After many false starts, Gilmer County commissioners have found a company to build a community pool.
Aqua Design Systems out of Fayetteville received the bid at a cost of $2,914,647.
“That is quite a bit higher than the other bid, but there were some anomalies with that bid,” said Gilmer County Chair Charlie Paris.
Gilmer County’s pool, along with several other issues, were discussed at a work session on Nov. 9 and a regular meeting on Nov. 10.
Post Commissioner Hubert Parker chimed in about the anomalies.
“The low bid was not responsive,” Parker said. “It didn’t include a bid bond, so you couldn’t accept them.”
Post Commissioner Karleen Ferguson said she researched Aqua Design Systems.
“They certainly look like they know what they are doing,” she said.
Paris said the bid is in the ballpark of what he was expecting.
“The only thing I need to know is funding,” said Parker.
Paris said there is just under $2 million set aside for the pool and another $1 million set in the coming budget.
Completion date is set for mid-May 2023. Construction is set to begin with 60 days of accepting the bid.
Parker said the rest rooms at the civic center also need to be addressed soon. Repairing and refurbishing them is not included in the pool funding.
“It needs to be noted that the chairman has spent untold hours on this project,” Parker said. “So, you are going to be the first one to jump off the diving board. We may push you off.”
Insurance rates
Commissioners heard the cost of staying with Anthem Insurance for county employees would cost the county a 69.4 percent increase.
“There is no negotiation with it,” Kathy Rambo-Bray, who was heading up the search for the county, said. “This is what it is if we want to stay with Anthem. Obviously that is extremely high.”
They are looking at an open access plan which would be a 29.4 percent increase and a local plus plan which would be a 25 percent increase, both with Cigna Health Insurance.
On the local plus plan there is a buyup which would allow employees to use providers outside of the base network.
For comparison, she said they ran a comparison with the current plan of all the providers and claims from Gilmer County employees. There was a 99.3 percent match on the same doctors and hospitals on the first plan and a 96.8 percent match on the second plan.
The current insurance plan costs the county $1,345,744 for the base and $2,161,323 in the event all the employees use the buy up option.
With the 25 percent increase these figures will increase to $1,734,858 and $2,649,609.
Paris said the plan for now is for the county to absorb the increase.
Commissioners voted to go with the 25 percent increase.
Rock Creek bridges
Gilmer County is working on repairing or replacing bridges in the county. Rock Creek Road has two bridges which have weight limits which are at the top of the list.
Originally the county planned to use concrete box culverts to replace the bridges.
“That spiraled out real quick,” Paris said.
While the cost of the culverts seemed cost-effective, putting the culverts in place would cost an additional $1.2 million.
“So, basically, Hubert, we are moving from replacing the bridges to repairing the bridges,” Paris said.
Once the repairs are made, the Georgia Department of Transportation will be asked to inspect the bridges again to see if the weight limits can be removed entirely.
Other business
- The county received a clean audit for 2021. It was noted the fund balance was at $14 million during the audit. Paris indicated some of this may be used in the upcoming 2023 budget. He said his target was to have the fund balance at $7 million minimum.
- Gilmer County will begin the process of advertising the possible abandonment of a portion of Log Round Mountain Road. The road is in poor shape and would be turned over to a developer for considerations such as water tanks being built. Parker voted against the abandonment.
- Commissioners agreed to increase the budget of purchasing a minipumper for the fire department from $240,000 to $272,000. Fire Chief Daniel Kauffman said the cost increase came as there was a change in the RAM chassis they were looking to use.
- The first reading of the changes to the Farm Winery ordinance passed with a removal of the line denying a residence being on the same property as the tasting room.