Newspaper Page Text
Page 12 — Wednesday, April 28, 2021, The True Citizen
Sheriff backs defunding
police departments
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
Georgia House Bill 286, a
proposal which restricts the
ability of county governing
authorities to reduce funding
for county police departments,
was sent to Governor Brian
Kemp’s office April 7. It is still
awaiting his approval.
According to an April 1 ar
ticle by the Associated Press,
“The measure is a rejection
of arguments by protesters
nationwide that minority com
munities are suffering from
over-policing. The critics argue
that governments should spend
less on law enforcement and
more on social service work
ers who could help address
problems, but without guns and
arrest powers.”
Burke County Sheriff Al-
fonzo Williams agrees with the
opponents of House Bill 286.
When parents can’t get their
children to wash dishes or go to
school, they don’t call a social
worker, they call the police,
Williams said and pointed out
that officers are expected act
in roles geared toward medi
cal professionals, counselors
and parents.
“We are the ones who are
called,” he said. “All this talk
about defunding the police is
scary talk, but the police would
be so happy if social workers
were called every time there is
a problem in a home. We would
love to get that job off of our
list of things to do, because we
are really busy.”
Williams said every sheriff
around the country would
love to get some mental health
response team to handle do
mestic crises, possibly cutting
the jail population in half.
“Because the government
won’t fund those mental health
programs, we end up dealing
with those people,” he said.
“And we don’t want to. We
don’t want to lock up people
who have mental illnesses,
they don’t deserve to be there,
they need to be in an institution
somewhere. They need to be
getting the sustenance that they
need to thrive.”
Williams said the police are
the only ones who deal with
beggars, homeless people,
“mental health people” and
drug addicts.
“I would love not to have to
deal with any of that,” he said,
“if you could get all of these
other social service agencies
to step up to the plate.”
Cobb Road
Continued from front
Cobb Road, Midville is the center of controversy.
landowner Laura Albritton.
Albritton said it is her
understanding that Cobb
Road is not getting paved, but
instead a new road is going to
be built. She disagreed that she
is holding back the process.
County Manager Merv
Waldrop explained the details
of the dilemma April 22.
Waldrop said the plan is to
pave part of Cobb Road and
build a new road which will be
named Straight Gate Church
Road.
“Initially, the request was to
pave Cobb Road,” he said and
pointed out that currently Cobb
Road comes off of Magruder
Road which intersects with
State Hwy. 305. “The road,
especially the north end,
because it was built through
a field, it doesn’t have the
advantage of 100 years of
compacted base.”
The county has added
gravel to the road and keeps
it passable, he said. It requires
2 miles of pavement for a
“handful” of residents at tax
payers’ expense.
“But the board agreed to do
it after numerous requests,”
he said. The road has been
surveyed and the property
owners have been asked to
give the right-of-way.
One of the major issues
is that in order to meet the
county’s road standards, there
has to be 80-feet of right-of-
way.
“That gives you plenty of
room to put in ditches, shoulder
and is wide enough lanes that
two cars can pass,” Waldrop
said. “With 80-feet, you can
put in 24-feet of pavement,
5-10 feet of shoulder, ditch and
then the back slug.”
The problem with the
approximately 25-feet width
of current roadway is that
there is nowhere for the water
to drain. Fences exist right up
against it. The county needs
60-feet of right-of-way along
the entire length of the road
that the county intends to pave.
All the involved property
owners have currently given
the right-of-way, excluding
Albritton. She owns 99% of the
land needed for right-of-way,
according to Waldrop.
She has asked the county to
relocate the road through one of
her fields instead, and everyone
thought a deal was close, but
it got delayed. Banks have to
sign off on any agreement since
the property in question is not
owned outright.
The deal the county is
now trying to work out with
Albritton includes a donation
of held property in exchange
for closing off part of Cobb
Road. Albritton would gain
back all the property that the
road includes and Cobb would
gain a new paved road.
Another catch is that the
county does not own Cobb
Road. It is required to maintain
it, but does not hold a title.
“It’s prescriptive, like most
dirt roads in Georgia,” Waldrop
said. “The county is obligated
to maintain the public road but
we don’t own title to it.”
Technically, Albritton would
be given property that she
already owns.
“The latest thing is that we
will sign a quit-claim deed
saying, whatever we do own,
which we don’t own anything,
we give that up to you,”
Waldrop said and pointed out
the complexity of the situation.
While County Attorney
Barry Fleming negotiates with
Albritton’s attorney, Warren
Ratchford, legal fees are
racking up.
Throughout the process, the
county has offered to purchase
Cobb Road from Albritton and
has also offered to purchase the
land involving the new road.
“The attorneys are close to
working out a deal,” Waldrop
said. “But, I haven’t seen it
yet.”
There is some money in the
budget for Cobb Road.
“We will probably have to
put more into it next year,” he
said. “Depending on which
alignment is used and how
much it finally ends up costing
us.”
The “swap” representing
the relocation of Cobb Road is
being diligently pursued by the
Albritton family companies,
Ratchford said in an email
April 22.
“The swap is more complex
that anyone originally thought,”
he said. “For example,
with regard to agricultural
permitting, resolutions and
approvals from the State of
Georgia, the tax assessor’s
office in Burke County and
the federal government are
necessary.”
Ratchford pointed out that the
delay in the Cobb Road project
should not be interpreted as the
fault of Albritton companies,
the county or any single party.
“I doubt that Ms. Albritton
or any of the commissioners
were aware, at the time of the
proposal of this swap, that
so many details needed to be
covered,” he said.
The Cobb family never
dreamed it would take the
county decades to meet their
request.
Cooking at the Courthouse
SHELLIE SMITLEY
thetruecitizen.shellie@gmail.com
The Development Author
ity of Burke County met
Tuesday and unanimously
voted to approve renova
tions that include a kitchen
in its new office that will
be located in the Historic
Courthouse.
Cooking space is essen
tial for hosting projects that
require culinary functions,
according to Executive Di
rector Molly Olson.
The Development Author
ity is paying for the changes.
The kitchen costs are not
covered by County funds,
said Chairman Preston Con
ner.
However, the Chamber of
Commerce may contribute
to the renovation funding,
Olson said
The Development Author
ity ran into some board room
expansion issues as well, due
to ceiling height.
“So, we were going to
make some modifications,
(but) because of costs, we are
keeping one area as a storage
closet ultimately,” Olson
said and pointed out that the
Authority is working hard to
keep the costs of renovations
as low as possible.
In spite of that, they
splurged a bit on wood base
board for the kitchen area.
“That was a little bit extra
charge,” Olson said. “But I
think the rest are pretty es
sential charges for what we
need for an office space.”
The cost of the estimated
$30,000 in renovations cur
rently stands at slightly more
than $28,000.
“We negotiated some of
that to come down,” Olson
said “But again, with any
construction project, we are
still in that back-in-forth
stage. So, we are hoping to
reduce it a little bit more.”
The Development Author
ity approved up to $28,241
for renovations.
City of Waynesboro - Shadrack Drainage Improvements
Contract Documents & Technical Specifications
SECTION 00100
ADVERTISEMENT FOR BIDS
PART 1. GENERAL
1.1 SEALED BIDS
Sealed bids for construction of Shadrack Drainage Improvements will be received until
May 17 th 2021, 3 PM at the City of Waynesboro at 615 North Liberty Street,
Waynesboro, Georgia 30830. They will be publicly opened and read at a May 17 th City
Council meeting, which starts at 6:00 PM. Any bid received after said time and date
will not be considered by the Owner. No bid may be withdrawn after the closing time
for the receipt of bids for a period of sixty (60) days.
There will be a mandatory pre-bid meeting scheduled for April 27 th , 2021, 9 AM at the
City of Waynesboro at the City of Waynesboro Park located at the corner of
Shadrack St. and 5 th St.
1.2 SCOPE OF WORK
The work shall consist of furnishing all products and equipment and performing all labor
necessary to perform the following:
Storm system rehabilitation including, but not limited to, removal and replacement of storm
mains with approximately 196 LF of 24" HDPE, 862 LF of 42" HDPE, and 1571 LF of 54"
HDPE storm mains using the slip lining method. The project will also consist of new
manholes, pavement replacement. 4,471 SY of milling, and 961 tons of pavement overlay.
Time allotted for completion of work is one hundred eighty (180) calendar days. All
Work shall be completed in accordance with the plans and specifications. The Work will be
awarded in one (1) Contract.
1.3 PLANS, SPECIFICATIONS AND CONTRACT DOCUMENTS
Plans, Specifications and Contract Documents are on file at Parker Engineering, LLC.
Copies may be obtained from Parker Engineering, LLC., 36 Courtland Street, Suite B,
Statesboro, Georgia 30458, Phone: (912) 764-7722, Email: weslev@parker-
enqineerinq.com, upon payment of $150.00 for each full-size set (non-refundable).
1.4 CONTRACTOR LICENSE
The Scope of Work as described herein is defined as "utility contracting" in accordance with
0.C.G.A 43-14-2(17) so the Contractor performing the work must provide proof of a valid
license by the State of Georgia as a "Utility Contractor" and must also employ a "Utility
Manager" certification holder who will have oversight of all the work. See Instruction to
Bidders for additional bidding requirements.
City of Waynesboro - Shadrack Drainage Improvements
Contract Documents & Technical Specifications
1.5 BONDS
Bids shall be accompanied by a bid bond or certified cashier's check in an amount not less
than 10% of the base bid. All bonds shall be by a surety company licensed in Georgia with
an "A" minimum rating of performance and a financial strength of at least five (5) times the
contract price as listed in the most current publication of "Best's Key Rating Guide Property
Liability". Performance and Payment Bonds, each in an amount equal to 100% of the
contract price shall be required of the successful bidder if contract is awarded. Each Bond
shall be accompanied by a "Power of Attorney" authorizing the attorney-in-fact to bind the
surety and certified to include the date of the bond.
1.6 FUNDING SOURCES
Funding is to be provided by the City of Waynesboro. All Bidders must comply with 41 CFR
60-4, in regard to affirmative action, to ensure equal opportunity to females and minorities
and will apply the timetables and goals set forth in 41 CFR 60-4, as applicable to the area
of the project. This project is covered under the requirements of Section 3 of the HUD Act
of 1968.
1.7 RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
Owner reserves the right to reject any or all Bids and to waive informalities, including
without limitation, the rights to reject any or all nonconforming, non-responsive,
unbalanced or conditional Bids and to reject the Bid of any Bidder if Owner believes that it
would not be in the best interest of the Project to make an award to that Bidder, whether
because the Bid is not responsive or the Bidder is unqualified or of doubtful financial ability
or fails to meet any other pertinent standard or criteria established by the Owner.
1.8 E-VERIFY
Contractor shall comply with E-Verify regulations.
CITY OF WAYNESBORO
OWNER