The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners met Nov. 4 to discuss golf course improvements, the Baldwin County Regional Airport Capital Improvement Plan, and workforce grants.
Mike Young, a golf course architect and assistant creator of the five-year master plan, opened the meeting with a presentation regarding the golf improvements discussed during the last October meeting. The master plan designates how to improve the different systems: trees, grass, irrigation, greens and tees, bunkers, and cart paths. The main focuses are reworking greens and irrigation.
“Right now, the irrigation system does not have full coverage and we will be changing it to have full coverage. To save money, you want to put irrigation around the green while doing the greens,” said Young. “We are going to adjust the greens to get where there’s more contour than you have now and where they are rebuilt to where they would grow the grasses that would need to be grown today.”
Commissioner Sammy Hall stated the plans are to potentially close the golf course around the first of the year and be completed by July. If a Trackman is installed before its closing, as discussed in last month’s meeting, then golfers will be able to practice and play through simulated golf.
“This would ensure we have a continued stream of revenue during the closing of the course,” said Hall.
According to County Manager Carlos Tobar, the design to build invitation bid was posted Nov. 5 and will be paid for by SPLOST.
The board then authorized the Baldwin County Airport Fiscal Year 2027-2031 Capital Improvement Plan to be submitted to the Georgia Department of Transportation for approval. The plan designates different projects for approval.
The first project is the design of the terminal apron expansion and addition of drainage. The second project is the airport design standards update, a routine project. The third project, for the following year, is construction of the terminal apron expansion and additional work for drainage vault and beacon relocation.
In addition, the county seeks approval for the environmental assessment and design of the taxi way, its construction, and design of the main ramp to rehabilitate the existing structures.
Then, the county is seeking approval of the airport layout plan, which has not been updated since 2018. The next layout plan is due in 2028.
The board authorized a contract with Motorola to replace the microwave link between the Meriweather Tower and Georgia College tower. It will also add a link to provide “redundancy.”
“The original system was installed in 2012 and the microwaves on the towers for communication are at their end of life,” said Assistant County Manager Dawn Hudson. “It’s a 12-month project and there was money in sales tax for communication upgrades. It is included in that. The cost of the project is $600,000.”
According to Hudson, the county is preparing intergovernmental agreements with all entities who use the radio towers to share the cost of the maintenance.
“These receptions are typically replaced every 10 years, though ours did last a bit longer than that, so we can anticipate that replacement schedule,” said Hudson.
Commissioners authorized a Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act Dislocated Worker Grant in the amount of $434,826 with no county match. They also approved an Adult Program Grant in the amount of $588,024. Baldwin County is the grant administrator for the workforce program and thus must approve the funds.
The next commission meeting will take place Nov. 18 at 6 p.m.