The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current, August 15, 2013, Image 1

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The Georgia post., August 15, 2013, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text41k. - /tav Bay I .V w. RECREATION FOOTBALL SIGNUPS Monday - Friday see Lindsey at the Probate Court 9 am- 5 p.m. Saturday At the High School Fieldhouse 12 noon - 2 p.m. Age 7-12 $75 Flag $25 Contact James -478-258-0110 or Lindsey at 478-836-3313 with Questions! Chamber Sponsored Business After Hours is being hosted by Security Finance on Thursday, August 22, 2013, 5:30 p. m, - 7 p.m. Foods, Door Prizes and a grand prize worth $50! SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT The Lady Eagles are hosting their Annual Lady Eagles Invitational Fastpitch Softball Tournament on Friday, August 16 and Saturday, August 17, 2013. Both days events will be held at the Crawford County Recreational Department fields. Fridays games will start at 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays games will start at 9:00 a.m. Issue 32 Thursday, August 15, 2013 The Voice of Crawford County Since 1921 also serving Byron and Peach County 2 Sections, 12 Pages One Dollar Back to School Bash successful Willie Harris, left, of the Crawford County Fire Department hands out water at the Back to School Bash held at Central Georgia Technical College Friday afternoon. Put together by Crawford County Family Connections, school supplies were given out by various entities in the community. When school starts here on September 3rd, students who attended the Bash will be fully equipped with supplies. Property owners responsible for culverts BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post Culvert driveway pipes were the main item to be discussed at a called meeting of the Crawford County Commis sioners Friday, August 9, 2013. Commissioner Frank Hollis told the board he had request ed Pat Kelly, county manager, to replace a culvert drive way pipe for a citizen at the county’s expense. Kelly told him he was not comfortable fulfilling that request because of past legal advice received on the issue and asked that a called meeting be held to provide him direction. County Attorney David Mincey III, told the board his research revealed that the maintenance and upkeep of driveway culvert pipes are the sole responsibility of the property owner. Attorney Joel V. Sher lock informed the board he researched the issue indepen dently of Mincey and came to the same conclusion. Sherlock went on to say he had polled several surrounding counties and those counties had the same conclusion. Hollis then asked Mincey to provide a written legal opinion which he could give to the concerned citizen involved. Mincey reported that Rob ert City Council had approved the Intergovernmental Agree ment and the Resolution for the proposed 2015 SPLOST Referendum. The board also unanimously approved. County to consider increase in garbage fee next week Parking at old Courthouse to be restricted BY VICTORIA SIMMONS The Georgia Post Crawford County’s curbside garbage fee has not increased from $125 since 2010 and County Manager Pat Kelly requested the board of commissioners to increase it to $135 at this month’s meeting. Commission ers tabled the issue until the next regularly scheduled meeting on August 20th. Kelly said increasing the fee would be nec essary to balance the proposed budget for fiscal year 2014. He also said the provider for the service has built in increases during the three year agreement. Pat Roys, representing the Crawford County Historical Society, spoke to the board concerning improvements at the old courthouse over the past few months. Roys said that due to the improvements the old courthouse is being considered for a com munity event. With that said he requested that the His torical Society be allowed to place signage around the Courthouse that would not allow semi trucks to leave their trailers in the parking lot. There was discussion back and forth as to how to enforce and what verbage should be on the signs. It was decided the signate would not allow vehicles with over six wheels to park at the old Courhouse. County Attorney David Mincey III in formed the board they should be able to consider the 2015 SPLOST resolution at the next meeting. He said he had given Roberta City Council the final draft of the proposed referendum and he expected them to pass it at their regular meeting. Commissioner Paul Chapman, serving as chairman in the absence of Dean Fripp, asked the board to consider letting the Development Authority access the revolv ing loan in the amount of $130,000. Funds are needed to make upgrades and improve ments to an existing industrial park building prior to it being leased. A letter of intent has been received from the lessee which is ready to occupy once the improvements are made, Chapman said. The lease will be for five years and will bring employees, according to Chapman. The Development Authority requested a one year deferment on repay ment. Repayment would be made at 1% interest at $24,000 per year. Kelly told the board it was kind of like a line of credit. After some discussion back and forth the board approved the request unanimously. The county manager informed the board that the Billy White triple surface treatment project had been moved to the 2013 project list and that the contractor (Middle Geor gia Paving) for Whitaker and Dent Road projects would be in the county to complete those this month. Since the county ordinance stipulates that projects in excess of $7,500 must be put out to bid, Kelly asked that an exception be made to that requirement by the board. The contractor had given a price of $19,740 to pave Billy White on the contingency the work could be done while in county complet ing the two other projects. Mincey noted that the ordinance did allow for exceptions and that the exception was applicable if the board chose to accept the quote. After some discussion the board ap proved the exception unanimously. Kelly preesnted the board with the third quarter administration budget. According to his report, they are 2.77% under budget projections in expenditures and 93.2% of revenues have been collected. When asked if they were going to make it to year’s end, Kelly responded that he thought they would be fine. The total impact from the new Title ad valorem tax is still not certain. SPLOST overshadows city budget BY SUSAN GARNTO The Georgia Post So much emphasis was put on the SPLOST (Special Pur pose Local Option Sales Tax) at Roberta City Council last week they did not get around to discussing the budget. The budget discussion was put off until a later date. Beginning the meeting, Mayor Becky Smith talked about the TAVT Tax that went into effect March 1st. She pointed out that the state automatically takes 50 % off the top, with a 1/3 go ing to the schools then there is some for the city. Dr. Billy Bassett said they had filled out a form with concerns which was to be taken to the lawyer and then rediscussed, that. The mayor interrupted and told him “hat’s what you got. “ Dr. Bassett said he did not recognize the form when compared to what was sent. Smith told him he would not recognize it because they took out the articles on Section 5. She continued to say one of the concerns was because of the Bond Proce dures and the Project Fund Account, which was under the Custodian Account.... Bassett then interrupted and said, “wait a minute, wait a minute let’s come back to the very beginning of this”. He continued that there were three Sections — a Resolu tion and an Exhibit A and an Exhibit B. The mayor told him the resolution had not changed but Bassett was not con- vinced.The mayor shook the paper and said “this is it right here.” Councilman Robert Cody said he was confused at first too but “I think this is the County’s Resolution as a whole. Becky said that’s how it’s going to be in the paper.” City Clerk Vicky Grant told them that they were all talking about he Inter governmental Agreement. Section 5 is the one that had a lot of questions, she said. Bassett said that he thinks what has happened was the format had changed and Exhibit A had been left out. The mayor responded, “I don’t know if this is A or B because I don’t have it.” Grant said, “I think they took it out by accident.” Dr. Bassett then apologized for being confused but said he had a problem with signing something. “This entire thing doesn’t say anything about us getting 14% on the paper,” he said. “Once it’s signed, it’s signed, that’s it.” He suggested another SPLOST Meeting to discuss changes because some things were not clear. Grant told them they were getting the money through the SPLOST. “We’re just getting it in a different way, meaning it’s going into the General Funds and no specification as to where it is actually going, no identi fication for public safety or water, does not have to be earmarked.” The mayor said, 14% of $300,000(410,000 out of that in the Crawford SPLOST Holding Account). “I think that whole section has been taken out about them hold ing our money” There was more discussion between Grant and the may or. Dr. Bassett then spoke on concerns that he didn’t think the SPLOST would pass because the BOE (Board of Education) will be increasing School Tax by 2 V2 mils. David Mincey III (County Attorney) walked into the meeting with a handful of papers and explained the changes made to the agree ment. He also stated, “we have an attorney that deals with this but I know enough to tell you the basics in regard to the total amount of the SPLOST that’s antici pated that will be reduced because of the range of the car taxes. He explained that what was anticipated was 6 million but the new expecta tion is 3 million because of the way the car taxes are now being done. The LOST rev enue has more potential use because it’s not going into SPLOST. It’s going into the General Funds. Grant stated she would add and make an Account for the TAVT Tax so it will be included. The main changes that are being made are Section 5, which is the 8614 split (86% goes to the City of Roberta) then (14% is divided equally 7% to schools and 7% to pay roll for city employees. Mincey then left and Dr. Bassett recommended that when they entered into their regular scheduled session the Intergovernmental Agree ment needed to be added to the agenda. Council agreed. The agreement was approved in the regular meeting. In addition to approving the Intergovernmental Agree ment council approved Lee Hamlin’s bid for replacing the roof at city hall in the amount of $17,513 at the recommendation of Council- woman Connie Gibson. Read next week for the rest of the story from City Coun cil’s regular meeting which included discussions on park use and a visit from Coroner Allen O’Neal concerning police reports. RPD receives grant for DARE Officer Wesley Griffits holds a $1,000 check from the Walmart Foundation and Sam’s on Log Cabin in Macon for the DARE program in Roberta. The check is from a grant through the Local Facility Giving Program. “We believe that your orga nization is doing important work to the communities you serve and we, are proud that we are able to support you in your efforts, stated the notice of the grant. Griffits said that anyone wishing to make a donation to the program which is gearing up for this school year, may contact the Roberta Police Department.