>> COMMISSIONERS
The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners met on Tuesday and approved the resolution and land bank intergovernmental contract while also discussing potential changes to elections for the board moving forward.
The meeting began with presentations from Communities in Schools and the Oconee Community Service Board who highlighted their impacts to the county over the last year. Communities in Schools Executive Director Janet Cavin highlighted their Wrap Around Baldwin Program that is in the fifth year of its five year grant. Wrap Around Baldwin is funded by the Reverend Baldwin grant, a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education, which was awarded to Georgia College in 2018 as a five year $2.3 million grant. Its funding contributed to hiring full time site coordinators that follow the Communities in Schools model in both primary schools, to support the kindergarten through second grade population. Cavin also highlighted that Communities in Schools has established a food pantry at Central Georgia Technical College to assist with food insecurity throughout the county.
“We serve in all the Baldwin County schools,” said Cavin. “Thanks to the support of the board we are able to provide a variety of programs that include Wrap Around Baldwin, our Bee Well Clinic and more.”
The Oconee Community Service Board Human Resources Director John Cheatham presented about the many programs that they offer.
The Oconee Center establishes programs to help with mental health, developmental disabilities, and addictive disease services in the counties of Baldwin, Hancock, Jasper, Putnam, Washington and Wilkinson. With the help of the community, they strive to improve the quality of life of people within these counties and help them on personal journeys to adapt and overcome their struggles.
“We need your support so we can be all that we are created to be. Our motto is “We are here for you, we are here making a difference in the lives of consumers and families that we serve.” We are a public corporation that has been designed by Georgia law and that is what makes us a community service board,” said Cheatham. “We have been in existence for 50 years and the foundation of our philosophy is love, care, passion, peace, performance and goodwill. We follow a person-centered approach to place our consumers and our families in the center of what we do.”
After these presentations, the board unanimously voted to approve the resolution and land bank intergovernmental contract. The intergovernmental contract can be read in full in the agenda packet of the Feb.
21 meeting found on the Board of Commissioners website.
“One of the provisions in the contract states that no property acquired through the enforcement of the Baldwin County Unsafe Building Abatement or Property Standards Ordinances will be allowed to go into the landbank. That means there is no incentive for the county taking people to court for their property,” said Carlos Tobar, county manager.
“We have enforced this ordinance for five years and we have not yet fined anyone or taken anyone to court. In addition, this contract allows the opportunity for surplus property the county owns to be conveyed to the land bank so the land bank authority could convey at least two lots to Habitat for Humanity to build affordable housing in the southside of the county.”
Moving into new business, District 5 Representative John Westmoreland brought up the issue of carding at the convenience centers. He informed the public that, at this time, driver’s licenses will be accepted to prove residency in Baldwin County but that new cards will soon be distributed and that carding is going to be required. He also suggested to the board that a sign be posted on the gates of each center to better inform the public that they will be carded and why it’s a necessity.
Carding ensures that only residents of the county are using the convenience centers.
Westmoreland also proposed to the board that the election process for the Board of Commissioners should be changed to staggered voting. Staggered elections refer to elections where only specific seats in an elected body are up for election at the same time rather than electing an entire body at once.
Westmoreland explained that for the security of the county, it would be best to have staggered elections for two districts so there will always be two board members secured in case of problems. The board dived into discussion of the staggered election showing no disapproval to the idea but conflicted on opinions for what districts should be proposed for the election.
This matter is not something that the board cannot vote on themselves and they are required to talk with local representatives to make the final decision. After thorough discussion, the board did vote and approve to move forward with discussion with local representatives to determine whether a staggered election would be beneficial and what district seats would be affected.
Closing out the meeting, Tobar reported that the application for the Oconee Heights Streetscape project has been submitted and the applications for funding for a sewer extension in District 2 and a sewer rehabilitation in District 1 were submitted.
According to Tobar, both sewer projects were about 5 million dollars together and the funding request would fund 4 million dollars of the projects, if approved. The last 1 million dollars would be needed from SPLOST.
The next Baldwin County Board of Commissioners meeting is scheduled for March 21 at 6 p.m.