Road Department Contract Approved

Brooks County--On September 25, 2023, Brooks County Commissioners met at a Special Called Meeting/Work meeting in the Commissioners Room at the Administration Building located at 610 South Highland road, Quitman, GA.

Present at this meeting were Commissioners Patrick Folsom, James Maxwell, Myra Exum, Willie Cody, and Lee Larko. Administration staff and the County Attorney Jason Kemp were present during this meeting/workshop.

Business discussed and handled during this meeting consisted an update on the approval of the contract services for the Road Department, Grady EMS services, and an amendment to a zoning ordinance.

Clear Water Solutions (CWS), was approved during the regular monthly meeting as the contracted company for Brooks County concerning road maintenance on county roads excluding mowing. However, the commission board had some stipulations that CWS had to meet in order for them to be granted the contract.

At the Special Called Meeting/Workshop, Mr. Steve Kaywood of CWS met with the Board of Commissioners to introduce the team that would manage the contract services. Mr. Kaywood announced that the previous meetings budgeted amount would be met and would not affect their performance with a reduction of manpower. Kaywood is looking to begin on December 1, 2023 so that it will give him time to work with the contract and get in the contract phase.

CWS will use all county equipment, excluding the mowing, and will begin with the Road Department's current employees. Kaywood announced he would be hiring employees and that the company would need to be moved out of the private sector to the public sector. A job fair to recruit new employees will be held.

Mr. Kaywood was asked by Administrator McKinney if they could possible begin earlier and Kaywood replied they would try to get started as soon as possible.

The Director in North Carolina, Mr. Dana Hill, stated he would meet with the employees of Brooks County Road Department on September 26, 2023. Board member Cody and Chairman Folsom both agreed to meet him at the Brooks County Road Department at 7 a.m.

Grady EMS informed the Board that they were giving them official notice that they will not renew the emergency medial services contract at the end of 2024. This is to give the Board ample time to purchase the license back after approval to obtain the license. The service will be put out to bid once again.

The amendment to a zoning ordinance concerns the zoning and code enforcement of RVs. Mrs. Sherry Davidson requested a text amendment to the current zoning ordinance. That amendment would apply to page 8, section titled Trailer, Travel Type. "A vehicular portable structure designed as a temporary dwelling (add only) for travel, recreation and vacation uses which is identified on the unit by the manufacturer as a "camper" or "travel trailer", which shall also include motorized recreation vehicles".

Second amendment, page 13, Section 3-28, sentence stating, "Recreational vehicles shall not be utilized as a permanent dwelling in any zoning district." is to be deleted.

County Attorney, Jason Kemp, stated, "there needs to be a benchmark time frame; and add more language to make clearer." Kemp was requested by the Board to look at the proposal before Davidson took it to the Planning Commission.

Workshop session consisted of regular meeting agenda review, GDOT speed zone ordinances being updated, and Empress Road and Johnson Short Road.

No Executive Session was done for this meeting.