TOC Meeting Tonight: Personnel Policy Manual Changes, Downtown Greenspace Construction

The Toccoa City Commission meets tonight for a regularly-scheduled meeting, and will be discussing several city administrative policy changes.

According to agenda documentation, in a November memo from city Human Resources Director Jan Crawford, she stated, “ One of my goals for 2023 was to update the Personnel Policy Manual,” adding that it was last updated in 2015. 

In brief, the changes include the specification that pre-employment physical exams are only required for police cadets,  and pre-employment drug tests are required for all candidates; the addition of Veterans Day to the list of observed holidays; the ability to use sick leave in units less than one hour; changes to what is considered “casual attire,” and several other policy amendments. A full list and description of the changes will be available this afternoon on wnegradio.com.

Also on the agenda is consideration of the bid award for construction of the Tugaloo Street Greenspace.   As reported in July of 2022, the city was awarded $689,042 from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs through a Rural Downtown Redevelopment Grant for the purpose of constructing a greenspace in downtown Toccoa.  The grant stipulated that the city must provide $68,904 in matching funds for the grant. 

According to agenda documentation, “The design fees (for the project) have been paid, and the city has received reimbursement from DCA for the Architectural, engineering and survey fees. Thus there is $661,326 budgeted for (the remainder) of the project.”

Three bids for the construction were received, including a bid from Ward-Humphrey, Inc. of Marietta for $1,123,000; Triscapes Inc. of Cumming for $896,850.35, and Vertical Earth, Inc., for $997,888. 

Included in the agenda packet is a note that “DCA Regional Representative Kathy Papa contacted DCA Community Finance Director Kim Carter to inquire about additional funding opportunities for this project. Unfortunately, Ms. Papa was advised that there were no additional grant funds available through the Rural Downtown Redevelopment Grant fund.” 

Project staff, along with the project engineer, will work with the selected contractor to discover potential cost reductions to meet the budget, according to agenda documentation, which also states “the project completion deadline is June 30, 2024. No grant extensions will be given.” 

At the time of the grant, then-city manager Billy Morse explained, “This is a special opportunity, this is a one-time opportunity that the Georgia Department of Community Affairs is offering for a Downtown Redevelopment Grant. The good news is that the state is going to match our 10 percent with their 90 percent, so all we have to do is come up with 10 percent for our project. What we are proposing with this grant is to create a green space, stage, and restroom facilities in the existing Tugalo Street public parking area, along with complimentary streetscape improvement in the parking lot on the opposite side of this property near the railroad on that side of that parking lot.”

Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Christopher Nunn stated that they awarded this special allocation of funding to 9 agencies through a highly-competitive selection process in which 53 applications were received requesting more than $104 million in funding. Toccoa was the sole community to receive funding in Northeast Georgia.

Nunn explained the motivation behind the grants, stating, “these projects represent strategic investments in revitalizing downtown districts. Downtowns are the heart and economic centers of so many of our communities…These funds will assist in creating a sense of place and connectivity to residents, which promote the economic vitality of our downtowns.” 

Tonight’s meeting will be held at 5 p.m. at City Hall, 92 North Alexander Street. Citizens are invited to attend.  For more information, call (706) 886-8451.

 

Attached below are images of the proposed policy changes as presented in the agenda for the Toccoa City Commission Meeting Agenda. These photos are Not representative of what policy changes were, or were not adopted. These screenshots are presented as available from the agenda, and may be in small print and difficult to read. WNEG News does not have any different copies.. these are images of what was presented in the agenda. For further details on any action taken on these proposed policy changes, see the followup story on the meeting that will be posted after the story airs on WNEG Radio in the days following the meeting.