The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners agreed on Tuesday to officially approve the first roads to be resurfaced using T-SPLOST funds. The vote, however, did not come without prolonged discussion and was not unanimous.
Voters in November overwhelmingly approved the referendum authorizing the one-cent T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax). Implementation of that tax took effect April 1, and commissioners immediately started working on which roads will be resurfaced this year.
The commissioners have already approved another list of roads and streets that will be resurfaced and bid out at the same time as the T-SPLOST projects. The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) provides funding to local governments through the Local Maintenance Improvement Grant (LMIG) program, and this year’s money totals about $1.5 million. Approximately $829,000 of that sum was approved in recent months under a Local Road Assistance grant, subsequent to the initial appropriation, according to County Manager Carlos Tobar.
Included on the LMIG list are Stewart Avenue (off Sinclair Marina Road), Admiralty Way, Pineaway Drive, Roberts Road, Chase Court, and Mosely Avenue.
Tobar said the preliminary T-SPLOST list released about two weeks ago was compiled by County Engineer Brian Wood, with input from Commission Chairman Johnny Westmoreland and Vice-Chairman Kendrick Butts.
The board discussed the options at a work session before Tuesday’s meeting, in which Tobar read off the roads recommended to be resurfaced with T-SPLOST money. They include Log Cabin Road, Forrest Hill Road, North/South Main Street, Hardwick Street, Ellis Street, Wright Street, Park Avenue, Thomas Street, Stephanie Lane, Knight Circle, Emmanuel Harris Road, Grace Court, and West Lakeview Lane, with Highview Street as a possible addition.
There are 19 roads totaling 16 miles on the two lists, and Tobar said Highview Street would be resurfaced if the bids come in under budget. He reported anticipated revenue available totals approximately $4 million, while construction estimates for the 19 paving projects are about $4.3 million.
County Finance Director Dawn Hudson reminded board members that limited T-SPLOST funds will be received this year. The county will receive only the tax for eight months, as that money gets to the county about a month after it is collected and sent to the Department of Revenue. She also said collections are likely to be lower initially.
District 4 board member Henry Craig made no bones about his disagreement with the list. He pointed out that many of the roads and streets recommended were in Butts’ District 1, with eight of the 19 included there.
“I’m concerned that there’s too much politics in this rather than serving the people and the roads in our community,” Craig said.
“I promise you I didn’t have any politics involved in this,” Butts responded. “You add up the miles of the roads that are getting paved in my area, and they don’t even add up to what Log Cabin is. I think it is a good list.”
Butts said he rode around with Wood looking at roads and streets that needed work, and the engineer selected those that were in the worst condition. Both Craig and District 3 Commissioner Sammy Hall said they were not consulted about possible projects.
Hall, however, had a somewhat different objection than Craig.
“I am not really concerned about whose district gets the road,” he said. “I’m concerned about the worst main roads getting paved. We want – I want – the citizens to see what we’re doing with their money. Because that’s what we said we were going to do. We wanted them to see it.”
Prolonged discussion followed concerning the density of population relating to length of road versus amount of traffic, and other possible factors to consider before Butts questioned whether a motion to approve the list was in order. Tobar explained the decision on which roads would be resurfaced did not require an official vote, and Butts noted at least three and likely four board members agreed with the recommendations. He suggested informal approval of the list.
Craig requested a one-week delay, and considerable discussion followed. Westmoreland ultimately instructed Tobar to amend the agenda for the meeting to follow, adding the T-SPLOST resurfacing list as an action item. Other commissioners reminded him that would require approval by the board at the meeting.
Nonetheless, at the beginning of the official meeting, Butts requested the agenda be amended to include approval of the list of roads. Craig opposed the motion. When the item came up late in the meeting, the board voted to approve the T-SPLOST list as part of a motion to submit a separate LMIG list to GDOT for the additional $829,000. The motion passed, with Craig again voting in opposition.
“We will submit Log Cabin only to the state on the separate list for the additional funds,” Tobar confirmed last Wednesday.