Among business to come before the Houston County Board of Commissioners Tuesday, was an annexation request from the city of Perry. On behalf of the property owner, Jonathan Hayes, Wingate Custom Homes requested a total of 28.26 acres at 2162 Kings Chapel Road be annexed into Perry, in which the parcel’s zoning would cease to be R-AG to R-2A. According to Commissioner Gail Robinson, the property in question is contiguous with the city and is currently undeveloped. Robinson shared the proposed usage for the parcel as single-family residences.
According to Robinson, Houston County Public Works reported that there had not been analysis of the water distribution system submitted for the development, and the need existed for a traffic engineering study to be considered for the street tie-in for King’s Chapel Road.
Chairman Tommy Stalnaker proposed that there should be stipulations to the concurrence of the annexation request relative to whether the county or the city will provide the water, and should the county water system be required, a hydraulic study should be conducted, as well as the question of the installation of a master meter be addressed. Stalnaker also noted that road improvements to Kings Chapel Road would need to be determined. Commissioner Robinson incorporated these stipulations into the motion to concur with the request.
The board unanimously concurred with the annexation request.
Also approved by the board of commissioners was a conflict attorney contract. According to Robinson, one of the current conflict attorneys, Ron Daniels, has given notice of termination, which was effective on May 1, and local Attorney Greg Bell will replace Daniels in cases that the Public Defender’s office has declared a conflict of interest in defending indigent persons. The contracted payment was proposed at $85,000 per year, and would be effective for the term of May 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021.
Chairman Stalnaker explained that Bell had been assigned cases by the public defender’s office prior to knowledge of Daniels’ departure and asked that County Attorney Tom Hall notify Bell that those cases would fall under the conflict attorney contract. Hall informed that though it would not be specifically stated in the contract, Bell had agreed that he would be able to bill the county at one time for any time he has put in before May 1 on those cases assigned from the public defender’s office, and after that, they will fall under the contract. Commissioner Robinson adopted this as a stipulation in her motion to approve this contract.
In other business, the commissioners approved the award of a landfill leachate-hauling contract with Mid Georgia Trucking of Jeffersonville, Ga., to be paid from the Solid Waste Disposal budget, which will be effective May 6 and will remain in effect for one year. Commissioner Tom McMichael explained that the landfill is currently hauling leachate to an offsite water treatment facility, and it was the recommendation of staff to contract a private contractor to do a portion of this hauling. McMichael shared that Mid Georgia Trucking was capable of hauling a minimum of three loads per day, five days a week, for $200 per load hauled.
Chairman Stalnaker shared that there has been a lot of leachate produced, citing wet weather that has occurred since November. He further noted that the current truck and trailer the county has cannot keep up, which prompted the decision to employ a private contractor. Stalnaker said the county has investigated putting a treatment facility there, but currently, there is not enough leachate to sustain the facility, and it is currently cheaper to haul it to an offsite facility where the leachate can be processed.
Chairman Stalnaker also gave an update on the reopening of county buildings, which Stalknaker said were all open as of last Friday.
Stalnaker praised Tax Commissioner Mark Kushinka, and the employees at the tax commissioner’s office for the level of service that they continue to provide to county customers. Stalnaker also said that he’s witnessed customers coming inside the annex building in Warner Robins who have waited for service. Stalnaker said that precautions such as social distancing, limiting the number of people allowed into a department at a time, and health screenings such as temperature checks and questioning, are being practiced. Stalnaker later noted that no one with a temperature of over 100 degrees is allowed inside county buildings as a precaution.
Stalnaker also noted that on the previous day, there had been 380 people that had come to the Houston County Courthouse seeking service.
“That clearly says that people [are] needing services that have been denied to them for the last few weeks. They want these services, they expect these services, they pay for these services and they deserve these services,” Stalnaker said. He further explained that it is up to the commissioners to figure out how to make sure those services are received.
The employees of the county were also thanked by Stalnaker, who said that overall, employees have embraced helping people and keeping county employees and the general public alike, safe.
“I really think that all of us have got to put a foot forward and get things moving again, but being very cautious in doing that. We cannot continue to deny these services to these people,” Stalnaker said.
HHJ News
