PRINT
E-MAIL STORY
NEWSLETTER SIGN UPBarrow County News
The Barrow County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to switch its liability insurance agreement from ACCG-IRMA to save about $200,000. Starting in October, the county will switch to Travelers Insurance.
Operations Development Manager Bob Hohe said he came before the board to find a way to save some money – on the very day the county had dipped into its $2.8 million cash reserve Certificate of Deposit just to make payroll. The current agreement with ACCG-IRMA has a yearly premium of about $400,000. Hohe said the county will have to pay a 10 percent fee – about $30,000 – to end the agreement. He only learned of the early-out penalty Tuesday morning.
"Even with the 10 percent penalty, we will save $200,000 approximately," said Commissioner Larry Joe Wilburn, who offered his apologies for any miscommunications during the efforts to secure savings for the county on liability insurance. During the early part of the budget-planning process, Wilburn was talking with providers in efforts to secure lower premiums.
Hohe indicated he would have preferred a request for proposal to have been put out for liability coverage, he acknowledges the savings the county was seeking makes the process a bit more platable, but not one he wishes to repeat.
Representatives from both Public Risk Underwriters for Travelers and Trident for Argonaut had a chance to address the board at the meeting. Both complimented Hohe’s presentation of the matter at hand.
The commissioners chose the lower $244,506 quote offered from Travelers Insurance, which originally quoted a price of $340,241. After learning another company, Trident, was putting in a quote, Travelers’ lower submission was made. Trident’s offer was $256,309.
Since the matter was handled by quotes rather than requests for proposal, the additional quote was considered.
Chairman Daniel Yearwood said he plans to open the liability insurance agreement to bids in January. Requests for proposals will be sought for all the county’s insurance including workman’s compensation.
Commissioner Wilburn abstained from the vote.
Zoning
The board stuck to the planning commission’s recommendation and voted Tuesday not to rezone the nearly 180 acres of the late J.B. Sims property back to its AG and AC zoning. Nearby property owners had sent a June 24 petition to the county, requesting the commission revoke the parcel’s medium-density residential zoning district, because, they said, the development plan for that property has not been vested in the required two-year timeframe.
One of the owners of that property, Sherry Wilson, said at the meeting that the economy has made it difficult to find a new developer. "The overall economic situation…has been very bleak for the last 18 months and it will take some time to market our property," she said. The original contract on the property has fallen through but interest has been shown in the development in the past several months, Wilson said.
In 2006 the board approved the request to make it a residential district when then-Chairman Doug Garrison broke a 3-3 tie. County code requires that the rezoning applicant record a final subdivision plat, receive approval of the preliminary plan, obtain a building permit and initiate its use, whichever happens first, within two years of the rezoning. According to nearby property owners, these requirements have not been met. They argued that the zoning approval has failed to be vested and should return to an agriculture district.
"They did none of this, so I say they have forgone their rezone," Dennis Lee, one of the letter’s authors said Tuesday.
The board also decided to tell the Statham City Council that it has not objection to the city’s annexation of parcels owned by Edna Jackson, who currently serves on the Statham City Council. The annexed portions are adjacent to parcels that she also owns within city limits.
Other properties that the board rezoned include:
• A 3-acre agricultural-residential tract being split into two separate 1.5-acre tracts for a single-family home on Arnold Road.
• Two acres from an agricultural district to an agricultural-residential district on Dee Kennedy Road.
Other business
Now through October, the county detention center will continue to use the same correctional healthcare provider for its inmates as it has for the past two years, while it begins accepting bids for a new contract, the commission decided. The county will pay CorrectHealth the same monthly base rate of $36,294, plus an additional $1.99 per inmate per day when the daily census surpasses 150 inmates.
Because the original contract with the company required the county to adjust the agreement if the number of inmates surpasses 150, the county will pay $9,000 extra for each month since June. Since February, the jail has held about 286 prisoners on average each day, said Maj. Mike Katsegianes.
The board will accept new proposals for a correctional healthcare provider until noon Oct. 8.
The board also voted to sign an agreement making Coca-Cola the soft-drink vendor for Barrow County Parks & Rec.
Coca-Cola will provide bottle vending machines at the rec park and Pine Shore Pool, as well as single- and double-door coolers for the leisure services gym and various concession stands. Under the agreement, the company will pay the county up to $23,000 for the purchase and installation of three scoreboards, which will include Coca-Cola branding.
For each year the agreement is in effect, Coca-Cola also will pay up to $500 annually for Powerade athletic equipment, including coolers, bottles and towels; and $1,000 annually for awards and plaques.
Upon finalization of the contract, Parks & Rec Director Kurt Cooper said work on the new scoreboards, to replace some which have stopped working, could be under way within two weeks.
