Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the Making Bible County Board of Commissioners Pre-Commission meeting.

Today is Tuesday, December the second, two thousand twenty-five, and the time is now five o'clock.

Maybe a minute after.

The approval of the minutes tonight is going to be November the 18th, 2025, pre-commission meeting, just a few weeks ago.

And can I get a motion to approve?

Motion by Commissioner Stewart, second by Commissioner Bryant.

All right, I miss my pen.

Thank you.

We have a motion and second.

All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Opposed, nay.

That motion carries unanimously sent to consent agenda.

We have three alcohol beverage licenses to report on.

As you recall, a couple weeks ago, we uh followed the recommendation of our council on each of these items, recommending, I think denial.

Now we've got some final determinations and denials on all three of those.

We'll go through those one at a time.

Beginning with item A.

Item A is a final recommendation, alcohol license denial for 10 day Bernabe located at 4221 Mercer University Drive, suite three, Macon, Georgia.

Can I get a motion to approve the recommendation?

Motion by Mayor Burger Turn Clark.

We have a second.

Second by uh Commissioner Howell.

All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Opposed nay.

That motion carries unanimously.

Item B is a final recommendation of alcohol license denial for Tom's Food Mark located at 811 Pinona Avenue, uh, Macon, Georgia.

Uh that's also sponsored by Mayor Pro Tim Clark.

So I'll let him make that a motion.

Do we have a second?

Segue by Commissioner Wilder.

Beach to the punch there.

Uh we have a motion second.

All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed nay.

That motion carries unanimously.

Item C is a final recommendation of alcohol license for JEC 2022 LLC located at 3565 Pine on the Avenue.

There's your picture.

Okay.

And we have a motion to uh recommend a denial.

Got a motion by Commissioner Bronson, second by Commissioner Wynne.

Any questions?

All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Opposed, nay.

That motion carries and will be sent to consent agenda.

Gonna move on to appointments for boards, commissions, and authorities.

We have two of those tonight.

Uh the first is a resolution of the Macon Bibb County Commission reappointing Dr.

White Monique Davis Smith to the Board of Directions of River Edge Behavioral Health.

Can I get a motion to approve?

Motion by Commissioner Bronson.

We have a second.

Second by Commissioner Bailey.

So we do have a motion and second.

We're all familiar with Miss Smith and she's doing a wonderful job, and she was their recommendation, and certainly we follow that.

So all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Opposed nay.

That motion carries and will be sent to consent agenda.

Item B is a resolution of Make and Bibb County Commission submitting a state of nominees for a seat held by John Houser to serve on the Make and Bibb County Hospital Authority Board.

Um, if you don't mind if I I'll have uh attorney McNeil to come down to explain our process on that because the hospital board's a little bit different than normal appointments that we have.

There's a certain mechanism that we have to follow, so I want to make sure that you're aware of that.

Uh those you especially those that are new to the board.

Let me turn your microphone on, Mr.

McNeil.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So under state law, um, to nominate uh position to the hospital authority.

The commission votes on a slate of three names, and then it goes to the hospital authority, and they have the choice of um I'm sorry, they used to be able to reject the three names.

The state law changed about two years ago.

They no longer can reject the three names.

They have to choose one of the three names that are on the slate that are presented by this board.

Um so uh what often happens is the hospital authority will um give names of people they know are interested as recommendations, and then um we present that to the commission to consider those recommendations from which the uh slate is produced.

And uh in your documents, you'll see uh a item in there that has Dr.

Mark Grossnickel, Dr.

Bill Tift, and Mr.

Steve Kruger as three uh potential people to fill that seat, and they will select a person from that list.

And this is the uh list that we are providing to them.

So at this time we'd entertain a motion to approve.

Motion by Commissioner Bronson, we have a second.

Second by uh Commissioner Bailey.

Uh all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay.

That motion carries and will be sent to consent agenda.

Uh we have a couple items on pensions tonight, and we'll have some explanation on both of those items.

We'll begin the first one.

This is an ordinance of Macon Bibb County Commission to amend appendices one, two, and three of the Make and Bibb County Charter relating to the Make and Bibb County pension plan.

And at this time, uh Mr.

McNeil is already in his place.

Uh, we're gonna get him to explain.

He's been working very hard on this for a while.

It does require some further explanation.

And those you're on the pension board are familiar, but the rest of the commission may or may not be.

So uh Mr.

Bronson I understand you want to be a co-sponsor of that.

I do, but I had a question about the previous section we were on in regards to appointments and boards.

Just out of curiosity, I know that was a list that was sent up from Keith Making Bible beautiful about a few personnel, and just want to kind of know um what's the normal process for how we go about selecting members for the board and or if if we have constituents as a hey, I want to be on a board.

Uh if it's a board that we do appointments for, they can certainly afford that to our office uh at some point in time if we decide that needs to be filled, then we'll make a recommendation to commission as an agenda item.

If we don't do that and you feel it's necessary to do that yourself, then you and four of the commissioners can have that added to the agenda.

Okay, Coopins.

I I know we've been trying to that's been kind of in the conversation recently as far as people throughout the community want to get involved.

Is this a means of encouraging more citizens to get involved and get on the boards?

Just want to make sure we were kind of had up in an idea of what that process may look like and where we play a role in in doing so.

Yeah.

Well, the commission makes an ultimate decision on that.

So we we reach out to all kind of organizations, and of course, from time to time we send to commissioners requests for board members that may be coming up.

Sometimes there are statutory requirements for each of those boards, sometimes as commissioners, sometimes there's certain other specifications.

So we'll continue to do that.

But as always, if there's a person you want to recommend, feel free to send it to our office and we'll decide whether or not it gets on the agenda.

And if there's not, there's a backup plan to that.

All right, thanks, sir.

Thank you.

All right, attorney McNeil with you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

So the first item is an ordinance uh to amend the three pension plan documents, um, the plans themselves for two purposes.

The plans are codified in the county charter, and so this is a charter change, and as a charter change has to be approved by um the commission at two consecutive um regular commission meetings.

And so this was advertised in the legal organ for the last three weeks uh for a vote tonight and a subsequent vote on the December um 16th commission meeting.

Um then if those if those votes both pass, then this would uh be sent to the Secretary of State and incorporated into our charter.

So um about the end of last summer 24, um, one of the active employees in the division A plantic that there was a gap in pension benefits for um certain uh members, essentially where you have an employee that works for the county that works long enough to vent in pension rights and then separates from employment before retiring and then dies without ever drawing a retirement payment.

Um for employees that are working for us and die while still employed, there are some benefits for people that have retired and die after retirement.

There are some benefits, but if you quit and die before actually starting your retirement payments, there were no benefits under any of the three plans.

And so um this employee asked the pension boards to explore the possibility of creating a death benefit for people that work long enough to vent in a lifetime pension benefit, but never get to see a penny of it because they don't live that long.

And so we checked with the um plan actuary to explore sort of what the cost impact would be because of the gratuities clause in the Georgia Constitution.

This is a change that could only apply to current active employees.

It cannot be made retroactive to people who are no longer working for us.

But um, based on the pricing that came back from the um actuaries, the boards all three voted to approve, recommending to this commission a charter change to create a one-time $50,000 death benefit for anybody that falls into that circumstance.

So these are people who would otherwise have been entitled to a lifetime retirement benefit at retirement age and never get to see a penny of it.

Um, and so as a way of thanking basically their families for that person's service, there's a one-time $50,000 death benefit that is added as a new pension benefit for active members of the three existing pension plans.

The other change that this um ordinance makes has to do with the pay of um retirement benefits for superior court judges.

Um, in the most recent Georgia legislative session, there was a bill passed that changed the structure of how superior court judges get paid.

Um currently, they get a salary from the state, and then every county in their circuit gives them a supplemental on top of um their state salary, which creates their total compensation package.

So Macon is part of a three county circuit.

Our judges get a salary from the state, and then they get a supplemental from Bib, a supplemental from Peach, and a supplemental from Crawford counties.

The county supplemental benefit to the superior court judges right now is about 49,000 per year.

The county pension plan defines the retirement benefit for retired superior court judges by reference to the amount of that supplement that we pay to the sitting active judges.

The retired superior court judges get two-thirds of that amount.

This year, the state legislature changed the law to say that starting in 2026, the active judges have the right to opt into a much higher state salary, which benefits them on their state pension calculation.

And if they do that, they are no longer entitled to any local supplement pay of the nature of what we've been paying.

Based on the increase in the state salary and the benefits that they get to their state pensions, we anticipate that all five of the active judges in the Bib County Superior Court will opt into this new pay structure, which would mean then that no sitting active judges are receiving any salary supplements.

According to the math in the county pension plan language, that would reduce then the pension benefits paid to retired superior court judges to zero because nobody would be getting a supplement.

To correct this, this charter change also amends the calculation for benefits for retired superior court judges.

Based on the current supplement amount, it sets a base monthly salary payment at um it's it's based on what it's it's exactly what it is right now.

It's um about $2700 a month.

Yeah, 27, 38, and 47 cents per month as the base uh benefit payment for retired superior court judges as of December 1st of 2025.

Um the uh benefit would then be increased based on any cost of living increases that are applied to the entire um body of pension retirees under the current system of superior court judges' uh benefits for retirement, they don't get the colas that everybody else gets year over year.

Instead, whenever the active judges um supplements go up, theirs would go up by the same percentage.

Since we're stopping the supplements or anticipating stopping the supplements altogether, theirs instead would just go up by the same cola rates that everybody else does.

And so the goal of this language is to keep their benefits consistent and um in line with what they're receiving now.

It's just a different set of math to get to the same number.

Attorney McNeil, let me ask a clarifying question.

Um to be clear, the requested change to the pension related to the judges is to make sure we they keep what they're entitled to under their vested pension, retired judges keep what they're entitled to.

Otherwise, inadvertently it might reduce their pension benefits that are already entitled to to zero.

Is that correct?

Right, yes.

It gets to the same dollar amount that they've been getting.

Yes, sir.

We're not giving them something new, is what I'm saying.

Um Mr.

Mayor, that that concludes my summary of this ordinance.

Attorney McNeil.

Uh, Commissioner Wayne, did you have a question or do you want to be a co-sponsor?

I just I want to be a co-sponsor for sure because as I chair two of these pension boards, and we've had a lot of discussion on it, as you know, over the months, and uh it's clear as mud to some people, even just by what you explained, but still we think what we're doing now is going to be fair, particularly the $50,000 uh to the people that would not have gotten anything.

I think that that was a good move on our part.

And then to to be fair to the judges too.

Uh this is all gonna happen in a way that would be fair to everybody, I think.

And uh, it was a lot of a lot of discussion back and forth, as you know, Michael, and um, and some other people that are on these serve on these pension boards, but um, I wanted to thank you for your explanation, even though it still might be a little confusing to some folks.

That's a lot of math put into words.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Wynn.

At this time, we don't take a motion to approve.

We get a second.

Second.

Okay, I've got a motion and second.

All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, nay.

That motion carries and be sent to consent agenda.

Uh, another item is the ordinance of the Macon Bibb County Commission to provide a one-time cost of living adjustment of three percent of current benefits affected January the first, 2026 for all retirees and beneficiaries of the Macon Bibb County pension plan.

Making Bibb County pension plan and retirement division A, make and fire and police employees retirement system who would otherwise be entitled to benefits adjustments on a one and a half percent of that date in lieu of thereof.

Uh a lot of languages to say I'll let uh attorney make some announcement on that in just a second as well.

I know there's a couple of folks uh on this commission that are in one of those plans, uh, I believe uh at least two and one possible relative of a third, and I'll get the attorney to address that first.

It does not create a conflict that we wouldn't handle tonight, so they'll be able to vote uh and also go ahead and explain uh what this one one-time code is.

We gave a call last year, we're giving an additional COA.

We're only required to give the one and a half, we're given what three, is that correct?

So I'll let you explain the rest right now.

Uh yes, Mr.

Mayor.

So um to address the ethical question first.

Um, this is a question that Commissioner Hewlett raised yesterday to me, and um I I spent the better part of my afternoon researching it and consulting with the county attorney on this question.

Um, section 20 of the Making Bib County Charter sets out different types of ethical obligations and conflicts that can arise in your service as commissioners, and um primarily um requires recusal from votes where the commission is voting on contracting or doing business with companies that you have a personal interest in as a commissioner or that your family members have a personal interest in as a commissioner.

Um it does there is a section that says if there's any financial interest whatsoever, any financial benefit in a vote that it doesn't require recusal, but it does require disclosure.

And so I prepared a financial disclosure form um for the clerk, and um it was signed before this meeting um by Commissioner Hewlett, by Commissioner Bronson, and by Commissioner Brian Cato.

And um that that does not require them to uh avoid the vote or to to leave the meeting during debate, um, but just requires disclosure, and then that's put on the record for the county and made public as part of the minutes.

Turning to the substance of the ordinance, um so last year, because of uh basically market forces and inflation and the fact that the fire and police beneficiaries do not receive um social security benefits generally.

This commission voted to give a three percent cost of living allowance to those uh retirees and their beneficiaries as opposed to the standard one and a half percent annual um cost of living allowance that's in the plan documents already.

Um this year, the um pension boards asked for that to be considered for all three boards, and so um we did a cost analysis for um what that would be.

That is spelled out in the ordinance.

Um the the cost is amortized over 10 years in the case of the fire and police and the division A plan, and over 20 years in the case of the um county plan, and the um total cost uh was approximately 12.8 million dollars over the um that that lifetime.

That's just an unfunded liability, it's not necessarily an expense to the county uh budget, and any additional um market income that the plans generate over that 10 or 20 year period will eat into that cost that's borne by the county.

So it's it's it's a lot of it's gonna be borne by market forces, and um the rest is just county contributions, our regular annual contributions.

And so by doing this, um instead of the one and a half percent COLA that by the plan language all retirees and beneficiaries are entitled to um, which this commission has the right to veto, um, then this is doing instead a three percent cost of living increase.

So if you make a thousand dollars a month as your payment, instead of going to a thousand and fifteen, you would go to a thousand and thirty.

Um, and that's that's all this does.

It's a one-time change, it's not a permanent change.

Mr.

Mayor.

Uh thank you, attorney McNeil.

Uh Commissioner Wynne.

I just want to be added as code sponsor, please.

Sure.

All right, we'll take that as a motion and a second.

All those in favor of the motion.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay, opposed, nay.

All right, we'll put that down.

Keep in mind though that sometimes this does adjust what we have to contribute in the actuary, and it could make a a uh requirement later on to go back and revisit this other budget time or or mid-year uh if we get our actuaries back and it's higher.

So don't want anybody to have amnesia.

I'm certainly in favor of that, but we make sure we we're very frugal as well.

And I'm sure our um our retirees appreciate it today.

As a matter of fact, a couple of them had already reached out uh thinking is in advance uh for what they believe is going to be a good vote tonight.

So uh we do have a motion and second, it's been passed unanimously and it will be sent to consent agenda.

Uh we got an appropriation item tonight, item six A, is an ordinance of Macon Bib County uh commission to approve a supplemental appropriation from a general fund in amount of five hundred thousand dollars for countywide telephone expenses.

Uh this involves uh we had amount in the budget.

We didn't have the exact amount uh for the contract this year, so we put an estimated amount in as a holding place, uh, and this five hundred thousand dollars is actually the full amount of the contract that we got come in, uh, so we know what the actual cost is a cost is gonna be.

So this is what this supplemental is uh for.

We'll also be doing some mid year adjustments and supplementals like we always do in the next couple of months that you can look forward to.

But this time we didn't attend a motion to approve motion by Commissioner Wilder.

Can I get a second?

Second, excuse me.

Second by Commissioner Bowie.

Did you say something else?

Oh, okay.

Well, yeah, I can fight over that one.

Got a motion and second by everybody on the left side of me.

All those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Opposed, nay.

Thank you very much.

Pass unanimously.

We have a couple of contracts and purchase orders.

A resolution to make in Bip County Commission to authorize the executive purchase agreement with North America Fire Equipment.

First of all, I'm going to tell you you've got on your seat a uh four amendment that we'll need to go through, and I ask uh council for uh some instructions on that.

We have a four amendment because there's a change in the number there and what we we're gonna be paid uh paying for that.

It's gonna be item B.

So it'll be the next one, but you've got that to uh ask any questions on that.

This is North American Fire Equipment Company, uh, an amount of 208,530 dollars for the purchase of V force fire protective gear to be paid from the 2018 splash.

As you know, we're closing it out, and some of that was related to fire upgrades, and this is one of those items.

Uh so at this time we'd entertain a motion to approve the 208,000 uh for the purchase of V forest fire protective gear.

Motion by Commissioner Wilder.

We have a second.

Second by Commissioner Bronson.

Uh, all those in favor of the motion, please say aye.

Oppose nay.

That motion carries unanimously be sent to consent agenda.

Uh the final item under this contracts and purchase orders the ones I was just mentioned about a four amendment, and I'll just ask for some instructions from the attorney on how to proceed on this amendment.

This is a floor amendment that I would recommend doing a motion to substitute and the substantive changes.

Um Ms.

Beavers, can you explain?

You could just a brief.

I think like siren.

Good evening, Commissioners.

Mayor Miller.

Um, so this change, these are uh brand new siren system to go throughout the county, and we do have our emergency management director here.

If anybody has any questions, this is being paid out of SPLOSS.

So the reduction in price is related to the maintenance agreement that was included in the original proposal amount.

Maintenance agreements can't be paid out of a SPLOSS, that's only for capital improvement costs.

So this will be the cost of the purchase and installation of the system, and we'll come back with the maintenance agreement shortly.

There was just some miscommunication, and because this is so important to our public safety, we wanted to make sure we moved quickly.

Thank you for that information.

Uh would I EMA director like to say anything?

I've never known him to be silent, so I'm sure he does.

Please identify yourself for all the millions of people watching this that don't know who you are already, because there's been no emergency that we couldn't take care of so far.

So good evening.

Uh Spencer Hawkins, I'm the emergency management director for Making Bibb County government.

Um this purchase will be um to upgrade and enhance our current siren outdoor warning siren system.

Uh we will be inclusive of replacing the current sirens that we have and adding new sirens to bring us up.

We have 56 sirens currently.

We'll be moving up to 83 sirens, which will provide us coverage throughout the county for outdoor warning systems.

Thank you, uh Mr.

Hawkins.

I will say there's been much debate in getting these things done.

Number one, they're vitally important to the life and the safety and way below well being of our citizens.

But we're kind of at a point when we talk about technology, is there are a lot of new systems that are available now.

Those new systems uh come with these things that we carry around and sometimes sleep next to in our bed, and and we get notifications on that.

But what we found is that a lot of our more seasoned saints uh don't have the technology that a lot of other folks have, and and they're used to hearing that siren.

Uh, and I think they're you know, we've done real good job with the weather radios and doing our part on that, but we have to make sure that uh every one of our citizens are protected.

And right now, the best way we can see that is to just to add the additional sirenes and repair replace all the rest of the sirenings that we have.

We're not ready for that switch over yet.

We still have uh you know a lot of folks who are still learning technology, they'll get around to it, including myself.

But for right now, we feel like this is the best option.

Also, this is a 2025 spLOS expenditure.

This is not a 2018.

Um, this is one of the priorities that we we put on that when we started getting the bond money and we started passing this splash is to do these type of safety items.

So this is a 2025 project, and you can see the expense for that.

Um, some almost 2.8 million dollars.

So I know that you get um get calls sometimes if if the weather gets bad and perhaps they didn't hear a sirene, and other people, like I said, they they I get text messages, I get phone calls from making Bib County.

We appreciate those alerts.

Uh but the bottom line is some people just used to getting woken up by that um that um you know that that alarm that loud alarm that's gonna be.

And now more people since I didn't know if you'd know this, but making Bib County is the second largest city uh per square mile in the state of Georgia.

So we have a lot of room to cover, and so adding these additional uh sirens is gonna be helpful uh to to all of our citizens.

We think this is good use of splash dollars.

Ross figure out who made those uh all those in favor of that motion please say aye opposed nay all right and now we'll go ahead and uh we'll consider the passage but they'll have a couple of lights on so I want to hear from these folks before we do that uh and then we'll make the uh motion at the appropriate time uh commissioner stew I saw your light on first sir thank you Mr.

Mayor I appreciate it uh Mr.

Awkwards thank you for all you do first and foremost those extra uh was it 27 I guess from uh was it from 56 to 83 where would they be positioned would it be in the most rural part of our county so where where would it be?

Well we put the RFP out the requirement was that they would have um complete coverage throughout the entirety of the county so as we begin this process uh and it will be a uh uh a lengthy process to install these we're ensuring that um the siren locations will be put so that there is coverage and cross coverage throughout the county so I couldn't necessarily tell you it will be on this exact street corner uh that will be something we'll determine with um our splash coordinator with facilities with there will be a lot of that goes into it but what the goal is and what we will accomplish is that we will have um coverage throughout making county great thank you thank you thank you mr stew it commissioner how uh yes i'd um I have to admit I was a little taken aback when uh Ms.

Ross handed us this uh amendment um in light of a phone call I got earlier today so I was pleased to see that the price went down I did get a call from a constituent this morning wanting to know why we were spending 12 million dollars on this so uh so just so everybody knows it's it's 2.7 not 12.

That's correct uh commissioner Bailey yes and thank you for all you do as well um I'm one of those old girls that really really like to hear and I feel more secure when I hear that siren go off and um as Commissioner Stewart um just stated that you know it's important for us to know where you're gonna be placed and I do understand that you can't tell us exactly where now but will our citizens have the opportunity to phone someone to maybe give you advice on where to place them because they act they are the ones that actually know you know can they hear them yes can they hear them no.

Yeah what I recommend is they email their commissioner which is you is your district and then you can pass that along to us and we'll get it out to the proper channels.

So thank you Commissioner Bowie.

Commissioner Walter thank you.

As much as anything I just want to express my thanks for this being reviewed.

I know it's been a major topic for the last couple of years because a lot of people said their sirene wasn't working in their area and uh personally want to say you know from a personal note the Mother's Day storm back years ago my about to be 18 year old granddaughter was less than a year old and if it had not been for the siren's thin they would not have woke up my daughter son in law and granddaughter went to the basement about the time they got the door closed they lost over 78 trees in their yard on on Soft Key Circles that's just a one example of where some people were surely saved in that time.

Thank you Commissioner Water likewise I live in Lysella I remember the Mother Day Storm very well spent a large uh part of that time out there I heard the sirenes in Lysella in an interior restroom with uh a wife and and two older boys in the same room waiting for it to pass over as always happens in the middle of the night so you don't know what happens until you get daylight and you see uh that your yard is completely covered with trees your roof has been removed your chimney's gone and you got a leak that you'll never be able to fix so uh fortunately I had a good a good uh roofer and Ronnie Bland thank you Ronnie for that shout out I got you and um so we were able to take care of that but not everybody can be so fortunate but it wasn't for the sirenes uh certainly we might have been late to arrive as well so we were fortunate and we don't know the life we say may be our own so we appreciate everybody unanimously supporting this we need to get to the main item now we talked about the four amendments and now we need to take a vote on that so this time we did entertain a motion to approve motion by Commissioner Water we have a second second second by the rest of everybody got a motion and second all those in favor of the motion please say aye.

Opposed nay that motion carries unanimously we sent to consent agenda not aware of any uh executive session items on the agenda tonight so we'll can reconvene our regular meeting and adjourn this one now till six o'clock