Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Solutions To Space Needs Not Discussed By Oconee County Commissioners At Meeting Called For That Purpose

Nine Presentations Made

Anyone who turned out at the called meeting of the Oconee County Board of Commissioners last night expecting a discussion of how the county is going to address future space needs would have been disappointed.

What the small group in attendance heard instead was presentations by an elected official and by representatives of eight county departments of what their current space use is and what they think they will need in 2035.

Almost all said they are making do with their current space in the Courthouse or the Courthouse Annex across the street from the Courthouse.

Almost all said they would need additional space in the future.

The meeting ended without any discussion of what the county should do in response.

Davis Led Meeting

From the beginning of the meeting, Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis led the discussion by telling presenters that the state Office of Planning Budget was projecting that the county would have 65,000 residents in 2030, up from the 34,035 figure the U.S. Census Bureau estimated for 2013.

Other figures were bounced around during the nearly three-hour session, with county Finance Director Wes Geddings projecting 2.5 percent growth to 58,730 in 2035, rather than the 65,000 figure for 2030 that Davis used. Geddings said his figure “would be a maximum, I think.”

Davis pushed the idea of growth throughout the evening, and encouraged comparisons with other counties.

Walton County was mentioned many times. The brief exchange between Davis and Oconee County Tax Commissioner Jennifer Riddle at the very beginning of the evening is illustrative. Riddle is an elected official.

Walton County had a population of 85,754 in 2013, according to the Census Bureau. It opened a large courthouse on the outskirts of Monroe in 2005.

New Courthouse

Chief Superior Court Judge David Sweat, who attended the meeting last night but did not speak, told the commissioners this time last year that they need to increase judicial space to accommodate the expected appointment of a new Superior Court judge.

Judge Sweat proposed a new judicial facility, which also has been supported by Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry. Berry has said that the current Courthouse has obvious and unspecified security problems.

Judge Sweat estimated the cost of such a new facility at $25 million.

The called meeting last night was the result of a complaint by Commissioner John Daniell at the group’s Nov. 11 meeting that the BOC was making no progress on the Courthouse issue and on dealing with the county’s future space needs.

Space Requests

The presentation by Riddle was followed by appearance by representatives of the Property Appraisal Department, Information Technology, the Finance Department, Human Resources, the offices of Davis and the commissioners, the Economic Development Department, Strategic and Long-Range Planning, and Planning and Code Enforcement.

The nine presenters said they are using 14,258 square feet of space.

They said they would need 25,596 square feet in 20 years, or an increase of nearly 80 percent.

Only County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko, representing Davis and the Commission, said he did not anticipate needing more space by 2035.

Current Space

Marvin Poe, director of the county’s Facilities and Operations Department, provided the commissioners prior to last night’s meeting a listing of current courthouse space and its use.

By Poe’s estimates, the Courthouse has 39,563 square feet on its three levels. That includes office space, courtroom and other meeting rooms, hallways and other public space.

In addition, the county leases 9,216 in the two buildings that make up the Courthouse Annex, across Main Street from the Courthouse in downtown Watkinsville.

These are referred to as the Dolvin Buildings, and Code Enforcement and Planning are in the larger of the two.

Poe told me in an email message today that the Government Annex, located on Greensboro Highway on the south side of Watkinsville, has approximately 20,000 square feet of space

USDA And Annex

The Government Annex is home to the county’s Utility Department and Public Works Department.

In addition, the county entered into a 10-year lease agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture for a little more than 3,000 square feet of space in the Annex in August of 2013.

The county spent $33,000 in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax money renovating the space to meet USDA specifications.

Commissioner Daniell was an opponent of that decision, promoted by Chairman Davis.

Daniell argued that the lease tied the county’s hands as it searched for solutions to its space needs.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"From the beginning of the meeting, Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis led the discussion by telling presenters that the state Office of Planning Budget was projecting that the county would have 65,000 residents in 2030, up from the 34,035 figure the U.S. Census Bureau estimated for 2013.
Other figures were bounced around during the nearly three-hour session, with county Finance Director Wes Geddings projecting 2.5 percent growth to 58,730 in 2035, rather than the 65,000 figure for 2030 that Davis used. Geddings said his figure “would be a maximum, I think.”

Does Melvin Davis always, always exaggerate! he says the county will add over 30,000 residents in sixteen years.

Wes Geddings says the county will add 25,000 residents over the next twenty one years.

That's a pretty big difference between the two. Who's accurate, and who's pushing an agenda?

Anonymous said...

According to King Melvin, we'll gain 1875 residents a year for the next sixteen. Wes Gedding says 1190 a year for twenty one years. We all know who's pushing an agenda.

Anonymous said...

If you search Office of Planning Budget some report is available with feasible numbers of projection for review.

However, know one on the BOC understands the big picture and the future needs for the county. If the numbers tossed about are true, some major commitment to met the needs of the county should be in the works. Where is the program?

if these numbers hold our school system will suffer, and services will be impossible to provide. Yet the BOC will have a building to sit in.

Govt. in a state of confusion.