SCBC will meet this morning in the Grand Jury Room

The Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet this morning for its regular scheduled meeting; however, because the Stephens County Elections Office is holding advance voting in the Historic Stephens County Courthouse, today’s meeting will be held in the Grand Jury Room in the Stephens County Government Building.

Today’s meeting will start promptly at 8:30 a.m.

The Commission will hold the first public hearing for the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget.

The Commission will also rehash a topic that was previously discussed regarding building inspections and permitting services.

During its meeting on May 10, County Administrator Phyllis Ayers explained that after several discussions the county is looking to outsource its building inspection and permitting process.

However, they did receive bids; all of which, are substantially higher than what the county currently spends doing it in-house.

She added that there was also an issue with the current building inspector not being able to inspect commercial properties.

“We wrote an RFP to change building inspections and to outsource the in-house building permit process—certificate of occupancy—and we found out its way more expensive than what we do in-house. We have talked about this, I’ve sent you some information by email, our current residential building inspector cannot do the commercial, so we’ll have to have somebody else to do the commercial with her. But this will be an increase in cost if we go with any of these vendors, which, means you might want to consider increasing your building permit fees, we’re already at a loss with our building permit fees. So, it’s really up to you on the direction you want to go in, we can change it accordingly,” Ayers said.

At that meeting, Commissioner Michelle Ivester asked if they could postpone their decision until later.

The Commission will also consider motions to re-appoint Floyd Means to the Stephens County DFACS Board for a five-year term ending June 30, 2027; a motion to re-appoint Chris Stephens to the Region 2 EMS Advisory Council for a three-year term ending June 30, 2025; a motion to award or deny the Stephens County Radio Console Bids for E911; a motion to accept revised costs for landfill environmental monitoring services for 2022 and 2023; and a motion to enter into a sub-lease agreement with CSRA Probation Services.

The Commission will also discuss roads proposed for abandonment.

Again, the Stephens County Board of Commissioners will meet this morning at 8:30 a.m. inside the Grand Jury Room in the Stephens County Government Building.

The meeting is open to the public.