County Commission Begins Looking At Building Codes, Reports On Animal Facility And Elections Building

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The Dade County Board of Commissioners’ March 6 meeting was relatively short with very little business conducted but many reports presented. One topic the county is beginning to look at is building code enforcement. Routine department head meetings are another notable development inside the government offices.

Under business matters, the county approved the purchase of about 90 new computer workstations and accompanying software for about $100,000. This is due to Microsoft 10 reaching end of life. Don Townsend (county executive) noted that the county typically updates the workstations every five years.

The commission also approved surplusing six vehicles with mileages ranging from 148,000 to 242,000 miles.

Regarding the elections building, Townsend said that all commissioners and the board of elections have reviewed the building plans, so the next step is obtaining an MEP plan (Mechanical Electrical Plan) before bidding out the project.

Bob Woods (District Three commissioner) reported on the animal control facility, recapping the recent joint city-county meeting and last week’s committee meeting on March 4. The committee meeting was at Trenton City Hall (with another one coming up at 10 a.m. on March 18 in the county commission room). Woods said many citizens attended and Dr. Lisa Milot from the University of Georgia shared valuable information with the committee, including a standard operating procedure sample.

The committee agreed to establish a 501(c)(3) to collect grants and donations for the facility. Woods said all financial matters will be reported to the public. The anticipated staffing needs are three full-time positions: a director and two assistants. Citizens at the committee meeting said they have volunteers ready to get to work.

Woods explained his opinion that we should move forward with constructing the building shell using the money already allocated. The committee voted to follow this plan. Woods added that the committee has a list of grants to apply for.

The new administration has introduced a tradition at the start of the regular meeting of a pastor of the month leading the prayer. Robby Dunn (Rising Fawn Baptist Church) led last month, and Hutch Garmany (Grace Community Church) led this month.

Townsend briefly noted that along with the new citizens participation policy, there is a sheet at the back of the room for those who wish to participate to sign at the start of the meeting.

Bill Pullen (District One commissioner) shared the 911 report. Calls for February were as follows:

• EMS: 210
• Fire & Rescue: 241
• Law Enforcement: 1,415

Pullen reported that two ambulances need repairs, but one is irreparable. This means the county is down to four ambulances (only three of which are operational until the fourth is repaired).

Pullen reported that a new ambulance chassis and box costs between $250,000-$300,000, and our current ambulances have mileages above 200,000. In short, the county will need to prepare to replace some ambulances.

He attended a meeting with Georgia Department of Transportation and Tennessee Department of Transportation about the I-24 paving project. GDOT will be repaving both sides of the interstate this summer.

Pullen also noted that the road department deals with a lot of stolen signs. They just recently replaced $2,500 worth of stolen signs.

Lastly, he touched on the March 3 fire services meeting between the commissioners and fire chiefs. Pullen said they discussed procedures and the desperate need for volunteers.

Phillip Hartline (District Two county commissioner) noted that there was a meeting with local contractors to begin the process of looking at county building codes and enforcement. He acknowledged that he is both a commissioner and a contractor, so he sees the topic from both perspectives.

More meetings and research will occur to tighten up code enforcement, but the county anticipates that it will be at least a year before anything new is implemented. Hartline explained that currently, only septic tanks and electrical are inspected.

Townsend later added that we do have codes in the ordinances, but they haven’t been enforced. He said, “We’re not going to come out of the gate and make everybody jump through a lot of hoops and cause a lot of burden. We just want people to be afforded the same protections you would be anywhere else in the world and level the playing field for contractors.”

Hartline mentioned a recent personal experience with Dade’s EMS system. His family called 911 for one of his daughters, and the ambulance arrived within 12 minutes. The family was able to drive her to the hospital after the EMTs checked her out. While at the hospital, that same ambulance arrived carrying another patient.

Noting that ambulances can’t leave the hospital until the patients have been handed off (which can sometimes take quite a long time), Hartline said, “I got to see all of that in motion…That’s why we run out of ambulances.”

He encouraged citizens not to use the ambulances for transportation unless truly needed because somebody else may need this life-saving but limited resource.

Townsend noted other recent internal meetings. He met with the parks and recreation department and the coroners. The county also held a lengthy department head meeting—the first of many such meetings to come. Townsend said, “It allows us to communicate. In the past, we’ve not really had those meetings where we’re all together and can talk to each other.” The administrative staff also began a new practice of meeting every other Friday.