Nine days after a regular board meeting that lasted just one minute and six seconds, the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors put in a little overtime Wednesday, meeting for two hours to take care of regular business and conduct a hospital trust fund meeting.
While no action was taken at the trust fund meeting — the trustees were updated on the status of the fund by representatives of its investment partners, Renasant Wealth Management and Stephens Capital Management — supervisors took action on a number of proposals on behalf of the Board of Supervisors.
The Board approved a memorandum of understanding with Columbus Air Force Base on a guidelines for the joint land use agreement between the county and CAFB, approved two 10-year tax exemptions for expansions planned by two local industries, reviewed plans for the expansion of the county’s E911 center and restructured the E911 board.
Celeste Werner, project manager for Matrix Design Group, presented the guidelines that apply to the area governed by the joint land-use agreement, an area that covers a 5-mile radius around CAFB.
“These guidelines are not regulatory,” Werner said. “They just outline what is in the agreement already. They deal with three basic areas: land-use within the five-mile radius, dark sky and lighting in the area and vertical construction, which is a matter of public safety.”
The board unanimously approved the guidelines and agreed to a memorandum of understanding as proof of its consent. Werner said the guideline will be posted on the county’s website.
$33K going to CalStar building
LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins then requested the county appropriate $33,225 for repairs to the county-owned CalStar building for repairs to issues that existed before the company moved into the property.
Higgins said $16,000 would be needed to repair damage caused by the building’s inadequate gutters, which he said were too small. Another $17,225 is needed to rebuild the loading dock.
“The loading dock is too high for the trucks,” Higgins said. “When the building was first constructed, gravel and rocks were brought in so the trucks could pull up to the site. But when they started building the loading dock, they didn’t remove the rocks; they just poured the concrete over it. That made the dock too high to accommodate the trucks. So now, we’ll have to go in, tear out that concrete, remove those rocks and start over.”
Supervisors, noting that CalStar is ahead of schedule in its operations since moving into the facility, approved the funding for the repairs by a unanimous vote.
Industry expansion
The supervisors also voted unanimously to approve 10-year tax exemptions for Weyerhaeuser and Glenn Machine Works as the companies proceed with expansion plans.
The board also approved a reconfiguration of the county’s E911 board. At a previous meeting during which the board was to have made an at-large appointment to the board, board president Harry Sanders proposed changing the composition of the board by installing five members — one for each district — along with three non-voting members who would be representatives or designees from the sheriff’s department, Columbus Police Department and Columbus Fire & Rescue.
During Wednesday’s meeting, District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks suggested that the non-voting memberships should also include the county’s Emergency Management Director or designee.
The supervisors approved the proposal unanimously. The change goes into effect immediately.
Trust fund returns
The supervisors went into recess to conduct a hospital trust fund meeting.
Portfolio managers of the county’s two investment partners painted an optimistic picture, noting that the economy continues to grow and that all indicators are promising. Noting that stocks continue to outperform bonds, the two firms said they were prepared to move more of the county’s $30-million-plus funds into stocks. By law, the county cannot invest more than 50 percent of its trust fund in stocks.
District 2 Supervisor Bill Brigham said he continues to be amazed as the success of the investments since the county moved into the investment market.
“We’ve been doing this for two-and-a-half years,” Brigham said. “In that time, we’ve made a little over $3 million in our investments. If the state hadn’t passed legislation that allowed us to invest in something other than CDs, we would have made $150,000 over that time.
“What that has done is allowed us to do things for the people that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise — two new community centers and the expansion of the E911 center. These investments have allowed us to do those projects without costing the taxpayers a dime. That’s pretty amazing.
“We got into this at a really good time, of course. We know that we won’t always get these kinds of returns. But, still, it’s been awfully good for the county.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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