Better Upstream than Down?
The Georgia Department of Transportation will mitigate damage it will do to streams and wetlands on tributaries to McNutt Creek in Oconee County with stream and wetland credits it has purchased from commercial mitigation sites in Jackson and Hall counties.
GDOT has purchased 3.2 wetland credits from Jeffco Boys LLC of Atlanta for a mitigation bank the company operates on the Middle Oconee River in Jackson County and 3,268 stream credits from Environmental Services Inc. of Stone Mountain for a mitigation bank that firm operates on a tributary to the Middle Oconee River in Hall County.
GDOT needed these wetland and stream credits as a condition for a permit the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued for construction of the Oconee Connector Extension that will create a loop from SR 316 at the current intersection with the Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s.
The roadway will cross streams and wetlands as it makes the loop.
The GDOT project is being undertaken to open up land for commercial development. Oconee County in October rezoned 63 acres between Lowe’s and SR Loop 10 for a $76 million shopping center to be built by Frank Bishop of Atlanta.
The USACE permit, reissued on Jan. 22, 2008, to GDOT, allows it to impact 726 linear feet of intermittent streams and 0.4 acres of wetlands to build the roadway, identified in state and federal documents as the Jennings Mill Parkway Extension, but referred to locally as the Oconee Connector Extension.
Bishop also will fill or pave over streams and wetlands on the site of his shopping center, and USACE. allowed him to mitigate the damage with credits from a site Bishop purchased in Greene County, south of Oconee County.
The Jackson County site is upstream of the bridge on which SR11 crosses the Middle Oconee River, according to Tim Funk of Wetland & Ecological Consultants LLC, which operates the site for Jeffco Boys.
The Hall County site, called the Chicopee Woods Mitigation Bank, is on Walnut Creek in the Elachee Nature Science Center, according to Kevin Middlebrooks of Environmental Services Inc.
Most of the water the Oconee County Utility Department sells comes from the Bear Creek Reservoir, which draws and stores water from the Middle Oconee downstream from these two sites. The reservoir is in Jackson County.
On May 5 the Oconee County Board of Commissioners referred to the citizen advisory Land Use and Transportation Committee a resolution drafted by attorney Katie Sheehan that would put the BOC on record with the Corps of Engineers as preferring mitigation in Oconee County for damage done to streams and wetlands in the county.
The advisory committee is to report back to the BOC once it has reviewed the resolution, which Sheehan drafted after talking with me and reading several blogs I had written on mitigation for Bishop’s shopping center.
Sheehan told me on Thursday that she had sent to the Land Use and Transportation Committee a revision to the resolution that would state a preference for upstream as opposed to downstream sites for mitigation if none were available in the county.
Sheehan is a staff attorney at the River Basin Center in the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia.
Jeffco Boys and Environmental Services Inc. were the low bidders for the mitigation credits, according to Bobby Adams in the GDOT Office of Procurement. Jeffco Boys bid $21,440 for the 3.2 wetland units and Environmental Services Inc. bid $179,740 for the 3,268 stream credits.
GDOT issued an invitation to bid on the Oconee Connector Extension credits and 19 others on Feb. 24, 2009. Adams said the state delayed purchasing the credits needed for the project because of a lack of funds. The state has not yet released the names of the competing bidders.
On April 24 GDOT deferred awarding a bid for the Oconee Connector construction. Adams told me on Tuesday that the "lack of mitigation credits was a big part of that deferral."
Mary Dills from USACE told me on Wednesday that the Corps had received the paperwork for the wetlands credits but had not yet received the paperwork certifying that the stream bank credits had been purchased.
Adams said that check was cut earlier this week.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Oconee BOC Outlines New Organizational Chart
Board Gains, Chair Does Not
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent a little more than three hours tonight in a work session that ended in tentative agreement on an organizational chart that would greatly increase the power of the four commissioners and decrease the unchecked authority of Board Chairman Melvin Davis.
The board cancelled its meeting for tomorrow night and agreed to meet instead at 5:30 p.m. on May 19, again at the Community Center of Veterans Park, to flesh out the organizational chart by detailing the responsibilities of the chairman and the county administrative officer as well as of others on the chart.
After rejecting other charts drawn by board members, Davis tentatively agreed to an organization chart (see picture at left) in which the county finance officer, administrative officer (operational officer), clerk and attorney report to the Board of Commissioners as a whole. At present, only the county clerk and the county attorney report to the full board.
The organizational chart that was tentatively accepted distinguished between the responsibilities of Davis as chairman of the Board of Commissioners and as chief executive officer of the county, but it assigns no responsibilities to Davis as CEO. The board agreed to spell those out at the meeting on May 19.
Davis’ acceptance of the proposed chart, largely crafted by the other four commissioners, is tentative based on learning the responsibilities of the chairman as CEO, he said.
The board would have to formally vote on a set of administrative rules to make the organizational chart a reality. The board stated as a goal putting such changes in place by July 1.
The board reached agreement after discussing for much of the evening alternative charts to describe the operation of the county.
At the suggestion of Harry Hayes of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, the board tried to focus on changes that could be made without changing the enabling legislation for the county.
The conversation crossed the line at several points, however, with Commissioner Chuck Horton emphasizing that he wanted the chairman of the board to be required to vote. At present the chairman votes only in the case of a tie, as prescribed in the enabling legislation.
Commissioner John Daniell said he wanted the chairman to vote and also wanted to change how salaries for the chairman and the other four commissioners are set. The latter also is controlled by the enabling legislation for the county.
To change the enabling legislation, either Rep. Bob Smith or Sen. Bill Cowsert would have to introduce new legislation that would be passed by the state General Assembly. The two are under no obligation to introduce such legislation.
The meeting covered a lot of territory from an earlier session on Sept. 25, 2008. Complaints about the inadequacy of information filtering down to the commissioners were made forcefully by Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Horton.
Ten members of the public, including two reporters, sat in the back of the room for much of the discussion. Gordon Maner, also from the Carl Vinson Institute, served as facilitator for the meeting and said at the meeting’s outset that the public would not be allowed to participate in the discussion.
Horton said near the end of the meeting that the public should have a chance to voice its preference on administrative structure before a final decision is made by the board.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners spent a little more than three hours tonight in a work session that ended in tentative agreement on an organizational chart that would greatly increase the power of the four commissioners and decrease the unchecked authority of Board Chairman Melvin Davis.
The board cancelled its meeting for tomorrow night and agreed to meet instead at 5:30 p.m. on May 19, again at the Community Center of Veterans Park, to flesh out the organizational chart by detailing the responsibilities of the chairman and the county administrative officer as well as of others on the chart.After rejecting other charts drawn by board members, Davis tentatively agreed to an organization chart (see picture at left) in which the county finance officer, administrative officer (operational officer), clerk and attorney report to the Board of Commissioners as a whole. At present, only the county clerk and the county attorney report to the full board.
The organizational chart that was tentatively accepted distinguished between the responsibilities of Davis as chairman of the Board of Commissioners and as chief executive officer of the county, but it assigns no responsibilities to Davis as CEO. The board agreed to spell those out at the meeting on May 19.
Davis’ acceptance of the proposed chart, largely crafted by the other four commissioners, is tentative based on learning the responsibilities of the chairman as CEO, he said.
The board would have to formally vote on a set of administrative rules to make the organizational chart a reality. The board stated as a goal putting such changes in place by July 1.
The board reached agreement after discussing for much of the evening alternative charts to describe the operation of the county.
At the suggestion of Harry Hayes of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, the board tried to focus on changes that could be made without changing the enabling legislation for the county.
The conversation crossed the line at several points, however, with Commissioner Chuck Horton emphasizing that he wanted the chairman of the board to be required to vote. At present the chairman votes only in the case of a tie, as prescribed in the enabling legislation.
Commissioner John Daniell said he wanted the chairman to vote and also wanted to change how salaries for the chairman and the other four commissioners are set. The latter also is controlled by the enabling legislation for the county.
To change the enabling legislation, either Rep. Bob Smith or Sen. Bill Cowsert would have to introduce new legislation that would be passed by the state General Assembly. The two are under no obligation to introduce such legislation.
The meeting covered a lot of territory from an earlier session on Sept. 25, 2008. Complaints about the inadequacy of information filtering down to the commissioners were made forcefully by Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Horton.
Ten members of the public, including two reporters, sat in the back of the room for much of the discussion. Gordon Maner, also from the Carl Vinson Institute, served as facilitator for the meeting and said at the meeting’s outset that the public would not be allowed to participate in the discussion.
Horton said near the end of the meeting that the public should have a chance to voice its preference on administrative structure before a final decision is made by the board.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Oconee BOC Faces Power of General Assembly
What’s the Meaning of Unanimous?
If Oconee County’s four commissioners this week decide they want to change the way the county operates through new enabling legislation, they are going to have to deal with the power of state Rep. Bob Smith and Sen. Bill Cowsert.
Smith and Cowsert, neither of whom is elected solely by Oconee County voters, will determine if new legislation controlling the county’s governmental structure gets introduced in the General Assembly when it next meets. Any legislation introduced will not pass without their support.
By tradition, legislators usually have required that requests for changes in enabling legislation have the unanimous support of the government officials making the ask. The Board of Commissioners is made up of four commissioners and a chairman.
But Chairman Melvin Davis only votes in case of a tie.
Does that mean that the four commissioners alone determine what changes are requested, or will Davis, who isn’t very likely to support any change in the enabling legislation that weaken his power, have a voice as well?
Rep. Smith and Sen. Cowsert get to make the rules.
The Oconee County Board of Education learned this lesson earlier this year when it sought to increase its own salary. Smith refused to introduce the legislation in the end, though Board members said he earlier indicated he would.
Cowsert stayed in the background on that controversy, letting Smith set play king.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Meeting Room in the Community Center at Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road in what is labeled a work session. As required by law, it is open to the public.
Technically, the board will talk about a report produced by Harry Hayes, local government projects director at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The real issue is what the four commissioners, each of whom serves part time, wants to do to counter the power of Davis, whose position is full time.
The structure of county government is not set by the state’s constitution, but by locally tailored enabling legislation passed by the General Assembly.
In 1998 the General Assembly made the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners both the "chief executive officer of the county" and the "presiding officer at all meetings of the board."
The chairman gets to "state every question coming before the board and to announce the decision of the board on all subjects," to "execute all ordinances, resolutions and contracts in behalf of the county," and to "act as ceremonial head of the county government."
A departmental organizational chart for the county, given to Hayes by Davis and included in the report Hayes gave to the commission on April 7, shows Davis pretty much in charge of everything.
Hayes’ report lists changes the board might make in five different areas: (1) operational communications and decision making; (2) lines of authority; (3) agenda setting procedure; (4) meeting procedure, and (5) budget procedure.
None of these involves changes in the enabling legislation.
The level of frustration of the four commissioners, voiced at a Sept. 25 meeting with Hayes, suggests they may not be satisfied with anything less.
Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton said they have tried repeatedly to make changes in the past without success. Commissioner John Daniell, whose term started only in January, did not participate in that discussion.
The complaint of Luke, Hale and Horton was simple. They said Davis, through his control the department heads, keeps them from getting the information they need to do their jobs.
The challenge before them now may be convincing Bob Smith and Bill Cowsert to do something about it.
Party won't play a role here. Cowsert, Smith, Davis and the four commissioners are all Republicans.
If Oconee County’s four commissioners this week decide they want to change the way the county operates through new enabling legislation, they are going to have to deal with the power of state Rep. Bob Smith and Sen. Bill Cowsert.
Smith and Cowsert, neither of whom is elected solely by Oconee County voters, will determine if new legislation controlling the county’s governmental structure gets introduced in the General Assembly when it next meets. Any legislation introduced will not pass without their support.
By tradition, legislators usually have required that requests for changes in enabling legislation have the unanimous support of the government officials making the ask. The Board of Commissioners is made up of four commissioners and a chairman.
But Chairman Melvin Davis only votes in case of a tie.Does that mean that the four commissioners alone determine what changes are requested, or will Davis, who isn’t very likely to support any change in the enabling legislation that weaken his power, have a voice as well?
Rep. Smith and Sen. Cowsert get to make the rules.
The Oconee County Board of Education learned this lesson earlier this year when it sought to increase its own salary. Smith refused to introduce the legislation in the end, though Board members said he earlier indicated he would.
Cowsert stayed in the background on that controversy, letting Smith set play king.
The Board of Commissioners is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night at the Meeting Room in the Community Center at Veterans Park on Hog Mountain Road in what is labeled a work session. As required by law, it is open to the public.
Technically, the board will talk about a report produced by Harry Hayes, local government projects director at the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government. The real issue is what the four commissioners, each of whom serves part time, wants to do to counter the power of Davis, whose position is full time.
The structure of county government is not set by the state’s constitution, but by locally tailored enabling legislation passed by the General Assembly.
In 1998 the General Assembly made the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners both the "chief executive officer of the county" and the "presiding officer at all meetings of the board."
The chairman gets to "state every question coming before the board and to announce the decision of the board on all subjects," to "execute all ordinances, resolutions and contracts in behalf of the county," and to "act as ceremonial head of the county government."
A departmental organizational chart for the county, given to Hayes by Davis and included in the report Hayes gave to the commission on April 7, shows Davis pretty much in charge of everything.
Hayes’ report lists changes the board might make in five different areas: (1) operational communications and decision making; (2) lines of authority; (3) agenda setting procedure; (4) meeting procedure, and (5) budget procedure.
None of these involves changes in the enabling legislation.
The level of frustration of the four commissioners, voiced at a Sept. 25 meeting with Hayes, suggests they may not be satisfied with anything less.
Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton said they have tried repeatedly to make changes in the past without success. Commissioner John Daniell, whose term started only in January, did not participate in that discussion.
The complaint of Luke, Hale and Horton was simple. They said Davis, through his control the department heads, keeps them from getting the information they need to do their jobs.
The challenge before them now may be convincing Bob Smith and Bill Cowsert to do something about it.
Party won't play a role here. Cowsert, Smith, Davis and the four commissioners are all Republicans.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Oconee BOC Scheduled To Debate Chair's Power
Are Effectiveness and Efficiency Enough?
Oconee County Board of Commissioners Chairman Melvin Davis would like the discussion of the proper relationship between the chairman and the other members of the board to be narrowly focused.
"I thought I heard you say it," Davis prodded Harry Hayes from the University of Georgia’s Carl Vison Institute of Government at the April 7 BOC meeting. "You were commenting regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of county operations and saying that is a very positive..."
"Yes sir," Hayes responded. "I was very impressed with the operations I saw."
Hayes had just presented to the board a report he produced for the commissioners on county government "Form and Function," and Davis was pleased with the response Hayes gave.
Commissioners Jim Luke, Margaret Hale and Chuck Horton have made it clear, however, they are more concerned about process than efficiency and effectiveness.
Each had stated strongly in a meeting with Hayes and Davis on Sept. 25, 2008, that Davis achieves his efficiency and effectiveness by withholding information from them, making it hard for them to make independent assessments of the issues before the county.
Luke and Horton said they are unwilling to go through their second four-year terms–which started in January--without fixing that problem.
The dispute should play out in public again on May 6 and possibly on May 7 when Davis and the four commissioners are scheduled to meet to discuss the structure of county government.
Davis clearly would like to set the parameters for discussion narrowly. In giving notice of the meeting, he said the board will "discuss and review the Oconee County Assessment performed by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government."
The May 6 session is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. in the meeting room at Veterans Park Community Center on Hog Mountain Road. The board will meet the next night if necessary.
The report by Hayes is an outgrowth of the meeting held back in September. That was a "retreat," but the board did not go out of town, as it had a year earlier, because of the controversy that 2007 improperly announced meeting in Madison caused. The Board met in September around the table in the Grand Jury room at the courthouse in Watkinsville.
I did not attend that meeting, but Sarah Bell, who ran unsuccessfully against Davis in the Republican primary election in July, did attend, and she made an audio recording of the meeting for me.
The conversation around the table makes it clear that the central issue is the differential power of the chairman versus the other four commissioners.
Davis uses his power, Hale, Horton and Luke said, to keep them in the dark, further eroding what little power they have and rendering them ineffective in their efforts to check the power of the chairman.
Davis brought Hayes to the meeting to serve as a moderator, and Hayes began by saying he would like to hear from the other commissioners about their concerns.
Luke was the first to speak. He said he has been frustrated since he joined the board in 2005, but his frustration is now at a new level. Much of the frustration is that the county department heads, who are hired by Davis and report to Davis, don’t release the information the commissioners say they want.
Horton said he is particularly frustrated that the commissioners are forced to vote, often with only the small amount of information Davis will release. Davis, on the other hand, only votes in the case of a tie. According to Horton, Davis controls the vote through his control over information, but his influence is out of the public limelight.
Hale, who started her third term in January, said the problem of information control is long-standing and has been discussed at numerous retreats in the past. She said she often cannot get department heads to give her information even after repeated requests.
Commission John Daniell, who began his first term in January, attended the meeting, but he did not speak. Don Norris, unseated by Daniell and a usual ally of Davis, did.
Norris said he has no complaints because he also got the information he wanted.
According to the enabling legislation passed by the Georgia General Assembly in 1998, the chairperson of the Board of Commissioners has the duty and responsibility "to act as the chief executive officer of the county."
The legislation doesn’t do a lot to spell out what it means to be "chief executive officer," but the chairman serves full time. The four commissioners do not.
The enabling legislation also says that the chairman runs the meetings of the commissioners.
County Attorney Daniel Haygood told the board at the September meeting that a big part of the problem is that there is no clear division between the executive and legislative branches of government in the county.
The enabling legislation puts Davis in control of the executive branch of government, but it also makes him chairman of the legislative branch–the commission. He has the authority to control the agenda and run the meetings.
The board members didn’t respond to this civics books explanation of the problem. They said if they had more information they could be effective as members of the administrative team with Davis.
Haygood technically is appointed by the commission, but he has been held that position since December of 1988–before any member of the current board was elected.
Even if the board would accept that it is a legislative body rather than a part of the executive, it would need information to be effective. It is hard to be a check on power without the ability to independently gather and assess what is going on.
Before writing his report, Hayes and the CVIOG interviewed department heads, elected constitutional officials (sheriff, tax commissioner, clerk of courts, probate judge), the chairman, the commissioners and Haygood.
He also compared Oconee County’s governmental structure with that of Barrow, Cobb, Gwinnett, Houston, Jackson, Murray, Newton, Paulding and Whitfield counties.
The report lists a number of changes the county might make in five different areas: (1) operational communications and decision making; (2) lines of authority; (3) agenda setting procedure; (4) meeting procedure, and (5) budget procedure.
For example, Hayes said commissioners could divide up the departments and "agree to be responsible for contact with those departments."
The commission could annually appoint the clerk and county attorney, and the administrative officer could be assigned to jointly report to the chair and the commission.
The chair and the vice chair could set the agenda, rather than just the chair. Commissioners might be given time to report on their concerns at meetings. A budget drafting committee might be created and include commissioners.
Davis pushed hard at the Sept. 25 meeting to get Hayes to include the conversations with the department heads, all of whom report to him, in the report. They were unlikely to be critical.
And they were likely to allow Hayes to reach his conclusion that the current system is "efficient and effective."
"Changes that you might feel like you need to make will potentially have consequences relative to efficiency and effectiveness," Hayes told the commissioners after he took the underhand pitch of a question from Davis on that topic. "It is always a trade off."
Davis may or may not have liked what Hayes said next.
"The most efficient form of government you’ve got here in terms of county government is a sole commissioner," Hayes said. "There’s no debate. No motions. No second. The commissioner just announces the decisions."
Hayes didn’t state the obvious. Control by one individual may be efficient and effective, but it isn’t necessarily good government.
****
The pictures used with the audio clips above were taken at recent commission meetings. The picture of Don Norris came from a video clip.
The audio from this portion of the Sept. 25, 2008, meeting is available at
Here is an abstract of the session and a key to recognizing the voices:
On Sept. 25, 2008, the Oconee County Board of Commissioners met in the Grand Jury Room at the courthouse in Watkinsville. The meeting began with an open discussion of BOC structure and control. Harry Hayes from the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the Univeristy of Georgia moderated. This is an audio recording of that discussion. To follow, you'll have to recognize voices. Here is the order of speakers: Chairman Melvin Davis; Commissioner Chuck Horton; Commissioner Margaret Hale; Commissioner Don Norris, turned out of office and ending his term; County Attorney Daniel Haygood; Harry Hayes; Horton; Haygood; Hayes; Haygood; Hayes; Haygood; Commissioner Jim Luke. (All speakers have now been introduced.) John Daniell, elected to replace Norton, was present but did not speak.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Oconee Connector Delayed Again
Got a Deferral
Oconee County has promoted the project and even put up $6 million to purchase right of way for the roadway.
The state has now reimbursed the county this amount, but county Finance Director Jeff Benko told the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night that the loss of interest income on the $6 million contributed to the $1.2 million revenue shortfall the county is expecting for this fiscal year in its general fund.
The county also is running a deficit in collection of revenue for the Utility Department, Benko said Tuesday night. The Utility Department operates with a budget separate from the general fund. The county is considering a water rate increase to address an expected shortfall next year.
GDOT posted its decision to defer awarding bids on the Oconee Connector project this morning, and I sent email messages to County Administrator Alan Theriault and Public Works Director Emil Beshara asking them if they had any insights as to when the decision might be made. Neither has responded.
The bidding has been closely followed by county officials, and The Oconee Enterprise contained a story in the April 23 edition in which Beshara was quoted as saying he expected the low bidder to get the award.
The Enterprise touted that story, based on the opening of the bids, with a "Seen First" red label indicating that the paper had posted the story on its web site on April 20. The state actually had announced the opening of the bids on April 17, and I had posted that information and a link on this blog on April 17.
The Enterprise story on April 23 contained an error the paper has made in earlier stories as well. The Connector will intersect with Epps Bridge Parkway between Lowe’s and the building containing the Starbucks, not between Starbucks and McDonalds, as the paper reported.
Oconee County officials and Atlanta developer Frank Bishop got a setback today when the Georgia Department of Transportation deferred the awarding of a bid for the Oconee Connector Extension, which will open up land for development in the county, including for Bishop’s proposed Epps Bridge Centre on Epps Bridge Parkway.
GDOT opened six bids on April 17 for the project and was expected to select the successful bidder today. The department offered no explanation for the deferral.
The state today did make awards for a $1.2 million truck weigh station on I-20 in Douglas County and for $1.1 million for traffic signal upgrades in Spalding County. It deferred awarding a project in Coweta County, which had a low bid of $23.2 million.
The low bid for the Oconee County project was $13.5 million. The 1.5 mile Oconee Connector Extension will form a loop from SR 316 at its current intersection with the existing Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s. It will include a flyover of SR Loop 10.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners rezoned the 63 acres for the shopping center in October but said Bishop could not begin any construction on the $76 million Epps Bridge Centre until bids for the Oconee Connector Extension had been let by the state.
Oconee officials had said they expected the state to call for bids for the Oconee Connector Extension several times during the last year, but the state delayed doing so until Nov. 21, 2008. On Dec.
12, 2008, the department opened eight bids, and on Dec. 24 it rejected all eight for unspecified reasons.
Without this road, Epps Bridge Centre will have only one entrance and exit–on Epps Bridge Parkway opposite the Waffle House restaurant.
GDOT opened six bids on April 17 for the project and was expected to select the successful bidder today. The department offered no explanation for the deferral.
The state today did make awards for a $1.2 million truck weigh station on I-20 in Douglas County and for $1.1 million for traffic signal upgrades in Spalding County. It deferred awarding a project in Coweta County, which had a low bid of $23.2 million.
The low bid for the Oconee County project was $13.5 million. The 1.5 mile Oconee Connector Extension will form a loop from SR 316 at its current intersection with the existing Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s. It will include a flyover of SR Loop 10.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners rezoned the 63 acres for the shopping center in October but said Bishop could not begin any construction on the $76 million Epps Bridge Centre until bids for the Oconee Connector Extension had been let by the state.
Oconee officials had said they expected the state to call for bids for the Oconee Connector Extension several times during the last year, but the state delayed doing so until Nov. 21, 2008. On Dec.
12, 2008, the department opened eight bids, and on Dec. 24 it rejected all eight for unspecified reasons.Without this road, Epps Bridge Centre will have only one entrance and exit–on Epps Bridge Parkway opposite the Waffle House restaurant.
Oconee County has promoted the project and even put up $6 million to purchase right of way for the roadway.
The state has now reimbursed the county this amount, but county Finance Director Jeff Benko told the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night that the loss of interest income on the $6 million contributed to the $1.2 million revenue shortfall the county is expecting for this fiscal year in its general fund.
The county also is running a deficit in collection of revenue for the Utility Department, Benko said Tuesday night. The Utility Department operates with a budget separate from the general fund. The county is considering a water rate increase to address an expected shortfall next year.
GDOT posted its decision to defer awarding bids on the Oconee Connector project this morning, and I sent email messages to County Administrator Alan Theriault and Public Works Director Emil Beshara asking them if they had any insights as to when the decision might be made. Neither has responded.
The bidding has been closely followed by county officials, and The Oconee Enterprise contained a story in the April 23 edition in which Beshara was quoted as saying he expected the low bidder to get the award.
The Enterprise touted that story, based on the opening of the bids, with a "Seen First" red label indicating that the paper had posted the story on its web site on April 20. The state actually had announced the opening of the bids on April 17, and I had posted that information and a link on this blog on April 17.
The Enterprise story on April 23 contained an error the paper has made in earlier stories as well. The Connector will intersect with Epps Bridge Parkway between Lowe’s and the building containing the Starbucks, not between Starbucks and McDonalds, as the paper reported.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Oconee BOC Agrees to Consider Mitigation Resolution
Damage Here, Mitigate Here
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners tonight agreed to give preliminary consideration at its regular meeting on May 5 to a resolution that would state the county’s preference that future mitigation of damage to streams and wetlands in the county be carried out in the county.
A draft resolution for the county to review was presented to the Board by Katie Sheehan, a staff attorney at the River Basin Center in the Eugene P. Odum School of Ecology at the University of Georgia. 
Sheehan prepared the resolution after discussing mitigation issues in the county with me. I spoke to the Board before Sheehan presented the resolution and asked that the resolution be put on the May 5 agenda.
Under current federal law, a developer wishing to destroy streams or wetlands that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government, as most streams and wetlands do, must obtain a permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
When the Corps grants a permit, it requires the recipient to restore wetlands and streams to "mitigate" the damage being permitted by the Corps.
Sheehan said the resolution tells the Corps that Oconee County wants the Corps to require when granting permits for streams and wetlands in Oconee County in the future "that any compensatory mitigation required by the Corps for impacts to wetlands and streams be conducted within Oconee County itself."
In my comments to the Board I said I contacted the River Basin Center and Sheehan after I learned about mitigation required by the Corps for the Epps Bridge Centre shopping mall on Epps Bridge Parkway.
The Corps granted developer Frank Bishop of Atlanta a permit to pipe and fill about a half mile of flowing streams and wetlands on the 63 acre site and to mitigate that damage on a stream in Greene County.
I told the Board that the rules had been changed since Bishop was granted his permit and that two mitigation banks in Oconee County now are in development–one on tributaries to the Apalachee River and the other on Rose Creek in the southern part of the county–that did not exist when Bishop made his application.
In addition, the Corps has designated the Georgia Environmental Policy Institute's Georgia Wetlands Trust Fund as an organization that can receive monies to use for preservation and restoration projects in Oconee County in lieu of mitigation. This option was not available to Bishop.
The resolution drafted by Sheehan acknowledges the changes in Corps procedures as well as the emergence of the three options.
The three-page resolution states "wetlands outside of Oconee County rarely, if ever, provide the level of values and services to Oconee County residents as those found in Oconee County" and notes that "an explicit goal of the Oconee County Comprehensive Plan is to ensure that the county’s natural resources are protected."
The proposed resolution states "that Oconee County Board of Commissioners urges the Army Corps, when making compensatory mitigation site decisions for impacts to wetlands and streams in Oconee County, to compel permitees to engage in compensatory mitigation in the following order of preference: (1) on-site, in-kind mitigation; (2) mitigation in Oconee County in wetlands or streams with a high conservation value; (3) mitigation in Oconee County."
Sheehan also prepared an abstract for the resolution that summarizes the main points in the resolution itself.
The meeting tonight was for setting the agenda for the May 5 meeting. Public comment at agenda setting meetings follows actual reading of the agenda, so both Sheehan and I were asking the Board to modify the agenda just approved.
Chairman Melvin Davis thanked Sheehan for her comments but did not respond to the request that the item be placed on the May 5 agenda.
Commission Chuck Horton said he thought the May 5 agenda should include at least a preliminary discussion of the proposed resolution. Commissioner Margaret Hale agreed, and Commissioners John Daniell and Jim Luke said they were comfortable with that decision.
Davis asked Commission Clerk Gina Lindsey to amend the agenda to include the item.
Friday, April 17, 2009
GDOT Opens Bids for Oconee Connector
Six Firms Want the Work
The Georgia Department of Transportation today opened and read six bids ranging from $13.5 to $15.7 million for construction of the Oconee Connector Extension that will lead to the proposed Epps Bridge Centre shopping mall on Epps Bridge Parkway. The department said it will announce its decision on the bids in a week.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners in October set the issuing of bids for the roadway as a condition for beginning any construction on the $76 million shopping center.
GDOT also opened bids today for three projects in Douglas, Coweta and Spalding counties.
Oconee officials had said they expected the state to call for bids for the Oconee Connector Extension several times during the last year, but the state delayed doing so until Nov. 21, 2008. On Dec. 12, 2008, the department opened eight bids, and on Dec. 24 it rejected all eight for unspecified reasons.
The 1.5 mile Oconee Connector Extension will form a loop from SR 316 at its current intersection with the existing Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s. It will include a flyover of SR Loop 10.
Without this road, Epps Bridge Centre will have only one entrance and exit–on Epps Bridge Parkway opposite the Waffle House restaurant.
The low bid opened today was submitted by G.P.S. Enterprises Inc. for $13,465,759, and the high bad was offered by Pittman Construction Company for $15,652,040.
Both firms had submitted bids that were opened in December, though the estimate in each case was lower the second time around. The G.P.S bid in December had been $13,969,803, while the Pittman bid in December had been $16,724,618.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources on April 1, 2009, issued a variance to Atlanta developer Frank Bishop to allow him to violate the 25-foot buffer on a half mile of flowing streams and wetlands on the site.
In issuing the variance, the state informed Bishop that "the amount of land cleared during construction must be kept at a minimum." Bishop has indicated he plans to disturb 62 of the 63 acres that make up the site and to pipe and fill the flowing streams.
On Jan. 20, Bishop was given a permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to pipe and fill the streams and wetlands on the site and to mitigate the damage by restoring wetlands and streams on a site he purchased in Greene County between the Oconee County line and Greensboro.
The Georgia Department of Transportation today opened and read six bids ranging from $13.5 to $15.7 million for construction of the Oconee Connector Extension that will lead to the proposed Epps Bridge Centre shopping mall on Epps Bridge Parkway. The department said it will announce its decision on the bids in a week.
The Oconee County Board of Commissioners in October set the issuing of bids for the roadway as a condition for beginning any construction on the $76 million shopping center.
GDOT also opened bids today for three projects in Douglas, Coweta and Spalding counties.
Oconee officials had said they expected the state to call for bids for the Oconee Connector Extension several times during the last year, but the state delayed doing so until Nov. 21, 2008. On Dec. 12, 2008, the department opened eight bids, and on Dec. 24 it rejected all eight for unspecified reasons.
The 1.5 mile Oconee Connector Extension will form a loop from SR 316 at its current intersection with the existing Oconee Connector back to Epps Bridge Parkway near Lowe’s. It will include a flyover of SR Loop 10.
Without this road, Epps Bridge Centre will have only one entrance and exit–on Epps Bridge Parkway opposite the Waffle House restaurant.
The low bid opened today was submitted by G.P.S. Enterprises Inc. for $13,465,759, and the high bad was offered by Pittman Construction Company for $15,652,040.
Both firms had submitted bids that were opened in December, though the estimate in each case was lower the second time around. The G.P.S bid in December had been $13,969,803, while the Pittman bid in December had been $16,724,618.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources on April 1, 2009, issued a variance to Atlanta developer Frank Bishop to allow him to violate the 25-foot buffer on a half mile of flowing streams and wetlands on the site.
In issuing the variance, the state informed Bishop that "the amount of land cleared during construction must be kept at a minimum." Bishop has indicated he plans to disturb 62 of the 63 acres that make up the site and to pipe and fill the flowing streams.
On Jan. 20, Bishop was given a permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to pipe and fill the streams and wetlands on the site and to mitigate the damage by restoring wetlands and streams on a site he purchased in Greene County between the Oconee County line and Greensboro.
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