Jones County Commissioners filled three open board positions and approved a resolution to let their opinion be known to legislators about a proposed bill at their second meeting in March.
Chairman Chris Weidner called the March 17 meeting to order and introduced Jones County School Superintendent Dr. Jessica Graves, who led the opening prayer and pledge.
Graves took the opportunity to talk about goals and some of the initiatives that have begun under her leadership, such as centralized enrollment. She said the county is now required by law to offer school choice.
The superintendent said Jones County residents would always have first choice and non-residents who were approved would pay tuition.
“Our focus is on learning and attention to results,” she said.
Board appointments
Weidner moved to board appointments, beginning with the Historic Preservation Commission that had two openings. The HPC appointments had been on the Feb. 17 agenda but were tabled due to questions from Commissioner Daylon Martin because two of the candidates were already serving on other boards.
Commissioners interviewed two new candidates for the appointment prior to the meeting.
Commissioner John Wood made the motion to appoint John Simmons to the HPC board, and the motion to approve was unanimous.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn made a motion to appoint Harley Adams-Valier to the HPC board, and her motion was also unanimously approved.
John Wood then made a motion to appoint John Comer to the Planning and Zoning board. The vote to approve was 3-2 with the chairman casting the deciding vote.
Commissioner Sam Kitchens spoke to board members about valuing the knowledge of history and asked for the creation of a voluntary and unpaid position of Countywide Historic Liaison. He said that person would not have a vote on any board but would be available to share knowledge, expertise and experience when needed. Kitchens suggested the person to fill that role is Earlene Hamilton.
Vaughn said she was in favor of the position and Hamilton in the role.
“She carries knowledge that can benefit everyone on the board and will be a valuable asset,” the commissioner said.
Wood said he could count on one hand the people who have the knowledge Hamilton has of the county. Hamilton has served on both the HPC and P&Z boards for 20-plus years.
Kitchens made the motion to create the position, and the vote to approve was 4-1 with Martin opposed.
New Business
Keep Jones Beautiful Director Mallory Tidwell told the board members that she was leaving the position and introduced the new KJB Director Abigail Barton. Tidwell said the March 28 cleanup would be her final event.
Barton said she came up in the FFA program at Jones County High School and wants to bring that program into the KJB efforts.
“I’m anxious to get the ball rolling,” the new director said.
Kitchens talked about HB1116 that was passed by the house and sent to the senate. He said the bill is similar to the previous HB581 that would freeze property taxes.
“In its current form, it does not allow us to get our values right,” he said.
The commissioner asked that the county have a resolution ready to send to the legislature if needed because the board will not meet again in time to do it if the bill moves forward.
Kitchens said the proposed offset to the loss in property taxes is raising sales tax another three cents, which he said would be problematic for Jones County.
“We would lose small businesses,” he said.
The commissioner said the idea of reducing property taxes is big at election time, but it would be hard to support the bill in its current state.
Martin made the motion to draft the resolution, and the motion was approved unanimously.
The meeting adjourned to enter closed session at 6:40 p.m. It was reopened at 7 p.m.
Kitchens made the motion to approve two easements for Georgia Power, one located on Overland Way and the other on Holmes Hawkins Road. The vote to approve was unanimous, and the meeting was adjourned.
