The work session and agenda-setting meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Catoosa County, Georgia was held on August 17, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Catoosa County Courthouse in Ringgold, Georgia.

During the discussion of the preliminary agenda, Brad Scott, the originator of the request for an Ordinance lowering the age from 21 to 18 to run for public office, asked the Board to remove the item from the agenda. He said the issue was still important to him, and he would hope it would be addressed some time in the future; however, there were more urgent issues requiring the Board’s attention at this time. Mr. Scott said he believed the issue was divisive, and he was more interested in preserving Board unity.

David Dunn was also present at the meeting to discuss the Public Defender’s contract and budget. The discussion was mostly about the $10,000 salary cut by the State from the Public Defender’s salary. Mr. Dunn also talked about the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council application, which could provide additional funds for indigent defense.

After discussion of the preliminary agenda, Chairman Long called the agenda-setting meeting to order. The following Commissioners were present: Winford Long, Chairman; Mark Fletcher, Commissioner, District One; Robert Winters, Commissioner, District Two; James F. Emberson, Commissioner, District Three; and Ronald Gracy, Commissioner, District Four.

The following changes were made to the preliminary agenda: Under Board Recognition add Jerry Lee, Chairman Catoosa Utility District; under Administrative Fiscal Matters add Approval of GPDSC Application, Appointment of Don Oliver to Tri-Parte Committee, and Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Agreement; remove from Old Business the Ordinance Lowering Age to Run for Office, move Consideration and Approval of Bid for Construction and Renovation of RTC Building to Executive Session; under New Business move Offer to Purchase Real Property, Giglio Silvey and Ken Poston to Executive Session; and Executive Session would be for Legal Advice, Personnel, and Land Acquisition.

Mrs. Shirley Smith, Director of the Literacy Center, requested approval for minor renovation at the Literacy Center. Mrs. Smith reminded the Board she had applied for a grant to fund expansion of the Center; however, they were not selected as a recipient. Mrs. Smith said they had an immediate need to expand the childcare area and felt this could be accomplished by removing a wall. Mrs. Smith said the funds would be provided through private contribution, and the original builder of the Literacy Center would do the renovation work. Chief Finance Officer Henson said since the funds were private and not County funds, it would not require a bid. The consensus among the commissioners was that expansion for the childcare area was an immediate need, and Mrs. Smith should proceed with the renovation.

The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Catoosa County, Georgia was held on August 17, 2004, in the Catoosa County Courthouse Annex in Ringgold, Georgia at 7:00 p.m.

The invocation was given by Commissioner Ronald Gracy, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

Chairman Long announced the changes to the agenda.

Chairman Long called the meeting to order. The roll was called and the following Commissioners were present: Winford Long, Chairman; Mark Fletcher, Commissioner, District One; Robert Winters, Commissioner, District Two; James F. Emberson, Commissioner, District Three; and Ronald Gracy, Commissioner, District Four.

The Board presented a Proclamation to Mrs. Shirley Smith and Mrs. Ann Nix declaring the month of September as Literacy Month in Catoosa County. The Board also recognized Jerry Lee, Chairman of the Board of Catoosa Utility District, and Jake Bowman, Vice-Chair of the Utility Board. They displayed a plaque they were awarded from the Georgia Water and Pollution Control for the best-tasting water and indicated they would very shortly compete for the International Award.

PURCHASING POLICY REPORT County Manager Byrd presented the current Purchasing Policy Report. Motion by Commissioner Emberson, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher, to approve the Purchasing Policy Report as presented; motion carried unanimously. [Attached hereto as Exhibit A]

PUBLIC DEFENDER PERSONNEL CONTRACT AND BUDGET County Attorney Patty presented the contract for the Public Defender’s office and indigent defense. He said the contract provided for a total of $7,5000 from Dade, Walker, Catoosa and Chattooga Counties as a salary supplement for the period of January 2005 to June 30, 2005, representing the amount of the salary that had been cut by the State. Mr. Patty said since his original draft of the contract, there had been another meeting regarding the issue and the salary supplement had been reduced from $7,500 to $5,000. Mr. Patty stated that some changes had been made to the contract, and requested the Board to approve the contract as modified. Mr. Patty stated that one of the modifications moved venue from Fulton County to a county in the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit. He requested the Board to allow him to change this back, if it was unacceptable to the State. Motion by Commissioner Gracy to approve the contract as amended and outlined by County Attorney Patty; seconded by Commissioner Emberson; the motion carried unanimously. [Contract on File in the County Commission Office]

CONTRACT WITH PERFORMING ARTS COUNCIL County Attorney Patty presented a contract for construction and maintenance of an amphitheatre on Benton Place Campus. Mr. Patty indicated the amphitheatre would be donated by Northwest Georgia Bank Foundation, Inc. Mr. Patty said the contract provided that the Northwest Georgia Bank Foundation, Inc. would be responsible for all aspects and obligations, including financial, in connection with the construction of the amphitheatre and upon completion the amphitheatre would be donated to Catoosa County. He said the Performing Arts Foundation agreed to manage all aspects of the amphitheatre at no additional cost or expense to the County, and in exchange for this agreement, the Performing Arts Foundation would be entitled to receive all revenue from the amphitheatre to offset management costs. The obligations for the County would be to provide a site at Benton Place; provide maintenance for the site to the extent it maintained the grounds at Benton Place Campus; to allow Northwest Georgia Bank Foundation to name the amphitheatre and to agree not to construct a building in the parking area between the Colonnade and the proposed amphitheatre site. Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher, to approve the contract as presented by Mr. Patty; motion carried 4-1; Winters opposed. [Copy of Contract on File in County Commission Office]

APPROVAL OF GEORGIA PUBLIC DEFENDER STANDARDS COUNCIL (GPDSC) APPLICATION County Attorney Patty presented the GPDSC application that had been prepared by Mr. Dunn. Mr. Patty said in the past the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit had not participated in the old Public Defender system; however, the County could still claim a portion of the funds available by appointing members to a Tri-Parte Committee. Mr. Patty said one new member would be appointed by the Lookout Mountain Bar Association, one member appointed by the Chief Judge of the circuit and the final member appointed by the Commissioners of the counties comprising the circuit. Mr. Patty said the sole purpose of the Tri-Parte Committee was to apply for State funds, and the Committee would disappear on January 1, 2005. He noted that the funds applied for were for July 1, 2004 through December 31, 2004 and that after January 1, 2005, these funds would no longer be available, since the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council would begin operating the 49 circuit public defender offices throughout the State. Mr. Patty said the County could receive funds of approximately $22,000, which would be used for indigent defense. Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Winters, to authorize filing of the GPDSC application; motion carried unanimously. [Copy of Application on File in the County Commission Office]

APPOINTMENT OF DON OLIVER AS REPRESENTATIVE ON TRI-PARTE COMMITTEE County Attorney Patty continued the presentation regarding indigent defense and the GPDSC application by addressing the requirement to appoint a member to the Tri-Parte Committee. He said the Lookout Mountain Bar Association and Chief Judge of the circuit had appointed Jack Setters of Rossville and Steven Moore of Ft. Oglethorpe to the Tri-Parte Committee, and the Commissioners of the counties comprising the circuit needed to appoint a member. Mr. Patty said Dade, Walker, and Chattooga Counties had selected Don Oliver to represent them on the Tri-Parte Committee and recommended that the Catoosa County Board of Commissioners also appoint Don Oliver as its representative. Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher, to appoint Attorney Don Oliver as the Catoosa County representative on the Tri-Parte Committee; motion carried unanimously.

PRE-DISASTER MITIGATION GRANT AGREEMENT County Attorney Patty presented an agreement with GEMA for a grant in the amount of $18,750, with the County portion being $6,250.00. Chief Finance Officer Henson said these funds were provided for in the budget. Motion by Commissioner Fletcher, seconded by Commissioner Gracy, to approve the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Agreement; motion carried unanimously. [Copy of Agreement on File in County Commission Office]

COUNTY MANAGER REPORT County Manager Byrd said he had provided the Board with the monthly department reports and commented on various projects and accomplishments of the departments.

FINANCIAL REPORT Chief Finance Officer Henson gave the Financial Report for the period ending July 31, 2004. In summary, Mr. Henson stated the revenues exceeded expenditures $1,110,844, favorable to budget $1,110,844 and favorable to prior year $144,312.

APPROVAL OF LIST OF LARP-FUNDED ROADS County Manager Byrd presented the list of LARP roads for 2005. Mr. Byrd indicated this was a list of roads recommended by the County; however, the Department of Transportation would evaluate and select the roads they would fund. Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Winters, to approve the LARP list for DOT as presented by Mr. Byrd; motion carried unanimously. [List attached hereto as Exhibit C]

SURPLUS PROPERTY FOR AUCTION County Manager Byrd presented the Board with a list of properties for the Board’s consideration to declare as surplus for the purpose of auction. Motion by Commissioner Winters, seconded by Commissioner Gracy, to declare the list as amended as surplus property for auction; motion carried unanimously. [List attached hereto as Exhibit D]

DOT ACQUISITION ON FORMER RTC PROPERTY County Attorney Patty presented the proposal from the Department of Transportation to purchase an easement from the County property located on U.S. Highway 41, formerly the Ringgold Telephone property, in the amount of $90,000. Motion by Commissioner Fletcher, seconded by Commissioner Gracy, to accept the proposal from DOT in the amount of $90,000; motion carried unanimously. [Copy of agreement on file in County Commission Office]

NEW BUSINESS

Appeal Case No. 869-04, Todd Harbin, Special Use Permit, L. Q. Ware Lane Zoning Administrator Denny Malone said Mr. Harbin had requested a special use permit to place a singlewide mobile home on a piece of property on L. Q. Ware Lane. Mr. Malone said a double wide burned out mobile home was on the property. Mr. Malone said the property was zoned correctly; however, Planning Commission had denied Mr. Harbin’s permit based upon his failure to get signatures from all owners of adjoining property, some of which lived in Atlanta area.

Heath Morton, Resident. Mr. Morton said he was against granting Mr. Harbin the special use permit. Mr. Morton said he had been denied a permit, and he did not feel if one person was denied, another should be granted a permit. Mr. Morton indicated there were nearby mobile home parks that accepted singlewide mobile homes. He said he was concerned that if this permit were granted, that the area would turn into a mobile home park, and that property values would decrease.

Janice Stephens, Resident. Mrs. Stephens spoke in favor of granting Mr. Harbin the permit. Mrs. Stephens said she and her husband owned 10 acres, which did not adjoin the subject property, and neither did the Morton property adjoin the subject property. She said another person in the neighborhood wrote a letter opposing the permit, and his property faced Hackett Mill Road and was barely visible from L.Q. Ware Lane. She said there were only three houses in the neighborhood, with the remainder being mobile homes. Mrs. Stephens said most of the neighbors were committed to helping Mr. Harbin and felt confident Mr. Harbin could make the mobile home a nice place, if he put decks across the front and back and underpinned it with block foundation. Mrs. Stephens said she understood there were rules; however, there were times when the rules needed to be flexible. She said Mr. Harbin’s family had nowhere else to go, and she felt granting the permit was the right thing to do.

Todd Harbin, Resident. Mr. Harbin said he had not anticipated this situation coming up, because he had spoken with neighbors prior to placing the home on the property. He said his wife was seriously ill; a friend of his brother’s provided the mobile home; and he had spent everything he had to get it moved to the property. Mr. Harbin said he had nowhere else to go and asked the Board to help him out.

Chairman Long asked representatives of groups, associations, or businesses that wished to make statements or present petitions to come forward.

Phil Erli, Resident and Executive Vice President of Ringgold Telephone Company. Mr. Erli said he was appearing before the Board to address events that occurred over the past few weeks regarding the sale of the Ringgold Telephone Company (RTC) Building to the County earlier this year. In summary, Mr. Erli said the employees and management of RTC took great pride in its reputation; they strove to be a leader in the community and a good corporate citizen; that the County approached him about buying the RTC Building; they had never misrepresented the building as anything other than a 40-year old building with an original roof and that he had disclosed everything they knew regarding the condition of the building. Mr. Erli went on to state RTC was flexible in working with the County regarding timelines so the County could lock in the most favorable interest terms; that RTC had paid the County $6,500 per month to lease the building after the closing; RTC had elected to leave a free-standing safe that was in no way affixed to the building to the County for the sake of harmony; that RTC sold the building for $208,000 less that the appraised value; that the County had been provided an appraisal; that the $208,00 would be treated as a charitable deduction and it in no way impacted the property taxes or the fees paid to the County. Mr. Erli also talked about RTC’s quality of service provided to Catoosa County; reminded the Commission of the times RTC had provided assistance to the them without the County ever being billed. In closing, he said RTC had only its reputation to offer its customers and the County’s handling of this matter had worked to cast aspersions on the business ethics of RTC and if County wanted to play politics, it should not drag down the names of its best corporate citizens in the process. He said if economic development was as important to the County as they all professed, this seemed a strange way to attract new business.

Each of the commissioners responded that they appreciated all that RTC had done for the County, and they had not been a party to negative comments about RTC and the purchase of their building.

Cherise Miller, Resident. Said she felt the Board did not get agenda items in sufficient time before the meeting in order to study them. She also said she felt the order of the agenda prohibited citizens from commenting on issues until after the Board had already made its decisions.

Cathy Gregory, Property Owner. Addressed the Board on issues regarding property she and her husband owned at 63 Linda Circle. She said she was tricked into not attending the June 15, 2004 Board of Commissioners’ meeting, where their appeal was heard. Mrs. Gregory indicated she had a zoning permit, a mobile home permit, and an approved footing inspection and then Zoning placed a Stop Work Order on her project. Mrs. Gregory alleged there were already a doublewide, a basement apartment, two garage apartments and someone living in a camper in the neighborhood. Zoning Administrator Malone indicated the Planning Commission denied the doublewide going in the subdivision because of subdivision covenants. Mr. Malone indicated the doublewide Mrs. Gregory referenced was not in the subdivision. Zoning Attorney Chad Young had met with Mrs. Gregory and was in the process of preparing a letter of his findings.

Commissioner Fletcher – Commented on the Special Use Permit regarding the singlewide mobile home, stating the County had laws and they needed to uphold them.

Commissioner Winters – No comment.

Commissioner Emberson – No comment.

Commissioner Gracy – No comment.

Commissioner Long – No comment.

EXECUTIVE SESSION Chairman Long announced the Board would enter into executive session for legal advice, land acquisition, and personnel. Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Winters, to enter into executive session; motion carried unanimously. The Board went into executive session at 9:10 p.m.

Chairman Long said the executive session was for personnel, land acquisition, and legal advice; that no action was taken and entertained a motion to come out of executive session. Motion by Commissioner Emberson, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher, to come out of executive session; motion carried unanimously. The Board came out of executive session at 10:40 p.m.

OPEN SESSION

APPRAISAL ON POSTON PROPERTY Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Emberson, to authorize County Manager Byrd to obtain an appraisal on the Poston property; motion carried 4-1; Winters abstained.

BID BOND ON RTC BUILDING Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher, to return the bid bond funds to the low bidder, Edwards Construction, on the RTC Project; motion carried unanimously.

COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE BUILDING Motion by Commissioner Gracy, seconded by Commissioner Winters, to authorize County Manager Byrd to advertise for proposals for the design of County Administrative Building to include Tax Commissioner and Tax Assessors’ offices; motion carried unanimously.

ADJOURNMENT Upon motion by Commissioner Winters, seconded by Commissioner Emberson, the Board unanimously agreed to adjourn the meeting at 10:50 p .m.

Winford H. Long, Chairman

                                                                                            Mark Fletcher, Commissioner, District One