Last week’s Long County Board of Commissioners meeting had a short agenda.
A report by Chairman Dwight Gordon on upcoming projects and county issues took up most of brief March 1 session.
He started by saying that despite criticism the commissioners have taken about their finances, an email from the Georgia Department of Audits said the county’s fiscal-year 2015 financial audit found no problems.
“And the email stated that we’re in compliance and no corrective action was necessary. That’s the 2015 audit,” Gordon said.
He credited the county’s new software with organizing financial statements and assisting employees with gathering information for the audit.
Projects
Gordon also discussed a number of projects the county is working on with funding from different sources.
Phase 2 of the recreationpark is almost done. That phase included adding stands and dugouts to two baseball fields. Bleacher covers will also be added shortly, he said.
The county is now looking into installing lights, on which officials had waited because there were not enough Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds, according to Gordon. The county now has enough funds for the lights and will put out bids.
The lights should be put in by this spring, he said.
The total cost to the county for the park so far is $244,000, not including the lights.
The county also has several road projects that will be paid using different funds, including SPLOST and the Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation. The LMIG helps local governments improve state roads, according the grant’s website.
“These projects will be done hopefully this spring,” Gordon said, “because we’ve got the bids going out now. And as soon as the bids come in and it warms up, the work will be done.”
Using some of SPLOST money, the county will put in a right-turn lane in front of Ludowici Bank. The road between IGA and the bank becomes congested during morning and evening rush hour, Gordon said.
Roads by Walker Elementary School will also be paved. The county will pave 1,200 feet of Main and Macon streets, and the city of Ludowici will pave 1,200 feet of Lincoln and Franklin St.
Elim Church Road will be widened by 2 feet on each side and resurfaced.
“We’re going to use these funds to get as far as we can from Barrett Cemetery Road back towards town,” Gordon said.
For another project, the county is working with the Hinesville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization to “widen the road from Hinesville county line to Barrett Cemetery Road,” Gordon said.
HAMPO has not done anything for Long County since 2007, he said, and the organization is receiving federal funds for projects.
Gordon said the county will submit its next LMIG application in April and start using the funds for road projects after July.
Other business
The board adopted the permit fee schedule that was discussed at its Feb. 2 meeting. As reported earlier in the Coastal Courier, the permit fees were changed for “different services related to construction in the county.”
An executive session for personnel and potential litigation took place, but no action was taken afterward.