CATOOSA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, 800 LA FAYETTE ROAD
June 3, 2008, 9:00 A.m.
The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners was held Tuesday, June 3, 2008 at 9:00 a.m. in the Catoosa County Administrative Building, 800 LaFayette Street, Ringgold, Georgia.
County Manager Mike Helton gave the invocation, which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Chairman Clark called the meeting to order. The following Commissioners were present: William H. H. Clark, Chairman; Ken Marks, Commissioner District One; Robert Winters, Commissioner, District Two; James F. Emberson, Commissioner, District Three; and Dewayne Hill, Commissioner, District Four.
Additions: None Remove: SPLOST 2009 Referendum Resolution; Intergovernmental Agreement with City of Ringgold, City of Fort Oglethorpe, Catoosa Utility District providing for the 2009 SPLOST projects Chairman Clark called for all those in favor of approving the agenda as amended do so by saying aye. By unanimous consent the agenda was approved as amended.
MINUTES
Chairman Clark called for approval of the minutes of the Regular Meeting held on May 20, 2008. There were no corrections and the minutes were unanimously approved as presented.
PROPOSED RENEWAL OF GROUP HEALTH AND DENTAL INSURANCE Chief Financial Officer, Carl Henson, stated it is time for the annual renewal of the group health insurance. Mr. Henson said the current carrier, United Healthcare, has calculated renewal increase of 17.7%. Mr. Henson said he has negotiated with United and now has an offer of renewal down to 12%, which is 5.7% reduction in premium. Mr. Henson stated due to the fact that United Healthcare does provide good service and is very cost effective and easy to administer staff recommends that the County renew at the 12% on the health insurance and on dental insurance at 7.4%. Chairman Clark called for all those in favor of the renewal to indicate so by saying aye. There was no opposition and the renewal was approved by unanimous consent.
PROPOSED CONTRACT WITH DEPENDABLE SECURITY – COLONNADE Chief Financial Officer, Carl Henson, stated in the change over of the Colonnade the County had Dependable Security come in and reset all the codes on the security system. Mr. Henson said there is a proposed agreement to monitor the security and fire system, at a cost of $123 per quarter. Chairman Clark called for all those in favor of approving the contract to indicate so by saying aye. There was no opposition and the contract was approved by unanimous consent.
PROPOSED CONTRACT AMENDMENTS FOR DOT PROJECT #LAR07-S010-00 (167) C1 County Manager, Mike Helton, presented the proposed contract amendments for the current LARP contracts with DOT. Mr. Helton stated the amendments include the deletion of resurfacing Meadow Green Drive and substituting in its place .29 miles of resurfacing of Brownwood Circle. Mr. Helton stated the purpose of the amendments is that Meadow Green Drive was paved recently and is not in need of repaving at this time. Chairman Clark called for all those in favor of the contract amendments to indicate so by saying aye. There was no opposition and the amendments were approved by unanimous consent.
REPORTS
COUNTY MANAGER REPORT County Manager Mike Helton reported on the following items:
· Updated Board on results of Short Term Disability Plan offered to employees, by Shaw Hankins Company. Mr. Helton stated the interest by employees exceeded expectations with 44% of employees signing up.
· Informed Board of challenge made to Department Directors to conserve gasoline usage by finding ways to reduce use. Public Works Department has dispensed 298 gallons less gasoline than the prior month.
· Inform Board that process to open Mac Smith Road will begin tomorrow, and should take approximately 4 days to complete.
Commissioner Marks questioned for the record the status of Mineral Avenue. County Manager Helton stated Mineral Avenue is in discussions in Atlanta at this time and he understands Senator Mullis is working towards finding some solutions to the problem. Staff and others are working to try and keep the road open until further steps can be made to extend Mac Smith Road. Commissioner Marks said he has spoken with Steve Farrell, Chairman of DOT Board, and informed him of situation and seek his assistance.
VINTAGE CARBON CREDITS Olney Meadows informed Board that there are currently two carbon credit sales in process at this time. Mr. Meadows stated the first sale is for vintage carbon credits sales, which began in June 2003 and went through February of 2007. Mr. Meadows said the second sale is for carbon credits from February 2007 through present. Mr. Meadows said the difference between the two sales and the reason for separating them is the initial credit offsets which were produced by flaring gas at the flare starting in 2003 until March 2007 there was no calibration of the metering equipment, due to there being no need to calibrate the equipment until early this year when the Chicago Climate Exchange started requiring that equipment for flaring gas to be used for offsets must be calibrated. All of the credits from March 2007 through the present can be placed on the Chicago Climate Exchange; the vintage credits that were not calibrated must be sold differently. Mr. Meadows stated there were two responders to the RFP sent out for vintage carbon credits (Environmental Credit and the Carbon Auction). Mr. Meadows stated in the RFP information it stated in 6 different locations that the credits were not calibrated offsets. Environmental Credit was selected as the RFP and they have since reviewed the information and decided that they cannot sell them on the CCX and have sent notification that they want to back out of the contract and the provisions for it. Mr. Meadows stated his recommendation would be to go to the other responder, the Carbon Auction, where the County would do a preliminary report through February 2007 and verify that it has been done with GeoSyntec and request the Carbon Auction place them in an auction position. Mr. Meadows stated he would also recommend that the Board give Carl Henson and Mike Helton authority to seek terms and conditions on the open market to sell the credits. Commissioner Marks made a motion to involve the Chief Financial Officer, Carl Henson, and the County Manager, Mike Helton, in selling of the vintage carbon credits. Commissioner Winters second the motion. Chairman Clark called for all those in favor of approving the motion to indicate so by saying aye. There was no opposition and the motion passed by unanimous consent.
None
Gary Hedrick, Mineral Avenue Resident, said he would like to discuss Mineral Avenue. Mr. Hedrick said he went down the road the other day and it was the first time he had seen a sign stating the State was going to close the road. He has been on the phone with several people since then trying to find out what is going on and the best he can find out is that this was put in motion 5-7 years ago and it was signed by the County and that the County would put in a road from Mineral and out onto Mac Smith. Mr. Hedrick said DOT stated the County has now said they cant do that because they cannot afford to. Mr. Hedrick said if this were put in motion that long ago there has been a subdivision put in on that road and a couple hundred apartments. Mr. Hedrick said there is no way 2-A can handle all of that traffic and it is going to cause a tremendous safety hazard. Mr. Hedrick said the state told him Mineral Avenue is not safe and that is one of the reasons they are closing the road, he has lived on Mineral Avenue for 27 years and he can name only 2 wrecks at the end of that road. Mr. Hedrick said he owns the body shop on Mineral Avenue and has been in business for 22 years and the trucks he brings in and out of there are too big to get out onto 2-A and would cost him more money and fuel to operate that way. Mr. Hedrick said this is going to hurt his business as well as the other businesses on the road. Chairman Clark said the DOT is one of the hardest departments to work with due to the size of the departments and the Board understands the issues the citizens are having and will do everything possible to try and work something out with DOT along with the help of Senator Mullis and others. Commissioner Marks said several meeting have taken place with DOT and the Board has expressed to them that they do not want Mineral Avenue closed Commissioner Marks stated it looks like the Board needs to meet with DOT and let them explain in person the reasoning for their actions.
Commissioner Emberson questioned the status of the additional methane wells at the Landfill. County Manger Mike Helton stated the County is waiting on EPD to approve the plans and contact has been made with officials at EPD to try and see if they could speed things up somewhat but cannot move forward with the project until they issue the permit.
EXECUTIVE SESSION Chairman Clark said the Board would go into executive session for the purpose of legal. The vote was taken by roll call and the Board unanimously voted to go into executive session for legal matters at 9:28 a.m. The Board voted unanimously to come out of executive session at 10:18 a.m.
Commissioner Ken Marks said he received a call from Senator Mullis regarding Mineral Avenue situation and he was informed it would not be permanently closed until the County can extend Mac Smith to interlock with Mineral Avenue but it will be closed temporarily as the widening of Cloud Springs Road is constructed.
ADJOURNMENT There was no further business, and the Board unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 10:20 a.m.