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Whitfield County approves budget amendments, SPLOST projects, rezoning and equipment purchases
Summary
At its March 8 meeting the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners approved a series of routine motions including 2020 and 2021 budget amendments, multiple public works and fire department purchases, two rezoning requests, and contracts for IT and drainage work.
The Whitfield County Board of Commissioners on March 8 approved a slate of routine measures including budget amendments, equipment purchases and contracts for SPLOST projects.
In roll-call votes, the board approved the 2020 budget amendment on a 3–1 vote, with Commissioner Barry W. Robbins recorded as abstaining; a separate 2021 budget amendment was later approved 3–0. Finance Director James Garvin presented January financials showing January collections of $925,846 for Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) and YTD revenues of $2,012,038, which Garvin said were about 10.5% below projected revenues.
The board approved multiple Public Works purchases and contracts funded in part by SPLOST: four Ferris ISX‑2200 zero‑turn mowers at $33,396 each, a 73‑horsepower track skid steer for $57,900, and a contract to construct a stackable boulder wall for the Rocky Face Ridge park entrance with boulders to be purchased from Riverside Stoneworks. Commissioners also approved a professional services contract with Southeastern Engineering, Inc., for $108,000 to design and manage replacement of eight corrugated metal pipe drainage cross pipes.
On planning matters, the board approved two rezoning requests: a 5.84‑acre parcel at 1932 Mill Creek Road from General Agriculture (GA) to Rural Residential (R‑5), and a 0.48‑acre parcel at 3620 Hurricane Road from Single Family Residential (R‑2) to Rural Residential (R‑5). Both motions passed unanimously, 3–0.
Other actions included approving the surplus of a 1988 International 4400 school bus for sale on GovDeals.com, awarding emergency lights and sirens for three SPLOST F250 vehicles to West Chatham (after other bidders were found noncompliant), and approving renewal of the county’s SentinelOne endpoint protection subscription at an annual cost of $24,496. The SentinelOne renewal was described to the board as covering all county devices on and off the county network and as including a vendor ransomware guarantee (up to $1,000 per endpoint or $1,000,000 per company).
Appointments approved included Wendy Saylors to the Northwest Georgia Region 1 Emergency Medical Services Council seat for Whitfield County and four appointments to the Rocky Face Ridge Advisory Committee (Mike Babb, Dewayne Hunt, Brian Chastain and Mark Gibson).
Several items were tabled or received first readings only: the board discussed but tabled a proposed 'No Thru Trucks' restriction for Timberghost Road, and Chairman Jevin Jensen presented a first reading of a proposed new Article IX of Chapter 7.5 of the Whitfield County Code of Ordinances to promote broadband expansion in rural areas; no action was taken on the broadband ordinance at this meeting.
The meeting included public comments about unsafe houses identified by code enforcement and questions about PPE provided to the library; the board entered an executive session to discuss personnel and real estate matters before adjourning.
