County Meeting August 15, 2024 6:00pm Minutes Union County Courthouse  The meeting was called to order by Commissioner Paris at 6:01 pm. The Commissioner welcomed everyone to the meeting. The invocation was given by Fire Chief/EMA Director David Dyer and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Bill Walker. The minutes from the July 18, 2024 County Meeting were approved as presented, and attendees were provided copies. Commissioner Paris asked Mr. Clay Pilgrim, from Rushton and Company, Certified Public Accountants, to come up and present the Union County Audit Report for FY2023. Attendees Mr. Pilgrim's comments are summarized as follows: Thank you for having me here tonight to present the Annual Financial Report for the 2023 Audit. Everyone has a copy oft the presentation with some notes and numbers that we are going to talk about. During the audit process we ask a lot of questions, and we: request al lot ofdocumentation. We request al lot ofs staff's time during the audit process as well and we appreciate them. We are a little delayed inj presenting the 2023 Audit this year, and that is my fault asl I was out of town for last month's meeting. This report was submitted to the State of Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts timely, prior to June 30th. We have already gotten the results back for the Department of Audits and there were: no changes in that regard. The Independent Auditors Report is found onj pages 1-3 ofthe Annual Financial Report. The first thing it describes is the auditor's opinion. We are pleased to report that for December 31, 2023 there is an unmodified opinion, or clean opinion, on the Financial Statements. Nothing came to our attention during the audit process that prohibits us from issuing an unmodified opinion. We do follow Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States. This Annual Financial Report and those Financial Statements are the responsibility ofUnion County's management. Our responsibility as independent auditors is to express our opinion on the Financial Statements being not materially The entire Audit Report is 110 pages and has many statements and schedules throughout the document. There are only two statements in the entire report that bring all activities ofthe County together on a full accrual basis and that is the government wide statements which are found on pages 16-18. The Statement ofNet Position which is like al balance sheet for a business. Then there is the Statement of Activities which is like an income statement. Government wide net position is the residual equity ofthe county. This is going to be all the assets of the county less liabilities. Net position is broken down into three categories. The largest category is Net Investment in Capital Assets. This is going to be land, buildings, equipment, and vehicles less the depreciation accumulated on those assets, less any debt utilized toa acquire those assets. As of2023 the County had no debt with the exception ofl leases and subscriptions, which is due to a new standard that I will talk about later. There are no bonds or notes. The total Net Investment in Capital Assets is $56,555,189. The next category in Net Position is Restricted Net Position. SPLOST and grants are a good example of this type of funds. The County has received these funds, but they were not expended by year end. The total  were provided with a copy oft the Audit Presentation.  misstated whether due to error or fraud.    restricted funds is $13,593,054. The remaining category is Unrestricted Net Position and that amount is $10,716,489. For the year the total of all three categories is $80,864,732. Next we are going to talk about the General Fund. This is where the operations of most oft the county take place. This can be found in the Annual Financial Report on pages 19,21,23, and 24. The balance sheet is on page 19,the Statement ofRevenues and Expenditures and Changes inj Fund Balance is onj page 21,a and Budget versus Actual is on pages 23 and 24. In the Revenues and Expenditures oft the general fund, revenues increased al little over 2 million dollars. About 8.2% was property taxes in the amount of$1,199,184, and the Local Option Sales Taxes increase $229,688. Intergovernmental Revenues increased $212,210 and Interest Income increased $448,269, which can be attributed to increased interest rates. The expenditures side increased $4,516,038 or 22.2%. The largest part of that increase is personal service expenditures which includes payroll or related expenses. Risk Management did increase $548,960, again mostly related toj payroll health insurance and claims and insurance costs. General government buildings increased $206,551 and was mostly due to personal services and some capital projects. The Sheriff's Office increased $1,309,375, again due to personal services and capital outlay. Jail operations increased $393,669 due to personal and contract services. Fire and emergency management increased $361,620 due to personal services. Highways and streets increased $249,991 due toj personal services as well. Next we will talk about the Unrestricted Fund Balance of the general fund. When I talked earlier about the net position being the equity oft the county as a whole, that is on the full accrual basis oft the county and all the funds. When we look specifically at the general fund, that equity is called fund balance. Fund balance is similar to net position it isj just a different basis ofaccounting. The fund balance is the equity of the general fund which is assets less liabilities. That fund balance can be in five different categories. You can have non-spendable fund balance, which is items not in a spendable form. Then you have restricted fund balance, which is restricted from outside sources. Then you have committed fund balance, where the governing body may commit funds to aj project that is going to take place in the future. Union County does not have a committed fund balance. Then you have assigned, fund balance which comes from assignments for the subsequent years budget ifyou are using the fund balance to balance the budget. The remaining is the unrestricted fund balance. GFOA issues the best practices for fund balance. When they talk about fund balance they are talking about the unrestricted fund balance at the end ofthe year. They say that you should have 2-3 months on unrestricted fund balance in what they call a reserve, As ofDecember 31, 2023, Union County has ,136153ofumrestictedl fund balance. Ifyou take that fund balance number and compare that to what the annual expenditures are ini the general fund, that gives you about 36.6% oft the expenditures, withi is about 4.4 months. So, healthy in that regard. The SPLOST schedules are found on pages 100 and 101 on the Annual Financial Report. Union County has two open SPLOSTI referendums. In the 2015 SPLOST, which is SPLOSTIV, $11, 205 was spent in 2023. The 2021 SPLOST, which is SPLOST V,i isj just getting going and still being collected and expended. $6,201,349 was expended on Union County Referendum Projects in 2023. Out OfSPLOSTV,568,98 was sent to the City of Blairsville. This details We as a firm feel it is very important that we keep the finance team, the governing body and the citizens aware of changes that are taking place in the financial reports. We try to be proactive  the two open SPLOST that the county is expending currently.    with assisting with new accounting standards. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has been very busy over the last 8-10 years, sO there have been quite ai few changes. I mentioned earlier, when we were talking about debt, the county does not really have debt at all. What would be considered in the long-term debt category would be leases. GASB Statement 87 was required to bei implemented last year and this pertained to leases. There is also a FASB standard which is ASC 842 was on leases as well. Pretty much every entity, commercial nonprofit or government, were all: required to change how they accounted for leases. Previously ifan entity paid a quarterly, monthly or yearly lease expense that would have been recorded as a lease expense. Ifyou were leasing to someone, it would have been rent revenue. GASB87 requires that these leases, either on the receivable side or payable side, now must be moved to the balance sheet. We had to put a liability on the books for those leases. These were not necessarily new debt. These leases might have been recurring operating leases that had been taking place for years. This year, in 2023, we have GASB Statement 96. The county implemented this in 2023. This is subscription-based information technology arrangements or SBITA, Software would be the most common. The county has a couple of types ofsoftware that meet the requirement to be recorded there. You used to go to the store and buy your software, which came on a floppy disk or a CD. You would bring it home, put it on your computer and you would have that software. Then you could purchase it online, but now you subscribe to the software. Ifat any given time you don't pay that subscription, you don't have that software. This standard says that you sign a multi-year contract and you owe that, sO iti is a liability. Iti is now: recorded on the balance sheet as a liability. The only debt the county had at the end of2023, was some subscriptions and some leases, both ofwhich are accounted for identically. That was required to be implemented in 2023. The total liability for the SBITAS is $199,249 which is not very substantial as far as debt is concerned. There is a future change that is going to apply in GASB Statement 101 on compensated absences. This is accrued vacation time that is accrued but not paid at the end oft the year. This is going to change some ofthe Ihave a quick letter II have to go through that is required communications to the governing body. This letter is what we call our Audit Committee Letter. The county did implement GASB Statement 94 which is public private and public public partnerships and availability payment arrangements. They also implemented GASB Statement 96 which is the SBITAS we talked about at length. GASB Statement 99 which is omnibus 2022. Those were all implemented in 2023. This letter also spells out accounting estimates. Iam required to disclose what I feel like are the most sensitive estimates in Financial Statements. That would be the life expectancy for capital assets for depreciation, allowances for any uncollectible property taxes or utility receivables, and then land fill closure and post closure care costs. The audit was timely and went smooth as far as the process is concerned. IfIl had any difficulties dealing with management or performing my audit, in other words they weren't providing information that sort ofthing, I would have to disclose that in writing here. Ihad no difficulties at all in performing the audit. We do have from time to time during the audit process journal entries that we post or adjustments that we. make. We also have from time to time, since we are testing for material items, things that we may project. Wei may have a small, immaterial or trivial difference in those regards. Wel keep those and provide those to management. We had no disagreements with management as far as accounting matters are concerned during the audit process. Ini my opinion, the most important part oft this letter states that I have received the Management Representation  disclosure requirements which will make it easier toi implement.    Letter that is signed by the governing body. It basically says they have not intentionally withheld information from us or not provided us with something on purpose that may materially In 2010 when the alcohol referendum was passed, Commissioner Paris made the commitment to set aside up to $50,000 each year from alcohol license fees and tax receipts to put back into the community for the purpose ofhelping to combat the alcohol and drug abuse problems that already existed in Union County. There is a completely independent committee set up to review the applications and award the grants and, as in the past, they wish to remain anonymous. This makes it fair sO applicants can'tg go to them for favoritism. The Commissioner had no input into which organizations received the grants nor how much they received. Four organizations applied for the grant this year and four were awarded funding. In this time of such a tremendous problem nationwide with the opioid crisis, it is very nice to know that Union County has these non-profit organizations spending their time and effort to work with the public to assist them in their recovery. The Commissioner awarded Substance Abuse Grants to the following local  misrepresent the financial statements.  organizations:  Freedom Ministries was awarded $7,500 and no representative was present.  New Hope Counseling was awarded $7,500. Troy Beavers was present to accept the grant. His comments are summarized as follows: New Hope Counseling ofBlairsville is the only substance use drug and alcohol treatment facility in Union, Fannin and Towns Counties that is certified by the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health, certified by the DUI Intervention Program and by the Department ofDriver Servies. New Hope Counseling is also approved by SAMSHA and by Piedmont Hospital to provide alcohol and drug treatment for those that need treatment in order to receive a liver transplant. We are also approved by the State Nursing Board to treat nurses who have lost their license due to drug or alçohol abuse for them to get their license reinstated. We have an employee assistant program that works with employers and employees to allow employees to maintain their employment ift they have substance use issues. In addition, we work very closely with probation and parole. New Hope Counseling has a court mandated program where people that are on probation after getting out ofjail, as part of their probation, are mandated into treatment. We have had some success in disrupting the cycle of drug and alcohol abuse with this program. New Hope Counseling does not refuse services to anyone based on their ability to pay for services and consultations are. We do not bill insurance either since 95% ofour clients do not have insurance. Our existence is solely dependent on client fees and the money we receive from grants like this. 100% oft this grant received will go for direct client Positive Pathways, Inc. was awarded $5,000 and no representative was present. Union County Family Connection was awarded $5,000 and no representative was present. Commissioner Paris accepted an agreement between CivicPlus and Union County for the implementation, hosting fee, and content development of the Union County website with an effective date of. July 29, 2024. The initial cost ofthis agreement is $24,273.25 for the first year,  services and it will be money well spent.  with an annual recurring cost of $9,970.    Attendees were provided a copy of the list of Business Licenses issued in Union County from July 15,2024 to August 11,2024 for the purpose of operating a Short-term Rental in Union County. The Commissioner approved all Business Licenses contained on the list provided and Commissioner Paris accepted a Lease Agreement between the gth District Opportunity and Union County for the use ofoffice space located at 185 Welborn Street, Suite 8, in the Pat Haralson Memorial Civic Center in the amount of $230.00 per month totaling $2,760.00 for the year. The Items seven and eight on the agenda were presented by County Attorney, William Mercer, Both items were Quitclaim Deeds for Old Lows Mill Road. At the County Meeting on June 20,2024 the abandonment ofOld Lows Mill Road was announced. The required notices were published ini the North Georgia News as required by State Law and a Public Hearing regarding this abandonment was held on July 18, 2024. There was an additional proposed road abandonment at this public hearing that had one concerned citizen show up, but no one showed up or spoke related to the Old Lows Mill Road Abandonment. All statutory requirements have been met to abandon this road that no longer serves aj public purpose and has not for many years. The road was abandoned to two adjoining property owners. The first Quitclaim Deed is abandoning 0.12 acres to Melanie Plott. This includes all that tract or parcel of land lying and being in Land Lot 297 and 316, gth District, 1st Section, Union County, Georgia, and being shown as "Tract-1", containing 0.12 acres, more or less, as shown on a plat ofs survey by Cleveland & Cox Land Surveying, LLC, Roger L. Owenby, G.R.L.S. #2763, dated May 31, 2024 and filed ofi record on June 18, 2024 in Plat Bood 74, Page 383 in the Office oft the Clerk of Superior Court, Union County, Georgia. Said plat is incorporated herein by reference hereto, for a full and complete description of the above-described property. The remaining portion of the abandoned road, which is 0.15 acres, is being deeded to Wade Plott, Travis Plott, and' Tyler Plott. The legal description is the same in both Quitclaim Deeds. Mr. Mercer asked for questions and there were  the list will be made aj part of the minutes.  duration oft this lease is from October 1,2024 through September 30, 2025.  none.  Commissioner Paris stated that these portions ofroad are hereby abandoned.  Mr. Vincent Peterson requested to be placed on the agenda to speak regarding the 2024 Union County submitted budget. Mr. Peterson's comments are summarized as follows: Istarted reviewing the 2024 budget before the November meetings. I was unable to be here the night of the public meeting. Icontinued doing some detailed review. There is an item ini the budget of 53 34 million dollars entitled Transfer to Other Funds. What does that mean? IfItransfer: $5,000 out ofr my savings account and into my checking account, Is see $5,000 out and $5,000 in. It balances. So, Idecided I would take a look at these other funds, which happen to be the Special Revenue Fund, the Capital Project Fund, and the Enterprise Fund. Which show on the one-page budget. Ilooked into the details ofthese, and you do see some things like in the E-911 fund there is a transfer in of $213,500 from the General Fund. That is part of that 5%million dollars. When you look at all ofthe funds and all the transfers in, I can only find 2 million dollars transferred in. That is an imbalance of33 % million dollars. Where is our 3 34 million dollars? Something is not right with the budget as it was presented and approved in November. Ithink wei need to look into this. Something is not correct. We akuilaaliriahine    which by law is supposed to be al balanced budget. Ihave also seen several other items in this budget that I need to be talking about, but I don'thave enough time to do that tonight. We are looking at having a Town Hall Meeting on September 26th at 6:00 pm in the Civic Center to look at a number of these items that I am raising as potential issues with the Budget. Iam inviting you, Commissioner Paris, to come to that and to be able to talk about these items in the budget. And I can maybe meet with you before that SO you can load your gun, SO to speak, before that Commissioner Paris stated that this is August oft the 2024 Budget year. The accounting staffis always interested in people that have a question like this, but people that have a question like this always want to do it at the County Meeting, which is fine. Citizens could simply come to the office and meet with the Accounting Director where she could go over everything on there that is needed and provide answers to questions. This could be done without the process that we are seeing tonight. Ifthat is the way citizens want to do it, that is fine. Commissioner Paris followed up by stating the County never has anything hidden. The audit report was just presented. Nothing is ever done out ofline or illegal and he is proud that the County always has ab balanced budget. Union County has no debt and the 3rd lowest millage rate out of159 counties. The only way that can be accomplished and have what Union County has is to work yourselfto death, not hide money and not pull shenanigans with money. The Commissioner closed his comments on this topic by stating he just doesn'tk know where these thought processes come Right before last month'si meeting Commissioner Paris was notified about funding coming from GDOT. In explaining this to the attendees it was inferred that this money would be coming to the county for the purchase ofr right-of-way on the Murphy Highway. That was. inaccurate. GDOT let the county know they were going toj provide 30 million dollars to start the Highway 515 Expansion. Jennifer Mahan interjected this was. regarding 19/129 and not Highway 515. This money did not come to Union County and would not come to Union County. GDOT handles their own money and their own right-of-way purchases. The properties GDOT purchases will be an agreement between them and the property owners.  meeting. We can maybe talk about that later. Thank you,  from. Ifanybody can figure that out maybe let him know later on.  Commissioner Paris provided a few updates regarding county projects. He: said there is a loto of paving going on around the county. Some are being done by contractors through LMIG funding and some by local funding. He will try and have a list ofa all the paving and striping that has been done sO far this year at next month's meeting. On Fisher Field Road, where the bridge was rebuilt, this road has now been paved. Weaver Road behind the hospital has been widened and paved. Union General Hospital asked ifthis road could be widened to accommodate ambulances. Union County was able to do this and Colditz did this paving. Union County has had difficulty getting inmate crews from the Detention Center for three weeks because they have had some type of skin infection which kept them from leaving the facility. The Mayor called and said the crews should be released back to work within the next week. The. Jail Work Crew painted the Meeks Park rocks that spell out Meeks Park along Highway 515. This area also has new mulch and some new plants, which made it look really good. Some improvements have been made to the water wheel in Meeks Park. The water pump needed to be re-worked and some painting needed to be done. That is all complete now and this area looks really great now also Union County is in the process of replacing the bridge on Old Bald Mountain Road over Stink    Creek. They are doing the concrete work now, but Commissioner Paris was not aware oft the scheduled completion date. In regard to the Pat Haralson Intersection, all right-of-way has now been signed off on by property owners and the Commissioner is hopeful that in the next 301 to 45  days this can go out to bid.  There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:54 pm.  Respectfully submitted by: emmhe Mahan dennifer Mahan, County Clerk  2024  Lamar Paris, Commissioner  A    New Union County Short-term Rental Licensees July 15, 2024- August 11, 2024  BRANDS, ALEX AND NICOLE 274 Henson Road Blairsville, GA 30512  CARR STEVEN P & CINDY P 243 McIntosh Rd Blairsville, GA 30512 CAYER, SARAH 232 Cook Lane Blairsville, GA 30512  CHOESTOE TROUT LODGE, LLC 91 Morris Ford Extension Blairsville, GA 30512  CUTLER, CHRISTOPHER AND RACHAEL  318 Turner Dr Blairsville, GA 30512 RAMSEY, CHARLES 572 Copperhead Pkwy Blairsville, GA 30512