AGENDA July 8, 2024 6:00P.M.  THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS  REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING  JOHNSON COUNTY GOVERNMENT ANNEX  The. Johnson County Board of Commissioners held their REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING on July 8, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. in the Johnson County Government Annex. Chairman James L.  McAfee, Jr. called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. led the Invocation.  Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. led all in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  Commissioner Felice Pullen made ai motion to accept the minutes of the last Regular Monthly Meeting held June 10, 2024. Commissioner Mike Keene seconded the motion. The vote to Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated the amount ofbills from the General Fund for the month of June amounted to $167,714.32. Total amount ofbills from all funds for the month ofJune was $374,824.75. Chairman McAfee then called for a motion to approve the bills for June. Commissioner Larry Pope made a motion to approve the monthly bills for. June of $374,824.75 from all funds. Commissioner Felice Pullen seconded the motion. The vote to approve the bills Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. gave the Financial Report. County Administrator Bill Lindsey could not be physically present due to illness but did participate via telephone. Asoftoday, the General Fund will have a balance of$1,041,671.90 after the monthly bills are paid. A COPY OF THIS FINANCIAL REPORT WILL BE FILED WITH THESE MINUTES.  approve the minutes was unanimous 4-0.  was unanimous 4-0.  OLD BUSINESS  A. Consideration and Approval of Amendment to Subdivision Ordinance- County Attorney Joseph Sumner stated to the board the District health inspector has refused or otherwise been unable to meet with the county. Sumner stated that it is up to the board ifthey wanted him to go on and draft the ordinance up without her input. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated haven't we asked the health inspector multiple times to meet with us, and Sumner stated on one occasion the health inspector never showed up and instead sent someone that didn't know the answers to the county's questions. Sumner stated that is the reason why the board kept tabling it in order to get the health inspector to give us feedback. Chairman McAfee asked the board what we could do about this. Commissioner Mike Keene said the only thing we can do is go on without her, and he asked ift they have contacted her boss. Sumner asked County Administrator Bill Lindsey, who was on the phone, had he reached out to the health inspector's boss. Lindsey stated he had but the district health inspector is the one that needs to be most involved in this. He stated she    keeps saying our ordinance is inconsistent with their regulations. He stated we need to know what those regulations are and where are we supposedly lacking. Lindsey stated for some reason she can'tseem to do that or will not do it. Lindsey stated she wants toj pull her supervisor into the meetings, and the supervisor did come to one meeting, but was not familiar with the situation. Lindsey stated the end result was more or less to bring the supervisor up to speed on what was going on. The key person who needed to be more part ofthis did not show up. Lindsey stated wel have a responsibility to move on with this ordinance. Lindsey stated the two central questions for the board was one, whether to lower the ten acre threshold for a subdivision or leave it asi is. Lindsey stated the other question, as was the case a couple ofmeetings ago with a gentleman down in thel Meeks area that had ai mobile home park/subdivision going on in a backdoor sort ofway, was how many houses can be placed on aj particular parcel before you consider that a backdoor subdivision. Commissioner Keene stated since they have talked tol her supervisor, and apparently that made no difference, he suggested to move on without them. Sumner stated the only response we can give them at this point ifit doesn't comply Sumner stated the issue we. have kicked around is the five acres verses ten acres, and the history behind that is wel had people that were coming in that were calling ita subdivision, and they were building interior roads that were made to look like county roads that had a green street sign. Then people buy a lot and they come to the county stating their road isn'tb being maintained. Sumner stated you have tons of problems with that, and nobody wins in that kind of situation. The people that buy the lot are hard to convince that it is not a county road due to it coming off a county road with a street sign. Sumner stated some oft these people don't have the resources and can'ts scrape the roads themselves. Sumner stated the issue has been brought up about whether or not ten acres is too much or whether it should be should be five acres. Sumner stated the ten acres was just an effort to say ifyou get past ten acres you can subdivide less than ten acres, and you just have to spend the money to put in thei infrastructure so that people who buy these lots are not duped into thinking they are getting access and the county is going to maintain that access. Sumner stated we talked al lot about law enforcement and first responder access to these places, where regardless of whose responsibility it is they have to go there. Sumner stated you wind up with just awful circumstances like Claxton's Trailer Park on Hwy 57, where public safety vehicles have to park at the end ofthe road and walk up there. Sumner stated it's a matter oftrying to make it as least restrictive as you can, but also have teeth in it so that these operators can'tcome in and set up one of these: fake subdivisions, and sell everything offa and then they leave. They say they are going to maintain it after they sell off the last lot, but you never see them again. Sumner stated he's] pretty sure that the Sheriff and EMTs can tell the board that it is an inordinate amount oft response time to go to these areas that are tightly packed where you could have Sumner stated that this was aj problem. The threshold issue is does the board want to go lower than ten acres. We attempted to strike al balance where ten is enough acres that the people that would do that probably won'tifthey! have to do it in ten acre. lots. Sumner stated that ten acres tends to be enough land that is going to have road access, and the ten  is we don'tknow why it doesn't comply.  twenty-five rent to al lot.    acres is designed to prevent that basically. Commissioner Mike Keene stated on the ten acres are we: not allowing less than ten acres ori ifthey do less than ten acres do they have tor meet all: requirements. Sumner stated itl has been misunderstood and misquoted that there is noi restriction where you can'ts subdivide less than ten acres, but if you do sO basically it states you have toj put in ai road that is equal to the county standards. That way you don't dump a substandard road on the lot buyers or put the county commission or the county road department in al bad position to having to break the bad news to property owner that they got tricked, and we can'tmaintain that road due to it not being a county road. Commissioner Keene suggested that the board add to that ordinance in the signage that it has tol be county approved signage. He thought that it needed to say that all signage needs to meet MUTCD standards ifit's going to be a county road. Sumner stated it would not be a county road, and he thought in our position we don't want to be under any Commissioner Mike Keene stated we need tol look at that again. When he read through it ac couple oft times tol be sure what it was, he thought it sounded like you can have the road and not dedicate it to the county, or you could have the road and dedicate it to the county. Sumner stated he would look back over that section, and the board would have to agree to do that. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated is the board going to table this again until the next meeting. County Attorney Sumner stated thel board should remove it and let him and County Administrator Bill Lindsey report back to the board. Ift the board isn't going to continue efforts to change it, he didn't see the need tol keep it on the agenda. The board agreed to remove the Consideration and Approval of Amendment to the Subdivision Ordinance off the agenda. Commissioner Keene wanted to know ift the board needed to approve it as is or approve amendments to it as they come up sO we can get it off the agenda and actually start using it. County Attorney Sumner stated it is in place and it passed. Sumner stated this was just an effort to try to figure out thei issue with the health department and why they were telling people that this ordinance was somehow in conflict with some state regulations and when they will not tell us what the conflict is.  obligation to take on those roads.  New Business  A. Approve Renewal of Employee Group Health Insurance Plan- Michael Jackson, Vice President of Employee Benefits with AssuredPartners, presented to the board copies oft the 2024-2025 benefit proposal from different health insurance carriers. Jackson stated to the board that it was a 4.5 percent increase on the group health insurance with the incumbent plan from United Healthcare. Jackson stated AssuredPartners went to several other carriers to get quotes, and Anthem and Aetna declined to quote. Jackson stated one carrier called Angle gave a quote with a 22.64 percent increase. Also, Cigna gave a quote with an 8.64 percent increase and requiring a 45 percent participation rate. Jackson stated to the board he recommended going with United Healthcare, which is the county's current carrier for group medical.. Jackson stated on the United Healthcare quote there are three different plans. As it is set up currently, the county has a base plan that the county    sets their budget on. Jackson stated on thel base plan the county is paying 83 percent, leaving the employee with a biweekly payroll deduction of fifty-five dollars and eighty-two cents ($55.82), and it gives them the options to add other members to the plan. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated that United Healthcare has been around for a long time, and he thought it was a great company. Jackson stated on the dental plan the county pays 65 percent. The current rate is thirty-five dollars and forty-three cents ($35.43), but is increasing to thirty-six dollars and fourteen cents ($36.14). Chairman McAfee asked County Administrator Bill Lindsey if hel had any comments on it, and he stated he recommends that the county renews with United Healthcare for another year. Wel had those three plan options this past year, which worked well. Lindsey stated that everyone seems to be pleased with United Healthcare with no major issues to speak of. Lindsey stated the 4.5 percent increase really was better than what we thought it was going to end up being, especially given the current insurance market and inflation. Lindsey stated he thought it wasn't that bad, and the county can handle that for another year. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. made a motion to approve renewing the annual contract for United Healthcare insurance for county employees with AssuredPartners. Commissioner Felice Pullen seconded the motion. The vote to approve renewing the annual contract for United Healthcare insurance for the county employees with AssuredPartners was approved  unanimously 4-0.  B. Consideration and Approval of Quote to Repair Fire Alarm System at Jail- Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. presented to the board a copy ofa quote from EMC Security to repair the fire alarm system at the jail. The total amount of the quote was thirty-two thousand four hundred eighty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents ($32,487.75). Chairman McAfee stated that the previous jail administration was supposed to get the fire alarm system fixed, and now it has gotten to a point where the Fire Marshal stated it needs tol be fixed or the county will not be able to house inmates at the jail. Chairman McAfee stated the cost is going to be in two phases. The first phase is going to be the fire alarm system. Then the second phase is going to be the sprinkler system. Chairman McAfee stated we! have the quote on the alarm system but not on the sprinkler system. Chairman McAfee stated since Vice-Chairman Ron Darrisaw is absent tonight, he would ask the board where we would get the funds to pay for this. Commissioner Felice Pullen wanted to know could the funds come out of SPLOST, and Chairman McAfee stated the funds couldn't come out ofit. Chairman McAfee stated it only can come out oftwo places. It can come from the General Fund, or we could go to the bank and pull one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) off the CD to do both projects. Chairman McAfee stated next year we can go back and replace that one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00), and he didn'trecommend taking it from the General Fund. Sheriff Greg Rowland stated to the board that the Fire Marshal is the one wanting them to do it, and he didn't know anything about the system needing to be fixed prior to taking office. The Fire Marshal showed the sheriff where they submitted the quote to the previous jail administration showing the system needed to be fixed back in 2019. Chairman McAfee stated if we don't get it done, then we will have to pay another county to house the inmates, and it would cost the county al lot of money. Sheriff Rowland stated that he has to pay tol have    someone sit in the control room to watch the fire alarm system, and then they have to walk the whole facility to make sure there isn'ta fire. EMAI Director Shawn Wombles stated the sheriffis! having that person to walk around to check those devices. Chairman McAfee stated he didn'tremember this ever being brought to a public meeting, and County Administrator Bill Lindsey stated he didn'tremember either. Commissioner Mike Keene stated it needs to be fixed tol keep the jail going. Commissioner Mike Keene made ai motion to approve the quote oft thirty-two thousand four hundred eighty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents ($32,487.75) from EMC Security to repair the fire alarm system at the jail. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. seconded the motion. The vote to approve the quote of thirty-two thousand four hundred eighty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents ($32,487.75) from EMC Security to repair the fire alarm system at the jail was approved  unanimously 4-0.  C. Consideration and Approval of Sheriff's Office Request to Surplus Vehicle- Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. presented to the board a copy ofa letter from the. Johnson County Sheriff's Office asking the board for permission to surplus a vehicle. Chairman McAfee stated they are using govdeals.com to sell the vehicle to thel highest bidder. Chairman McAfee stated the vehicle is a 2017 Dodge Charger. It is unserviceable, and they will be selling it as is. Sheriff Greg Rowland also presented two checks to the board for selling the grey van for five thousand threel hundred fifty dollars ($5,350.00) and one for twelve hundred dollars ($1,200.00) for fees. Commissioner Mike Keene made ai motion to approve for the. Johnson County Sheriff's Office to surplus a 2017 Dodge Charger. Commissioner Larry Pope seconded the motion. The vote to approve for the. Johnson County Sheriff's Office to surplus a 2017 Dodge Charger was approved unanimously 4- D. Courthouse Update- County Administrator Bill Lindsey stated to thel board that the last thing remaining is to get the fire alarm system and elevator reconnected to each other. Lindsey stated that both of those were worked on separately, and both are now back operational. Lindsey stated the one catch is that the two are not connected, and they are going to have to be reconnected. Lindsey stated that is going to take the technician from the elevator company, Thyssenkrupp, as well as the technician from EMC Security who repaired the fire alarm panel. Lindsey stated those two gentleman are scheduled to be on site tomorrow: morning sometime around 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. to get that reconnected. Lindsey stated that is the final step other than the elevator inspector from the fire marshal's office to come back and sign off on everything. Once he does that, then we have the green light to move everybody back in the building who needs to get back in there. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated with that being said, you are talking about the Sheriff's office, Probate Judge's office, and Clerk of Court office. Chairman McAfee stated hel knows the Probate Judge is already making arrangements to get her stuff moved backi into the courthouse, and the Sheriffleft his stuffin the courthouse. Sheriff Greg Rowland stated to thel board that hel has told the Probate Court and the Clerk of Court he will furnish some inmates to help them move their stuff for them. Chairman McAfee stated he thought the Clerk of Court and Probate Court can take back what they have now in the courthouse sO the county won'tl have to spend any extra money.  0.    Commissioner Mike Keene stated with all that movement will the county have to do anything to the building once they move out, and Chairman McAfee stated we probably won'thave to. The building was only being used as a voting precinct, and at one time a food bank used it. Chairman McAfee stated the 911 center has one part of thel building, and the other part is set for the elections. McAfee stated he thought the elections stored some oftheir voting machines there. Commissioner Keene stated he didn't want it to slip by and then jump on the board all ofa sudden. Chairman McAfee said he didn'tsee E. Development Authority Report-Hugh Darnley- Development Authority Executive Director Hugh Darnley stated to the board that Ole South Trading Company opened this past week on July Sth, and they are selling antiques, coins, and ice cream. It is a neat little shop, and he encourages everyone to go check it out. Darnley stated the deck at the Depot is finished, and the contractor did a great job on it. He stated the crew is coming back to finish up some doors that needed to be fixed. He also mentioned that Golden Farmer is hiring. Darnley stated that there is al bunch ofinterest in downtown spaces right now. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. thanked Darnley for all he has done for the county, and anything is a blessing. When businesses come in, they have to pay taxes which include city taxes, county taxes, property taxes, and SPLOST. Chairman McAfee stated when these businesses come to town, it's not like we are glorifying the city of Wrightsville, which they are bringing in revenue for the county and the city. Chairman McAfee stated some people don'tunderstand that, and we are sO far behind it is going to take little steps to catch up. Darnley stated on the industrial side we can'treally entertain anything else involving higher wages right now. Darnley stated anything above eighteen dollars an hour we can'tl handle currently due to not having enough ofa work force to F. EMS Report-Jeff Soles- Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated to the board that EMS Director. Jeff Soles could not be present tonight. Chairman McAfee presented to the board the EMS Report. Johnson County EMS responded to one hundred thirty-eight (138) calls for the month ofJune. Chairman McAfee stated they have several EMT- Basic employees who will start EMT-Advanced school in July. M1 ambulance is in the shop needing a new air conditioner. Chairman McAfee stated that the Fourth of. July celebration was a huge success, and thanks to all who stood in the heat and made sure it was a safe time for our citizens. Chairman McAfee stated they did an excellent job G. Fire Report- Shawn Wombles- EMA Director Shawn Wombles presented to the board a copy oft the fire report for the month of. June. Wombles stated they had thirty-four (34) calls for the month ofJune, and the one that stood out to him was that they had ten (10) calls for grass fires due to the drought wel have had. Wombles stated we had a great Fourth ofJuly and wanted to thank the Sheriff's Department, EMS, and everyone that put it together. Wombles stated there are fifteen firefighters with the SCRT team, and they will be taking their final test on July 31St. Hopefully we will have some more to add to our volunteer fire departments. Once they get the written test out oft the way, it will probably be sometime the second or third week in August that they will take their  where they would have to.  fill these jobs.  seeing about things.    exam that would give them their state certification for Fire Fighter 1. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated he and Commissioner Keene spoke before this meeting started, and wet thank everybody who responded to the fire at Midway Straw, and that was the largest fire we ever had in this county. Chairman McAfee stated everyone did an excellent job, and there was law enforcement, fire trucks, water trucks, and a lot more. Chairman McAfee stated the response made him proud to live in Johnson County. H. Solar Farm- Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated to the board that on. July 24, 2024 a public relations specialist who used to work for Governor Nathan Deal is coming down to talk about the benefits oft the solar farm again. He stated they are wanting to meet with the Chairman of the board of commissioners, chairman oft the school board, and mayor oft the city of Wrightsville on an individual basis. He stated they are wanting to meet with two people from the Board of Commissioners, and he asked ifany ofthe board members wanted to be at the meeting. County Administrator Bill Lindsey stated he was in contact with this gentleman this afternoon, and he wants to meet with us at 10:00 a.m. on the morning ofJuly 24th. Lindsey asked County Attorney Joseph Sumner ift the gentleman reached out to him yet becausel he got the impression he was going to. Lindsey stated he thought it was a good idea if Sumner would sit in with him and Chairman McAfee on that meeting. Sumner stated to Lindsey to just send him a reminder about it. Chairman McAfee asked County Administrator Lindsey if another county commissioner could sit in with them at the meeting. Lindsey stated the gentleman specifically asked for the chairman, but ifanother commissioner wants to sit in who is to say that they couldn't. Lindsey stated you just can't have more than two.  Public Comment(s) Limit Five Minutes- No public comments were: made.  Executive Session  Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. stated the board needed tol have an Executive Session to discuss Commissioner Felice Pullen made a motion to close Regular Session. Commissioner Larry Pope seconded the motion. The vote to close Regular Session passed unanimously 4-0. Regular Commissioner Larry Pope made ai motion to enter into Executive Session. Commissioner Mike Keene seconded the motion. The motion to enter into Executive Session passed unanimously 4- After the Executive Session was completed, Commissioner Larry Pope made the motion to close the Executive Session. Commissioner Felice Pullen seconded the motion. The motion to close Executive Session passed unanimously 4-0. Executive Session was closed at 7:25 p.m. Commissioner Felice Pullen made ai motion to re-enter into Regular Session. Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr. seconded the motion. The: motion to re-enter Regular Session passed unanimously  personnel and potential litigation.  Session was closed at 6:50 p.m.  0.7 Thel board entered into Executive Session at 6:51 p.m.  4-0. Regular Session resumed at 7:25 p.m.    Resume Regular Session  Asaresult of] Executive Session, no action was taken.  Commissioner Mike Keene stated to the board that the county needs to look at their website, due toi ifsomeone wants to look at what's on the site about events that are going on in the county, you won't be able to find anything. Commissioner Keene stated that the website has old stuffon Commissioner Larry Pope made a motion to adjourn this Regular Monthly Meeting. Commissioner Felice Pullen seconded that motion. The vote to adjourn the meeting was Commissioners present for this Regular Monthly Meeting: Chairman James L. McAfee, Jr., Commissioner Larry Pope, Commissioner Mikel Keene and Commissioner Felice Pullen. Commissioners absent from this Regular Monthly Meeting: Vice-Chairman Ron Darrisaw  it, and he recommends doing some upgrades oni it.  unanimous 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7:27 p.m.  Mosent Jerronney (Ron) Darrisaw,  James L. McAfée,Jr., Chairman  Vice-Chairman  LLake