It is official. The Baldwin Board of Commissioners this week formally ratified contracts for the construction and lighting of 20 new pickleball courts.
The unanimous votes to approve the contracts with Dyer Construction Co. in the amount of $1,302,702 for the courts and Georgia Power Co. in the amount of $241,240 for lighting were formalities following the approval of the two projects at the commissioners’ previous meeting.
The funds for the two contracts, as well as for lights for youth baseball fields at the Walter B. Williams recreational complex, are from a $2.2 million state grant originally approved to build a park at the government building on North Columbia Street. When bids for the pickleball courts came In higher than the board members would consider, county officials started looking elsewhere for funding and decided to seek state approval to redirect the grant money.
Commissioners have been trying for about a year to find a solution to the severe problem of cracking at the existing courts near the intersection of Highways 212 and 22. Water runoff to the low-lying courts has created a hazardous condition that board members have recognized and sought answers.
In other business at the meeting this past Tuesday night, commissioners approved two other projects in similar fashion, ratifying contracts already authorized. A contract in the amount of $339,045 was previously approved for a Real Time Crime Center at the Sheriff’s Department. The board voted to ratify the contract with Dyer Construction Co. and authorize construction.
Similarly, commissioners voted to ratify a contract with Sam Hall and Sons in the amount of $1,129,138 for the Harrisburg Streetscape project. That work, funded by a grant, will include extensive storm-water improvements, sidewalks, and a new library building, among other enhancements.
Courtney Bentley, director of the communities in schools in Baldwin County, addressed the commissioners at the outset of the meeting. She expressed appreciation for funding from the county and briefed the board on the progress the program has made the past year.
She explained that site coordinators have been utilized for improvements in various areas.
“These site coordinators perform a needs assessment on the students and their school to determine exactly what the students need in order to be successful in their educational journeys,” Bentley pointed out before highlighting the improvements. “Eighty-eight percent of our students graduated, and all of them stayed in school,” she pointed out, “and that is our whole mission. That is why we want to continue our services here in Milledgeville and Baldwin County.”
Colin Duke with the Baldwin County Health Department gave the board a report on the increase in water and septic fees.
“We’ve gone through our 13 health districts, and we’re trying to get everybody with the same fees, the same verbiage, the same amounts, whether it be urban or rural,” Duke said, noting that new septic systems, repairs, wells and additions and modifications are the sources of fees.
Duke went through some of the fees then asked that the Board of Commissioners approve the new schedule. The request was approved unanimously.
The commissioners also voted to terminate the rental agreement with the Department of Behavioral Health and Development Disabilities for the fire station located on the Central State Hospital campus. The facility has been vacated by the county and is no longer used.
The board also approved a moratorium on subdivision and commercial developments for up to 60 days while the commissioners consider the updates to the Land Use Code. A public hearing on those changes was held immediately prior to the Tuesday meeting.
In other business, board member Kendrick Butts requested the commissioners consider whether one department should be required to use time clocks while others are not, and he asked that the matter be discussed at a later date.