Before the Board of Commissioner’s meeting got started last Thursday, State Representative Rick Jasperse visited with a welcome surprise. He gave the Pickens Board of Commissioners a check for $41,000 from the Georgia Department of Transportation to cover a portion of the damage caused by August’s floods.Money was at the top of the agenda in a few areas. One area was the monthly financial report given by CFO Faye Harvey. As seems to be the trend, a couple of departments were over their projected budgets but some were under which actually brought the budget to seven percent below its overall projected level for this time of year. One department which saw overages to the tune of 82.52 (it should be at 75 percent) was EMA.

Harvey said that the EMA was over in part due to the hazard mitigation plan (a five-year plan to address emergency situations that was due for renewal this year), a new siren and the implementation of the Code Red Alert system. Those overages should level out by the end of the year as those costs were paid in full instead of in increments. Another concern is that in revenue collection, taxes are sitting at 29.24 percent due to late property tax collections.

September financial overview may be seen here:

BOCSeptFinancials.pdf

Another budget issue that’s been at the top of the commissioners’ minds is the forensic audit. Public scrutiny and a recommendation by the Grand Jury has prompted them to take action. Citizens have cited a $10 million surplus that appears to have been depleted as a driving force behind the request. At the last BOC meeting they opted to seek bids for the cost of having the audit performed for the years 2005 through present. At this meeting, those bids were returned.

Commissioner Becky Denney stated she’d done further research by contacting Cherokee County who recently used McLendon and Associates (one of the firms that bid for Pickens County) for an audit there. She said they’d been very pleased with the results and the professionalism of the company. Their bid came in the lowest at $45-85,000 with a $25,000 retainer. Their only request was to meet with the board to further define the scope of work. The two board members agreed that meeting with the firm was the next step to undertake, although Commissioner Rob Jones declined as for a portion of the time in question he was the sole commissioner.

Forensic audit bids:

The SPLOST (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) negotiations have finally moved ahead also. County Attorney Phil Landrum has reviewed the SPLOST ballot in its entirety and the board gave him the green light to go ahead. There had been some question as to the proper wording of the ballot and whether they could state the exact amount the city of Jasper would receive or if it would have to be a percentage. It was determined it would be 20 percent of collections.

Next, the cities of Nelson, Talking Rock and Jasper will have to sign-on to the agreement for the six year, $30 million plan. Jasper had expressed reservations about signing for a percentage rather than a specified number, but per Jones if they don’t sign the agreement, the alternative is to revert to a five-year ballot with the city receiving only $12,000. If the six year ballot is adopted and the full projections are collected, the city could see $20,000 per year.

Norman Pope, Public Relations Director, outlined a request from the United States Geological Survey that Pickens County take over payment for a continuous monitoring gauge under the current watershed protection plan. The gauge (along with those in other participating counties) monitors water temperature, flow, turbidity and other aspects of the Etowah Basin. Previously, Cherokee County had been shouldering the burden of the payments as they have the majority of the gauges in the local system. However, recent changes have shifted that burden to each individual entity and the cost to the county will be $13,000 per year.

Under the plan the county is protected in case a discharge is ever needed for wastewater whereas the cost outside the plan, according to Pope, is from $800,000 to $1.5 million. There is a time limit that is approaching in which to submit your intention of continuing with the program or to discontinue it. The commissioners tabled the matter until further research can be done.

In other business, Pastor Ben Mock of Mt. Zion Baptist Church spoke about his yearlong quest seeking traffic relief at the intersection of Old Philadelphia Road and Highway 5 with speed devices or a stop sign. He stated there have been numerous wrecks and loss of life at the intersection and urged the board to take action as he’s been seeking public safety measures for a year.

Mike Haviland had words of praise for the commission, stating that the improvements made to Apple Orchard Street in Nelson have been appreciated. G. Ben Turnipseed Engineering, Inc., was approved to seek grants to get a pumping system installed at the Pickens County Airport.

The meeting may be watched here and a poll is included below regarding the forensic audit. The poll will be open through October 28.