The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners met Dec. 2 to discuss the 2026 fiscal budget, amendments to the shortterm rental agreement, and the future of the Powell Building at Central State Hospital.
The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners hosted a public hearing prior to the normal meeting to discuss the 2026 Fiscal Year Annual Operating Budget. During the hearing citizens expressed concerns about how the budget was posted online to be viewed and its accessibility to citizens and accountability for future upgrades or changes needed to the budget during the next year.
“We have accounted for what our expectations are for the county to operate on a sound financial basis,” Commissioner Sammy Hall said, responding to a citizen with concerns of how proposed future changes to the budget may be planned for. “This (the budget posted) are the best projections we can come up with. These include the things the county has planned to improve. All of our departments have also had the opportunity to submit their requests for needs, including constitutional offices and non-constitutional offices.”
The budget is currently posted online at baldwincountyga. com/news and is set to be approved at the Dec. 16 meeting.
County Attorney Brandon Palmer then discussed amendments to the Short-Term Rental Ordinance. A new article will be created in chapter 22 titled “Businesses” for better readability. The name will also be changed from Short-Term Vacation Rentals to Short Term Rentals. A number of definitions to add clarity to the ordinance and a distinguishing definition for residential dwelling unit versus property as a whole will be added. A cap of 150 short-term rental certificates issued on an annual basis will be added. At the end of the year the certificates expire but applications for existing short-term rentals will be prioritized over new rentals. These highlights and other amendments regarding distance, maximum occupancy, and more were also added.
Commissioners unanimously approved the amendments. The updated ordinance can be viewed at baldwincountyga. com by clicking “Your Government” and then “Code of Ordinances.”
Tobar then presented a resolution to authorize an agreement with Out of the Park LLC to provide concessions at the recreation department. This resolution was on the table to add an auto-renewal term in the former contract for four years, as the original agreement did not have a renewal clause. Thus, the contract had to be ended prior to basketball season beginning. According to Palmer, despite the renewal clause, the agreement can be terminated at any time by either party with at least 30 days notice.
Commissioner Emily Davis proposed keeping the one-year contract to be able to bid out each year rather than agreeing to renew with the same company for potentially four years.
The resolution was passed 4-1, with Davis opposing.
Commissioners also discussed Baldwin County and Macon-Bibb County sharing a $1.5 million Brownfields Assessment Grant to assess properties at Central State Hospital. The properties to be accessed are 179 Frazier Dr., 327 Allen Memorial Dr., 124 Ogden Rd., and the Powell Building.
The proposed resolution authorizes a Revocable License Agreement with the State Properties Commission for access to the Powell Building to conduct Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments with no county match. The property is owned by State Property Commissions and has not been turned over to the Central State Hospital Redevelopment Authority.
“It (Powell Building) is the biggest piece of blight in this county,” said Chairman Andrew Strickland. “It may be on the Central State Hospital campus and in the city limits, but we are good at doing this grant thing and some others aren’t. Sometimes it is something you need to do. If doing these assessments will put us in a better position to get something done down there, I’d like us to do it.”
Despite Strickland’s approval, other commissioners expressed discontent with long-term consequences of approving the agreement and not being able to put the grant towards other projects more beneficial to Baldwin County citizens.
“The Powell Building was the jewel of the CSH campus and if something is not done, it will wind up turning into these other buildings, like the Walker and Jones buildings,” Tobar stressed. “If this building is ever repurposed and is sold to a private developer, the city and the county will benefit.”
The decision was tabled 4-1, with Commissioner Scott Little vetoing the decision.
In other news, commissioners also:
• Adoptedtheupdated Language Access Plan. According to Tobar. it is required by the federal government, despite Baldwin County having only 1% of citizens with limited English skills. It is required to be able to receive grants.
• AdoptedtheDepartment of Community Affairs Policies and Procedures for Community Development Block Grants to be able to apply for them.
• Acceptedtherecommendation from engineers Carter and Sloop to accept the bid of $975,644 from Southern Flow, Inc. and issue a Notice of Award for SCADA improvements. SPLOST funds will pay for it.