About The Islander. (St. Simons Island, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2018)
THE ^ISLANDER Published by Permar Publications www.theislanderonline.com ssislander@bellsouth.net December 3,2018 Established in 1972 Vol 46 Issue 49 IACP review of County Police complete By Matthew J. Permar After a year or more the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) au dit of the Glynn County Police Department has been com pleted and turned over to the county. The Glynn County Board of Commissioners (BOC) got a brief review of the IACP’s 154- page ‘Operations and Manage ment Study’ during their work session on Tuesday, Nov. 20. Thanking retired police chief and IACP consultant Joe Price and IACP Project Manager Amanda Burnstein for their work, Commissioner Mike Browning said he first suggested an audit of the po lice department back in 2014. Last year, shortly after he was named interim county police chief by County Man ager Alan Ours, John Powell suggested having the IACP perform the study since the organization is expert in the law enforcement field and performs these types of audits regularly. According to county offi cials, the number one goal in the County’s Strategic Plan is a ‘Safe Community.’ It states on the county web site, “The Glynn County Police Department has a large role in the County’s effort to ensure that our community is safe for our citizens and visitors.” “In an effort to meet the objectives for a safe Commu nity that are outlined in the Strategic Plan and to pre pare the Department for the growth that is taking place in an expanded population and increased level of visitors, a comprehensive operations and management study of the Glynn County Police Depart ment was conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).” Turn to Page 6 Police audit A downtown Christmas Above: Jekyll Square in downtown Brunswick was decorated and ready for Christmas last week in preparation for the Lighting of the Christmas Tree Friday night and the reading of Clement Moore’s 'Twas the Night Before Christmas’ by Production Director Kali Kold of Heart® Media’s, WBGA and WQGA. Below: After being delayed a week due to rain, Santa Claus arrived at Jekyll Square by horse drawn carriage to the cheers of city children. Islander Staff Photos - Permar Cobb County refuses to pay for upgrade By Matthew J. Permar Cobb County, Georgia has refused to pay for media relat ed upgrades to Glynn County’s Information Technology (IT) system that Cobb requested for a murder trial. When the Cobb County court system relocated the Justin Harris murder case to Glynn County in 2016, they asked Glynn’s IT department to extend fiber optic media connectivity from the media room in the County Court house to the satellite vehicles across the street. The cost to Glynn was just over $8,000 and was recorded as a receivable from the Cobb County Court. But it never got paid back. Cobb County Administra tor Tom Charron and District Court Administrator Rich ard Denney of the First Judi cial Administrative District were included on the e-mails requesting assistance from Glynn’s IT department. Charron approved the invoice from Glynn, but nu merous attempts to collect the money have been ignored by Cobb. Even though it was Cobb County that requested the IT upgrade, their finance depart ment said the upgrades were not agreed upon or a neces sary trial cost and they have been instructed not to pay. Last week Glynn County’s finance committee recom mended that the $8,000 be written off as uncollectible. URA chairman talks about Conference Center and hotel possibilities By Pamela Permar Shierling In a telephone interview with The Islander last Friday, LaRon Bennett, Chairman of the city’s Urban Redevelop ment Agency (URA) explained the proposal he has made to the City of Brunswick. Bennett also discussed the group interested in building a hotel at the conference center site. Bennett maintains that along with the construction manager at risk, which is what the URA has chosen Elkins Construction for the Oglethorpe Conference Cen ter, the City and URA need a Turn to Page 5 Conference center County considers extra staff for tax digest work By Matthew J. Permar Due to the decision in the Coleman tax lawsuit against Glynn County, the County fi nance committee voted last week (Nov. 27) to recommend that the county commission allocate $85,000 to hire four temporary employees to de termine the correct property values for the 2019 tax digest. Due to the lawsuit, Glynn’s Director of Administrative Services & CFO Tonya Miller said, “It is imperative that Glynn County determine the correct values for the next digest.” “After meeting with the County Attorney’s office and discussing ideas,” said Miller in her report to the finance committee, “we met with the Chief Property Appraiser who Turn to Page 6 Tax digest County-Wide News - Read County-Wide Page 2 - GMS sidewalk finally under way Page 3 - KGIB welcomes new board members Page 8 - Browning receives recognition Page 9 - Library to partially reopen Page 10 - Pew Page 11 - Begin New Year with Blue Grass on Jekyll Island Page 12 - Back Talk 0 94922 29970 3
