RUNDOWN: Bulloch Board Of Commissioners – 05-18-21

Here’s what happened at the May 18, 2021 Bulloch County Board of Commissioners meeting.

Call to Order
Invocation & Pledge
Roll Call Commissioner Roy Thompson was absent and the meeting was conducted by Commissioner Jappy Stringer.

Approval of the General Agenda

Public Comment
No one from the public addressed Commissioners.

Consent Agenda (The collective items on the Consent Agenda are voted on as a single line item)

• Minutes, May 4, 2021 meeting
• Executive Session Minutes, May 4, 2021 meeting
• Resolution to Declare Personal Property as Surplus and Authorize Transfer to Local Government Agency

The personal property on the resolution consists of a portable building and equipment that was utilized in the old public safety radio system. These items are no longer needed for the
new radio system and no other reasonable use of these items has been identified for County purposes.
Bulloch County was notified that the Sheriff’s Office in Seminole County, Georgia would be able to use these items in their continuing efforts to recover from Hurricane Michael. The attached resolution declares this property as surplus and authorizes its transfer to the Sheriff’s Office in Seminole County.

• Joint Resolution to Authorize Payment of Bulloch County SPLOST Proceeds to the City of Statesboro

The Intergovernmental Agreement (“IGA”) for the 2019 SPLOST requires Bulloch County to reallocate to Statesboro a portion of its SPLOST proceeds in an amount equal to 42.3% of the cost of radios purchased by the County with the proceeds of the general obligation debt issued in conjunction with the SPLOST referendum. The purpose of this requirement is to assure that Statesboro receives its correct percentage of SPLOST proceeds because Statesboro chose to purchase its radios with funds other than the debt proceeds. The cost of the radios purchased by the County was $1,135,536.00, meaning that the County is required to reallocate $480,331.73 of its SPLOST proceeds to Statesboro.

Rather than amend the IGA to reallocate the percentage of SPLOST proceeds, the staff of the County and City have determined that it would be preferable for the County to simply pay $480,331.73 of the County’s SPLOST proceeds directly to the City. As indicated in the resolution, this amount will be charged to the County’s public safety SPLOST project.

• Airport Committee Appointments
  
  Reappointment of Brian Kent, Alan Davis, and Doug Collins to the Airport Committee. All three have agreed to serve another 6-year term.

• Approve the appointment of Caroline Nelson to the Coastal Area District Development Authority (CADDA) to serve a term beginning January 1, 2020 and ending December 31, 2022
• Approval of Sole Source Purchase of Biljax Stage ($12,900)
  
  Statesboro Bulloch County Parks and Recreation is requesting the sole source purchase of a 28’x16’x2’ Biljax stage to be used for our outdoor events. Brickhouse Live is the only local vendor who offers this type of stage, which is the same product the county has rented for many years. The stage can be used on multiple surfaces and locations throughout the county such as Mill Creek, Splash in the Boro, or Ag Complex. Brickhouse Live would provide onsite training.
  
  Commissioner Walter Gibson asked if the stage was collapsible and staff confirmed that it was and would be stored at the Ag Center or the county could purchase a trailer and store it inside the trailer and tow it where it needs to be.
  
• Approval of lowest bid for Replacement of 5 HVAC units at Honey Bowen Building in the amount of $23,000 from Ogeechee Heating & Air
  
  Walter Gibson made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda in its entirety and it was approved unanimously.

New Business

None listed.

Reports

• Executive Summary of Revenues and Expenditures – April 2021
• Through April 30, 2021, Bulloch County has collected 108.1% of its budgeted revenue with 83.3% of the fiscal year complete.
• $43,683,216 has been collected as of 4/30/21
• $32,613,005 has been expended by the county as of 4/30/21, or 78.4% of the total original budget.
• Special Revenue Funds (Housing/Airport/Tourism, Public Works, Public Safety, and Judicial) are currently lower than expected with the county collect 97% of its budgeted revenues at the 83% point of the year. This is largely due to COVID-19.
• The County, however, has only expended 71.7% of its budgeted funds for the Special Revenue Funds.
• Through 4/30/21, the largest overtime budgets were in the Board of Elections (615%) and Facility Operations (115%). The elections overtime for the FY (which included the November election) was due to early voting, mailouts, state requirements regarding registration cards/change of address before elections, etc. The Board of Elections overtime amounts to a $25,276 over the budgeted amount while the facility operations overtime amounts to $4,050 over the budget amount.
• Click here to read the report
• County Manager Tom Couch told Commissioners that staff is almost done preparing the FY 2022 budget as they await some additional numbers on the tax digest from the Tax Commissioner’s Office. Couch also said they don’t anticipate a tax increase but there is an expected inflation in the tax digest for the upcoming year and if that remains the case, the county is going to make efforts to rollback the millage rate. Couch hopes to have the budget made public by the first meeting in June.

Commission and Staff Comments

Executive Session – Personnel
At 8:45 a.m., commissioners adjourned from the regular meeting to go into executive session to discuss personnel.

Adjournment