At the June 28^th meeting of the Fannin County Board of Commissioners, the main topic on the agenda was SPLOST revenue division.  SPLOST is the Special Local Option Sales Tax of one cent that citizens will vote yes or no on on the November ballot.  Commissioners must set the projects by August 9^th in order to appear on the November ballot.  At the meeting, Commissioners discussed how to divide up the anticipated $30 million in SPLOST revenues over the six years.  The current SPLOST revenue has brought approximately $25 million to Fannin County government over the past six years. Please scroll to end of article to see proposed SPLOST revenue distribution.

Both Post-Commissioner Sosebee and Johnson want more resident input on the SPLOST ballot items.  Mr. Sosebee said that SPLOST workshops do justice to Fannin County residents to be able to talk about the projects.  Mr. Johnson says that he would like to hear more input from the public and especially wants to hear from county department heads about what their anticipated large ticket purchases are over the next six years.  He noted that none of the percentages have been set in stone; the current percentages are the Commissioners’ opinion.  Mr. Johnson also promised to discuss SPLOST only at the Board of Commissioners’ meeting.  Mr. Sosebee did not make the same promise.  Mr. Simonds was absent.

At this meeting, Mr. Johnson unexpectedly proposed giving the Recreation department 7% (approximately $2,100,000) of SPLOST funds.  Mr. Johnson would like to see updated restrooms at all Fannin County parks.  He also stated that the Recreation Complex has a potential of making revenue by hosting tournaments.  Upgrading the Recreation Complex on Tom Boyd Road would hopefully make the fields a more pleasing choice for organizations hosting tournaments.  In fact, Recreation Department Director John Scalera reported that the Recreation Department is meeting with a Landscape Architect to look over the Tom Boyd complex.  Mr. Scalera did not why he hired a Landscape Architect.  In previous County Commission meetings, the Commissioners have not indicated nor allocated money for an upcoming project at the Tom Boyd complex.

The City of Blue Ridge presented its needs for SPLOST funds to the Board of Commissioners.  It asked for a 1.7% increase over its prior SPLOST percentage of 6.3%.  The money will be spent for sewer and water system upgrades as well as roads and capital outlay.  Blue Ridge City Council Member Angie Arp seconded the need.  She stated “We’re (Blue Ridge) just not bringing in as much money as we are putting out.”  Ms. Arp has recently cost the city more than $35,000 in legal fees over an unsubstantiated investigation into Mayor Whitener’s residency.

Absent as of yet from the SPLOST suggestions is funding for public safety.  Mr. Sosebee and Mr, Johnson, in particular, have said that the 20% increase in EMS calls over the past year and the increasing number of weekend tourists and weekend festivals necessitate an increase in public safety personnel and equipment.  The Commissioners would like to see one more ambulance and salaries for its crew added to public safety expenditures from SPLOST revenue.

The meeting also dealt with some usual topics for Board of Commission meetings.

The County waste contract is back up for renewal.  At a previous meeting, the Commissioners expressed the desire to change garbage services.  The Commissioners received one bid, which was opened at the June 14^th meeting.  At that meeting, County Attorney Lynn Doss agreed to look over the bid and give comments on the bid’s fine-print legal terms.  On June 28^th, Mr. Johnson asked Ms. Doss for her comments on the bid.  Ms. Doss said she had decided to wait a week on another proposal from another waste management company. The Commissioners had not asked Ms. Doss to collect other bids.  Post-Commissioner Johnson seemed a bit perplexed by her statement.  However, he refrained from saying how her statement violated the Commissioners’ procedures for sending out bid requests.

The Post-Commissioners decided that they want to have contact information for nominees to county Boards and Authorities like the Water Authority and Library Board.  County Clerk Rita Kirby agreed that she could do it.  This move comes after questions about a Water Authority appointment made in the spring.  Citizen Joe Webb suggested that residents deserved more information about who was nominated to boards, their experience they will bring to a board and a transparent process for appointing people to boards.  Mr. Webb contends that all County Boards and Authorities receive taxpayer money and make crucial infrastructure and development decisions for the entire county; thus, residents should know more about who is appointed to a board.  The Commissioners appointed Mark Tune to join the Library Board.

Post-Commissioner Johnson wants more information from the Road Department about what roads have been paved and what are the top five roads on the “to be paved” list.  The Fannin County government website does not post this information; therefore, it is not easily accessible to Commissioners or Fannin residents.  He also wants to know what roads were paved this year and their costs. Along the topic of roads maintenance, Mr. Johnson has received numerous complaints about crooked lines on the roads.  He proposes to outsource road striping to a private contractor.  That way, when the roads are painted poorly, the private contractor must assume the cost of re-painting rather than the county paying its Road Department to redo a job it did poorly the first time.

Mr. Johnson questioned why Road Department Superintendent Charles Collins was not present at the meeting.  Mr. Collins had called in sick.  Mr. Johnson’s complaint was that Mr. Collins did not have another person deliver the Road Department monthly report.  Mr. Johnson’s negative focus on the Road Department follows last month’s revelation that the Road Department allowed employees to use vacation time to count for work hours in order to receive overtime pay.

Residents of Highland Hammock off Chestnut Gap Road petitioned the Commissioners to add Highland Hammock to the list of county-maintained roads.  The road has seven houses on it.

The Recreation Department stated that the basketball and softball tournaments held at the Tom Boyd complex brought in $12,000 in gate fees.  Next year, the Recreation Department will start to compare sports program budgets to money brought in from team registration.  Currently, the Department cannot accurately state which sports programs generate money and which ones cost more money to run than the registration fees bring in.

Land Development Authority Director Marie Woody reported that 129 new home permits have gone out this year.  Last year at this time, it was 101 permits and in 2014, 76 new home permits.

County Clerk and Finance Director Rita Kirby said that the county is running under budget right now, having only spent 48% of the yearly budget, even though the year is 50% over.  Ms. Kirby expects the 2015 County Audit to be available at the July 12^th Commissioners meeting.  Ms. Kirby said that C&S bank holds the account for Fannin County employees’ benefit fund.  The county established the account when it changed health insurance programs in June.

The Commissioners meet again on July 12^th at 6 pm in the Courthouse.  They will continue their discussion of the upcoming SPLOST ballot.