JONES COUNTY
Jones County Commissioners moved forward on several pending projects during their last scheduled meeting of 2022.
Board Chairman Chris Weidner called the Dec. 6 meeting to order, and the opening prayer and pledge were led by EMA Director and Jones County Fire Chief Don Graham.
All commissioners were present with the exception of Commissioner Daylon Martin.
Planning and Zoning was the first on the agenda with one item to consider. Weidner read the request, which was a conditional use to allow a horse training and horsemanship school on Woodward Drive. The property consists of 32 acres.
Petitioner Rooster Cogburn clarified that the facility would not be a riding school but would focus on horsemanship. Commissioner Sam Kitchens made the motion to approve the request, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Under board appointments, Erick Varnadoe was appointed to the Jones County Development Authority for a term that will begin Jan. 1 and last four years with a unanimous vote of the board.
New business
Tiffany Dobbins with the Middle Georgia Regional Commission talked to the commissioners about the selection of an engineer for the county’s Community Development Block Grant project.
She said three firms applied, and each was rated. At the conclusion of her presentation, Weidner recommended Ingram and Associates due to the firm’s excellent rating, past experience and knowledge of the community.
“They have a vested interest in Jones County,” he added.
Kitchens made the motion to select Ingram and Associates as the project engineer, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Dobbins also handled the next agenda item, creating a new logo for Jones County. She said asked where the logo would be used. The answer was places such as the county website and vehicles.
Dobbins said if selected for the project, the MGRC would create surveys and hold work sessions to find out what comes to mind when people think about Jones County. She also asked board members to think if they would like the logo to be abstract or tangible.
Commissioner Wendy Vaughn made the motion to work with MGRC on the logo, and the motion was approved unanimously.
County Administrator Jason Rizner spoke to the board about a request from Jones County Coroner Matt Jarratt to approve a mutual aid agreement with Bibb County. Rizner said Jones County has three deputy coroners, but they could all be out of town at the same time. He said the agreement would allow help from Bibb County if needed.
Part of the discussion about the agreement was obligating Jones County to assist with Bibb County cases and who would pay the cost of the services. At the conclusion of the discussion, Commissioner John Wood made a motion to postpone the item for more information.
Graham spoke to the commissioners about applying for the SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) Grant to help pay for the fulltime firefighter positions approved by the county.
The director said if funded, the grant could pay the firefighters’ salaries for three years.
The question was asked about who would write the grant, and Graham said there were several options. He said MGRC could write it, but he was not sure if there would be an additional cost to the county. He said professional grant writers were and option or it could be done in house.
He said professional grant writer Kari Kitchens offered to write the grant at no charge as a service to the county.
Graham said if funded, the grant could save the county $1.6 million.
The question was raised if it would be a conflict of interest because Kitchens is the wife of a commissioner. County Attorney Ashley Brodie said it would not be a conflict because the service was offered at no charge to the county.
Graham said the grant application window would open the first of the year, and the county needed to get going on the writing the grant.
Vaughn made the motion to accept the offer from Kari Kitchens to write the grant. The motion was approved with a vote of 3-0, with Commissioner Sam Kitchens abstaining from the vote.
Water Superintendent Brandon Stark asked the board to reject bids received for fire hydrants and allow him to start the process over from the beginning with a revised scope. The county only received one bid for the hydrants.
Kitchens made the motion to reject the bid, and it was unanimously approved.
John Lowe talked to commissioners about drainage problems in Kingsview Village. He said the subdivision was built 50 years ago, and he wanted an engineer to look at it. Rizner said they were researching easements, and Vaughn noted that the area belonged to Macon before Bibb County’s consolidation.
Kitchens said it could be a Macon Water Authority project and made the motion to postpone the item. The motion to postpone was approved unanimously.
Lowe addressed the holiday hours for the county’s convenience centers. He recommended closing the convenience centers Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and reopening the following Mondays.
Vaughn made the motion to approve the recommendation, and the motion was unanimously approved.
Rizner presented the renewal of the contract for probation services for Jones County’s Superior and Probate courts. Probate Judge Lewis Patterson recommended renewing the contracts with Georgia Probation Management.
Vaughn made the motion to renew the contracts, and the motion was unanimously approved.
Jones County IT Director Will Harp brought the board an issue with the county’s internet. He said he realized recently that transition to cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 needed to happen before April 2023.
Harp said the funds for the transition was in the budget. Vaughn made the motion to start the process, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Old business
County Engineer Tim Ingram spoke to the commissioners about two pavement evaluation proposals that were brought to them at a previous meeting. He said the board asked the question about a map of the roads and he determined that was included by both companies.
Kitchens asked Ingram for his recommendation, and he responded it depended on what the county wanted. The speaker said either company would need to update the database every three to five years.
Kitchens made the motion to accept the bid from Roberts Engineering at a cost of $29,600, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
The meeting was adjourned to enter closed session for personnel, litigation and real estate. The next scheduled meeting of the Board of Commissioners is Jan. 3.
