During its meeting held January 19, the Emanuel County Board of Commissioners included 10 roads in this year’s Local Maintenance and Improvement Grant (LMIG), a program that provides funds to local governments to make improvements to their roadway network each year.
Covered under the 2021 LMIG contract are: the resurfacing of Lawrence Sherrod Road, .54 miles of Herford Road, Kathleen Drive, and deep patching of six roads countywide. The contract was sent out to bid, and a motion was made by Commissioner James Canady to enter into contract with Sikes Brothers for $876,099.21. Commissioner Hugh Foskey provided the second, and all other commissioners—Jim Sherrod, Desse Davis, and Keith Thompson—voted in favor for a 5-0 approval.
In other meeting news, a new timber harvesting ordinance will allow loggers to submit timber notifications electronically through technology instead of by hand. The new submission method is voluntary-only. Examples of notifications to be submitted electronically include permits, bonds, disclosures regarding the whereabouts of logging operations in the county, and other similar requirements. With the eventual approval of the ordinance, the County of Emanuel would become one of the test sites for the program, which, at this point, is in the pilot stages. Should the program be successful, it may become a requirement down the road. As of the meeting, three local logging outfits had already signed up to use the electronic submission method with other outfits following in the days after January 19. Thompson made the motion to adopt the timber harvesting ordinance, Davis seconded, and all five commissioners voted in approval.
Thanks to two more unanimous votes, Sherrod is now serving as chairman of the board of commissioners while Foskey is serving as vice chairman. The entire board also voted unanimously to approve minutes from a regular meeting held December 21, 2020 and a workshop meeting held January 12.
Prior to adjournment, committee roles were announced for 2021. Appointments were as follows:
• Davis and Singletary will serve on the Heart of Georgia Board.
• Sherrod will serve on the Joint Development Authority.
• Thompson and Sherrod will serve on the Joint Recreation Authority.
• Canady will serve on the Emanuel Medical Center Board.
• Foskey will serve on the Franklin Memorial Library Board.
• Canady will serve on the Health Department Board.
• Canady and Davis will serve on the Airport Board.
• Davis and Singletary will serve on the Workforce Reinvestment Board.
• Canady and Sherrod will serve on the Twin City Recreation Department Board.
[Editor’s note: The Emanuel County Board of Commissioners usually meets the third Monday of every month. The third Monday of last month occurred January 18, which doubled as a federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Consequently, the commission moved its meeting to Tuesday, January 19. Due to the inaugural edition of The Chronicle (published Wednesday, January 20) being printed and having to be picked up that same evening, a Chronicle staff person was unable to attend the meeting. The Chronicle requested minutes from the meeting to publish in the January 27 edition but was unable to receive said minutes in time to meet production deadlines. Moving forward, county meeting recaps will be printed in a more timely fashion. The Chronicle regrets the late publishing of this meeting’s review.]