>> BALDWIN COUNTY
Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners’ meeting discussed the housing improvement program, local food service fees and the local transit program.
The meeting began with Epidemiologist and Director of GCSU’s Center for Health & Social Issues, Dr. Damian Francis, giving a presentation to the board about the Baldwin County Housing Improvement Program. According to Francis, advancements are in progress but there is currently a larger struggle for inheritance properties.
“This (inheritance properties) is a tremendous barrier to the success and improvement that we would like to see in our county,” said Francis.
According to his presentation, the Community HOME Investment Program (CHIP) grant cannot assist inheritance properties unless all tenants who inherited the property live under one roof and meet the other requirements for the grant. This issue was discovered during the property title seminar that GCSU hosted on Oct. 6.
“In our recent community engagement, we came together as a public-private partnership to bring about education for residents. One of the problems we unveiled in that meeting was that many of the residents that recently applied for the CHIP grant were not eligible or qualified for this assistance,” explained Francis. “Therefore, through the guidance of the attorney we had at the meeting and another member of the public who is a financial advisor we devised a short-term plan.”
To alleviate this issue, Francis requested the board to consider a portion of funding to assist the neediest residents denied by the CHIP grant, who own inherited properties. For this request, he asked for the consideration of $25,000. Under his suggestion, applicants for this process would be chosen through the same CHIP criteria and lottery system with an emphasis on those over 60 years of age or who are disabled and were already previously denied by CHIP for their inheritance property. Francis further noted in his presentation that he hopes to do this process each round of the CHIP grant.
In addition to this, Francis requested the board to consider funding five educational seminars on wills and estate planning. He proposed a $5,000 to $7,000 budget for these seminars.
“The reason we end up with inheritance property is because there is no will in place sometimes or the will that is done in a manner that creates a lot of problems,” said Francis. “So we would like to educate the racial minorities and lower income families that are heavily affected.”
A citizen from Harrisburg spoke about the proposal and thanked the board for the CHIP program.
“From what I have seen and heard today, I think this will be a lot of help for me,” she said. “I thank y’all again for this help.”
After this presentation, Colin Duke of the Baldwin County Health Department came forward to discuss food service establishment fees. He requested a fee increase.
“With COVID and a new food code, many things have changed since I first started here. The goal of these fee proposals is to have a uniform between all the counties in district 5-2 (13 counties) and to capture all the fees for services provided and to reflect the increased workload on the inspectors,” said Duke.
The current fees are based on the number of seats in a food service establishment. However, according to Duke, with the impact of COVID there has been a larger shift in food service. He uses Chikfila as an example by describing how the restaurant is overflowing in the drive-thru along with the number of seats inside. Due to this, the current way fees are calculated is not reflected in the service being offered.
“The new food code proposed will take into effect the number of meals served, number of people served, as well as the employees,” said Duke.
After thorough discussion and questioning, the proposal failed.
As the meeting drew to a close, the board unanimously approved the Homeland Security Grant for the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency. The grant offered $10,035 for equipment and training of individuals for hazard mitigation.
Four out of five board members also approved a resolution for the reconsideration of the renewal of the transit application. The rural transportation program has been effective in Baldwin County for 20 years and is managed by the Baldwin County Fire Department. According to Assistant County Manager Dawn Hudson, the total operating budget for July 2023 - July 2024 cycle is $220,250 which will be shared fifty-fifty with the Department of Transportation and the county.