Finance committee recommends approval of SPLOST projects

Taylor Cooper, The Brunswick News, Ga.
·3 min read

Feb. 24—The Glynn County Finance Committee is recommending the county award close to $2.8 million in special purpose local option sales tax projects.

The recommendations will be taken up by the full commission.

Committee members David O'Quinn, Walter Rafolski and Cap Fendig, meeting Tuesday, voted to recommend a $957,020 contract for the construction of a sidewalk on Harry Driggers Boulevard to JW Oliver Construction.

The SPLOST 2016 project calls for the sidewalk on Harry Driggers to be extended in either direction, eventually stretching from U.S. 17 to the Canal Crossing Shopping Center.

Tuesday's contract covered only the length from Needwood Middle School to U.S. 17. The rest will come later, according to county engineer Paul Andrews.

The committee also is recommending spending $1.85 million on a SPLOST V project to repair drain pipes under Oak Grove Island Road.

Two sets of culverts are in poor shape, said Andrews, but environmental factors have stretched out the approval and permitting process for years.

Some controversy surrounding the project involved public opposition on the grounds that it would create an imbalance in the back-and-forth between the freshwater drainage and saltwater tides on the boundary of marsh habitat.

Using the method the county proposes, a product called cured-in-place pipe would slightly reduce the diameter of the pipes and keep the saltwater tides from balancing out the rainwater conveyed through the pipes, some argued.

The state Department of Natural Resources gave the county the go-ahead in summer 2020 but not without a special condition to protect manatees.

An incident at the culverts a few years ago ended in the separation of a manatee calf from its mother when the calf went into a drain pipe, Andrews explained. The incident ended happily after the DNR reunited the pair, but the drainage project now has to include the design and installation of a "manatee excluder device" to prevent similar incidents.

Redesigning the project to better accommodate the saltwater marsh and designing from scratch a means to keep out manatees ate up the time between the DNR's approval and the finance committee meeting, Andrews said.

The excluder device will be a set of pilings spaced closely enough to keep manatee calves from entering the drain pipes.

Fendig noted that delays like these can make it difficult to complete all SPLOST projects in a timely manner.

Funds allocated from SPLOST V would not cover $1.7 million. The shortfall would come out of the county's pocket.

In other business, the committee recommended the full commission:

—Sign nearly $85,000 in contracts with Elite Maintenance and Contracting and Creative Landscapes for grounds maintenance at county facilities.

—Sign an $89,000 contract with Miller Electric for the installation of a new access control system in the headquarters of the Glynn County Police and Fire departments and county data center.

—Renew a custodial services contract with Intercontinental Commercial Services of Suwanee in the amount of $392,000.

—Spend $85,000 on new data storage servers to make sure the county has all important information stored locally as well as remotely in cloud services.

—Authorize a public hearing on a proposal to increase some fees at Blythe Island Regional Park.

—Accept a donation of $500 to the Glynn County Police Department's K-9 program.

—Refund over $8,000 in overcharged property taxes, to be split between a property owner and a homeowners' association that held a lien on the parcel.

—Approve a request from the Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce to waive the usage fees for Gascoigne Bluff Park for two chamber events.

—Accept a $30,512 grant from Federal Emergency Management Agency to support the base salary of the county's EMA director and a $2,608 from the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia for an EMA internship position. Currently, Alec Eaton is serving as the county's interim EMA director.

—Issue an invitation to bid on a new boat hoist at Blythe Island Regional Park. The equipment has been out of commission since mid- to late January, according to Glynn County Recreation and Parks Department personnel.