June 21, 2022

FINANCIAL REPORT

  • CASH & INVESTMENT REPORT

    • This report is in your material for review.

  • BUDGET CALENDAR

    •  The new budget year begins July 1, 2022, and runs through June 30, 2023.

  • LOST

  • Gordon County collects a voter approved Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) of 1% on the sale of certain items. LOST revenue significantly reduces the millage rate assessed against Gordon County taxpayers. Qualified cities in Gordon County also receive LOST revenue. To be qualified to receive LOST revenue, a city must provide at least three out of five of the following services: (1) Water; (2) Sewer; (3) Garbage Collection; (4) Police Protection; (5) Fire Protection; or (6) Library. Currently, Gordon County LOST revenue is divided as follows: Gordon County 63.35%; Calhoun 33.35%; Fairmount 1.3%; Resaca 1%. Georgia law requires Georgia Counties and qualified municipalities to "renegotiate" distribution of LOST revenue within two years of each decennial census and there is a current deadline to submit the new distribution agreements to the State no later than December 30, 2022. Negotiations must commence before July 1, 2022. Gordon County hosted a meeting of our cities today to begin the renegotiation process as required by law.

SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS & ACTIVITY

  • JOINT COMPREHENSIVE PLAN

    •  Georgia law requires an update to the Comprehensive plan every 5 years and our update is due June 30, 2023. The Northwest Georgia Regional Commission assists us with the planning and prefers to allocate one year for the process. We are starting the review process now.

  • COURTHOUSE RENOVATION

    •  Planned interior demolition of the 1961Courthouse is ongoing. Crews are currently working on second floor demolition while first floor build out is beginning.

  • ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

    •  Since the last meeting, I have met with representatives of companies making major investments in the Trimble Hollow. These include Momeni, CFL and Thor.

  • BROADBAND

    •  Commissioner Cunningham and I met with Andy Macke, Vice President of External Affairs for Comcast, to review progress on the initiative to bring broadband to unserved/underserved areas of Gordon County. Comcast has had engineers working throughout the county over the last several months to assess needs, availability of sufficient poles and other concerns. As a result, the design process is complete and permitting requests have begun. To move forward, Comcast is obtaining or will need to obtain permits from Cities: Resaca, Calhoun, Ranger, Fairmount and Plainville. Power Companies: North Georgia Electric, Georgia Power, Calhoun Utilities, and Amicalola EMC. Telephone Companies: AT&T and Windstream as well as GDOT, Norfolk Southern RR and CSX RR. Gordon County hosted a meeting of these entities in April to begin the permitting process. Comcast states that it will commence the build out process as permits are obtained. Comcast is also running fiber to outlying County facilities and will be establishing Wi-Fi at County Parks. Commissioner Cunningham has requested for Comcast to create a Public Information website to show pertinent information as we move forward. Enhanced service to some unserved homes could begin in October.

  • GORDON COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT

    •  Our Gordon County Fire Chief Doug Ralston received a note of thanks from Calhoun Administrator, Paul Worley: "Thanks to you and your department for lending a hand this week on the large industrial fire. As always, we appreciate your support, and we will try our best to return the favor whenever needed."

  • CIGNA HEALTH INSURANCE OPEN ENROLLMENT

    • Open enrollment runs through midnight on Sunday June 26. The new plan goes into effect on July 1st. You may make changes to your account online through ADP or by calling H.R. during the open enrollment period.

  • REDBONE RIDGES

    •  Derron Brown, Keith King and I met with our consultants at ACC and employees from Republic Waste Services to monitor and review landfill operations.

  • MISCELLANEOUS

    • We continue to look at a vendor to consolidate permitting and code enforcement within the popular QPublic platform. We hope to give the public an option to conduct the building inspection application and permitting process online as a matter of convenience. This may be extended to other county services as well to provide the option to conduct business over the internet.
    • The safety committee held its quarterly meeting.
    • Steve Parris, Keith King and I met with Dr. Fraker and several Gordon County school personnel at Bellwood School to discuss the GCBE need for driveway improvements and possible trail ways.
    • Attended a Father's Day lunch hosted by the Senior Center.
    • Attended a regional meeting of City and County Administrators hosted by Bartow County at the Savoy Car Museum.

  • PERSONNEL

    • We have a couple of changes to our Department Heads.
    • Tom Burgess is retiring after 28 years of service. Tom has been in building inspection since 1994 and became the Director in 1997. We appreciate Tom's dedication and service to Gordon County.
    • Derron Brown is taking over as Director of Building Inspection. Derron has served as Chief Building Inspector in Bartow County.
    • Andrea Bramlett is now serving as the Finance Director for the Gordon County BOC. Andrea is a CPA and has served as Finance Director for Calhoun for the last fifteen years where she has been consistently recognized for excellence in government accounting.