JONES COUNTY
Jones County Commissioners celebrated a Dames Ferry student before getting down to county business at their June meeting.
Chairman Chris Weidner called the June 6 meeting to order, and Emergency Management Director and Jones County Fire Chief Don Graham led the pledge and opening prayer.
All commissioners were in attendance with the exception of Commissioner Wendy Vaughn.
Weidner asked Dames Ferry Elementary Student Achilles Woodson to come forward and presented him with a Certificate of Excellence in recognition of his outstanding achievement of winning the Science Olympiad.
Under board appointments, Commissioner Sam Kitchens made a motion to appoint Mary Murray to the Jones County Historic Preservation Board. The motion was approved unanimously.
Greg Boike, director of administration for the Middle Georgia Regional Commission, presented the first two items of New Business. The first was the required annual update for the Capital Improvement Element.
Boike said the county’s impact fees amounted to zero in and zero out. Commissioner Daylon Martin made the motion to adopt the resolution, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
Boike then talked to board members about the Recreational Trails Grant. He said the application was due in November, and it was a good time for the commissioners to consider it.
The application window opens Aug. 1, and the grant amount goes up to $200,000. Boike said the county match was one quarter of the grant amount, and he suggested the Tanyard project might be considered.
Kitchens said the Tanyard project was discussed during the Jake’s Woods’ process, but the county had to pick one. The commissioner said it would be a good time to consider applying for the grant for the Tanyard.
Kitchens made the motion to request assistance from the MGRC in writing the grant. The motion was approved unanimously. Martin also asked Boike to look at the Rails to Trails program.
Chris Smarr came to the commissioners about a marketing agreement and payment she felt she was owed. After a brief discussion, Kitchens made the motion to grant the payment as long as all parties agreed it was the final payment.
The motion was approved unanimously.
Martin spoke to board members about extending the hours for the Mattie Wells Gym during the summer. Parks and Recreation Director Bert Rosenberger asked commissioners to amend the motion to extend the hours every summer. Martin amended his motion, and it was unanimously approved.
Fire rating
The commissioner asked Graham for an update on the county’s ISO rating. The chief gave board members a handout explaining what goes into the rating. Kitchens said he listens to fire/rescue radio, and many of the calls are not emergencies.
“We need to be sending the right people to the calls,” he said.
Weidner stated that the safety of the community is the number one priority.
Graham said the county had an 8 ranking when he became EMA director, and three years later the ranking improved to 5. He said the county now has four reserve trucks that will get the county extra points.
Kitchens said he understands that there are items the county cannot improve, but they should improve what they can.
Graham went on to explain that all departments are graded alike. He said it takes three volunteer firefighters to equal one fulltime person. He said four fulltime people are needed for each fire truck.
“You do the math,” he said.
The chief also added the problem of recruiting volunteers. He said 15 years ago the county had 157 members, and now there are 93. Graham added that the state has been cleaning the roles, and all volunteers must be certified.
“Jones County is in excellent shape compared to other counties,” he said. “It’s hard to get people to work for free.”
The chief said he talked to a local insurance agent about the savings if the county rating improved. He said going from a 5 to a 4 would be a savings of $3 per year.
“You need to move up two numbers to make a difference, and full-time people would make that difference,” he said.
Commissioner John Wood, who is also a volunteer firefighter, said recruiting volunteers is a nationwide issue.
Martin asked for an update about Jones County’s full-time firefighters that the board approved in the last budget. Graham said the county is waiting for a decision from the state about the SAFER grant. He said if that is received, it would save the county $2.5 million.
Martin asked about student employment opportunities, and Human Resource Director Shannon Wagner explained that the county works with the Jones County College and Career Academy.
County Administrator Jason Rizner updated board members about water rates for the City of Gray. He said he knows the board wants a 10-year contract, but the city prefers five years.
Weidner said if the contract is for five years, the rate would have to be higher.
Kitchens made a motion to postpone the vote on the contract to allow time for more work to be done.
Rizner asked board members their time and day preference for upcoming budget meetings. The consensus was to have an all-day meeting on a Friday or Saturday to get it done.
The administrator also approached the commissioners about the Keep Jones Beautiful Director position that is now vacant. Former director Judy Webb spoke about the importance of the position, and board members agreed to have a work session to discuss options.
Comments
Rizner introduced Jones County’s new Public Works Director, Shawn Wood, and reported the centralized purchasing program was being set up. He said the program would provide savings and efficiency.
Graham suggested board members take a look at the new roof on Fire Station 5, and County Water Superintendent Brandon Stark said water department office renovations are near completion. Stark said the renovations has been done in-house.
Rosenberger said the county hosted its first Little League tournament and received positive feedback from participants.
“They were impressed by the facility and all the scoreboards worked perfectly,” he said.
The director also announced that Jones County’s under seven coach pitch team brought home a championship.
Kitchens said he enjoyed seeing good coverage for the county on social media about opening day at the ballpark and thanked all the staff.
Martin also thanked Rosenberg and his team.
