Animal shelter donation considered

Pike commissioners heard an update on the animal shelter donation of $225,000 at their July 10 meeting and plans were made to visit shelters in neighboring counties and for information on the cost to be presented to the board. Chairman Briar Johnson said if the shelter is approved, the county would continue to have one full time employee and one part time employee like they do currently. Interim county manager Rob Morton noted that the director of the Meriwether County shelter said the total annual cost for the shelter is around $180,000. Morton noted that the Meriwether shelter is larger than what would be needed in Pike and has more employees. Morton said he and Johnson had met with the Department of Agriculture and plans were being made for commissioners to tour shelters in Meriwether, Upson and possibly Lamar counties. ’We will need to respond to this offer by October as to whether or not we will receive the donation and I want to give you enough information to make this decision,’ said Morton. ‘If we do receive the funding and construct a facility, there could be additional funding from the Chandler Foundation in the future.’ Morton discussed options for the shelter facility itself, including runs for animals to have access to the outdoors. He said research is being done to determine the size of the building and the different options so figures can be presented to commissioners. A call for special election to fill the unexpired term of the late commissioner Tommy Powers was approved and the election will be held Nov. 5 with qualifying set for Aug. 19-23. The qualifying fee is $62. Commissioners also heard from Morton about the recent request for bids for auditing services and noted that the current auditor did not receive a request for bids. Morton said the RFPs were all emailed and the current auditing said they did not receive it. The current provided noted that they had been having problems receiving emails from the county this year and did not receive a call or mail about the RFP. He also noted that a portal which connects the county and the company for business purposes was not used to transmit the RFP. It was noted that the current provider – Clifton, Lipford, Hardison and Parker – are contracted to do the county’s audit for fiscal year 2018-19. Commissioners voted to send out RFPs again in the spring since the audit would be for the 2019-20 fiscal year. The county also: ’¢ Approved use of the courthouse square from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the American Legion Post 197’s Patriot Day program on Wednesday, Sept. 11. ’¢Â Heard that uniformed misdemeanor citations are now required by the state instead of the county’s ordinance violation forms. ’¢ Considered an amendment to the Emergency Medical Services Agreement with Grady put took no further action. ’¢ Executed the county’s annual contract with the Area Agency on Aging through the Three Rivers Area Agency ’¢ Held a closed session to discuss the county manager position but reconvened to take no further action.