An issue that generated controversy last month will be on the agenda for the Effingham County Board of Commissioners’ next meeting.
At the end of Tuesday night’s meeting, Commissioner Steve Mason requested that the March 20 agenda include discussion of — and resolution to — whether the county breached a contract with D.M. Jones Construction, Inc., over a generator the contractor installed for a water and sewer system.
"I want to put this to bed and take a vote," Mason said. "I think it needs to be added to the agenda so that it can be publicized and so we can have the public show up."
The motion passed by a 4-1 vote, with Chairman Dusty Zeigler opposed. Commissioner Vera Jones, vice president of D.M. Jones Construction, recused herself from the discussion, as she had during the Feb. 21 commission meeting.
An outside legal counsel retained by the county commissioners has stated the county needs to pay the contractor $30,000 for the generator, but that no evidence of wrongdoing by the Board of Commissioners or county staff has been found. Jones said her fight isn’t about the reimbursement but about making the county hold to its contracts.
The dispute stems from changes made to the South Effingham Plantation and Buckingham Plantation subdivision projects after funds from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority fell short. Jones said her company decided to finish the work in order to keep their reputation in good standing and to provide a working water and sewer system to residents who were moving in.
The county has several options to pay back the money owed for the generator, according to attorney John Hart. The county could repay the money at once, pay in installments or could withhold payment until enough impact fees from the two subdivisions are collected in order to make reimbursement from those fees.
In other business, the board awarded the contract to Lavender and Associates to build the fire station planned on Goshen Road, but only after some discussion about the station’s cost and location.
Commissioners Jones and Phil Kieffer both raised concerns about the $1,504,478 price tag for the 9,800-square foot building, which also is expected to house an EMS substation and sheriff’s office substation.
"Considering it’s $1.5 million," Kieffer made a motion to table the matter until the next commission meeting. "If this station is for the (county’s) future industrial growth, then there’s no rush."
However, the motion failed — "We’ve talked about this for two years," commissioner Reggie Loper said — and the commissioners moved on to discussion of the station’s location in the southeast part of the county.
One question raised was whether a fire station on Goshen Road — as opposed to Hodgeville Road, for example — would create too much overlap of coverage with the nearby Rincon fire station. The county does plan to build a station on Hodgeville Road, at a cost of $400,000, during fiscal year 2013.
"If it’s in the wrong place, then we’ve gone a long way for something that’s in the wrong place," Mason said.
"Every time a subdivision is built or a new road is constructed, that changes the five-mile radius for a station," said County Administrator David Crawley. "Is it a perfect site? Probably not for today, but none of the sites we put stations on are perfect. It is based on what we can best determine at the time."
The board approved the contract 4-2, with Jones and Kieffer opposed. Lavender and Associates will have 240 days to complete the work.