said he found a total of 881 burials that included 202 unmarked graves, 384 unknown graves and 295 known graves.
Strozier thanked the county for help from Chuck Humphries, Glenn Linderman and other public works employees as well as a work crew from the Jones County Sheriff’s Office.
“I could not have done it without their help with clearing the site and moving a lot of soil, sticks and trees. They did an excellent job,” he said.
Strozier said County Administrator Jason Rizner and Public Works Director Shawn Wood first thought the clearing would take months. He said he believed some of the burials dated back to the 1800s.
The speaker said unmarked graves were discovered with ground penetrating radar.
“The location of the unknown burials is a dangerous place to walk because of the graves that are caved in,” he said.
Strozier said he had covered 6.67 acres, and 3.5 acres remain to be scanned. He said a web map should be available in a month that will show the identified graves and layout.
He said the good news was he found no burials in the right-of-way, and all burials are believed to be inside the service area. Strozier said four acres remain on the property for future burials.
He said quite a few members of the community came to watch the process.
“The history is strong and is an asset for the county,” the speaker said.
He said the property could be developed into a nice cemetery and suggested it could be placed on the historic register.
Parks and Recreation Director Bert Rosenberger presented bids for new equipment for the Haddock playground. He said $75,000 was approved in the last budget. Rosenberger said the county held a community meeting to find out the needs for the neighborhood park and created an RFP.
The director said eight bids were received, and all were within $5,000. He suggested the county accept the bid from Play South in the amount of $75,000.
Wood made the motion to award the bid to Play South, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Emergency Management Director and Jones County Fire Chief Don Graham gave board members a Fire/Rescue update. He said a request for $600,000 to hire nine fulltime firefighter was approved in 2022.
Graham said the hiring of the firefighters was postponed after the application of a SAFER Grant from FEMA that could have saved the county $1.3 million. He explained that the county found out in February that the grant was not approved.
The director said applications for the full-time firefighters were opened in February, and in eight weeks’ time, only one application was received. Graham said it was time for him to retire, and the volunteers came to the commissioners with a plan to use part-time firefighters to provide round the clock fire protection for the county.
The director said 27 part-time firefighters were hired to provide the county with 24/7 coverage.
He said the plan was approved and was put in place May 1. Graham said Fire Stations 1, 2, 5 and 6 are housing the firefighters and are equipped with showers and sleeping quarters.
“So far it’s working well,” the director said. “I’m a big believer if a person calls for help, we need to be rolling.”
He said the first fire call had four units rolling with a response time of six minutes.
Commissioner Daylon Martin asked about certified emergency medical dispatchers that the board approved to be hired.
Graham said that was under the 911 department, and Wood explained the county would need to work with the sheriff’s office.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn said she had the training, and the certification training was a great class. She said the 911 operators would benefit from it.
Weidner said Commissioner Sam Kitchens had been working with ambulance services to improve the ambulance coverage and response times in Jones County.
Kitchens said he started working with the department director at Atrium Medical Center, and since March 1, Jones County has had one ambulance available 24/7 with two others close by on either end of the county.
“It has made a big difference,” he said.
Clerk of the Board Shannon Wagner presented commissioners with two beer and wine license applications. She recommended approval of licenses for the 49 Mart and JC 1 Stop. Martin made the motion to approve the applications, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Old Business
Wagner presented board members with the projects list for the Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax for the county and the Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Gray. The list included road resurfacing, dirt road paving and a parking lot for the Highway 18 Recreation Complex.
Martin made the motion to approve the Intergovernmental agreement and the projects list, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Comments
Wood said he was appreciative of the accolades for public works employees in clearing the cemetery.
“But they are just a group of guys doing their jobs,” he said.
The director said the new fueling system was working well.
Kitchens said he has been getting fewer calls about road problems, and issues are receiving a better response.
“We need to let the public know that – it’s kudos to you,” he said.
Wood said the department has been learning from its mistakes, and he thanked the commissioners for their support.
Rosenberger thanked public works employees for their help.
“We’ve been playing a lot of ‘whack-a-mole.’ We had a fire at the 49-recreation complex, vandalism at the golf course and our irrigation system was out. But the track team placed in the top 10 in the state out of 50 teams,” he said. “That included three individual bests.”
Martin thanked Rosenberger for showing up at events and supporting the teams.
“Your staff is doing an outstanding job,” he said to Rosenberger.
Concerned citizen Quintrae Hill suggested the board consider a SPLOST to benefit recreation. He said he is an expert in child development and behavior, and the sales tax could help lower the cost of recreation for families. He asked more attention be paid to the violent culture affecting kids.
“I think as a county we can do a better job at supporting everyone,” he said.
Board comments
Weidner commended Commissioner Wendy Vaughn for the award she received at the ACCG conference in recognition of receiving her Core Training certificate and Kitchens for becoming the 12th county commissioner to complete the all the specialty ACCG training tracks.
The chairman thanked Graham and the volunteers for all they do for the community.
Vaughn said the clean-up day scheduled May 4 was canceled due to the rain, but her team had collected 17 bags of trash before the cancelation was announced at 9 a.m. She also thanked public works employees for showing up and hauling off the tires.
Martin thanked the employees of the tax assessors office for attending the work session held previously to the meeting.
“It’s good to hear from the people doing the work,” he said.
Wood thanked Strozier for his work at the cemetery and the public for bringing the issue to the board. He said the fulltime fire coverage was a long time coming.
“It’s great to hear the calls getting answered. It means a lot,” he added.
Kitchens thanked Graham for his service to the county.
“You have brought the department a long way. You will leave it better than you got it,” the commissioner said.
At the conclusion of the comments, the meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m. The next Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled May 21.
