CLEVELAND, Ga. – In a two-hour called meeting and work session Monday, the White County Board of Commissioners considered a wide-range of issues from the replacement of two bridges on New Bridge Road to setting the fall hours at Yonah Preserve.

The county had hoped to replace the bridges one at a time, but when the initial bid request went out with that requirement, no bids were received. When the county rebid the project to allow the bridges to be replaced at the same time, the low bidder was Savannah-based E&D Contracting Inc. Commissioners with a bid of $1,043,645.50.

Most of the funding for the bridges will come from the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Local Maintenance Improvement Grant. The county will be required to provide a match of approximately $238,000.

Commissioners also approved an amendment to the proposed fiscal year 2018-’19 budget. County Clerk Shanda Murphy informed the board that a line-item by line-item review of the budget identified several instances where, based on historical numbers, the amounts could be increased and several other instances where the amount of expenditures could be decreased.

Additionally, Murphy said the county had received about $440,000 in additional revenue in the last couple of weeks that can be added to the budget.

Commission Chairman Travis Turner announced the county had received a check for $100,000 from the state of Georgia to help with emergency road repair of the damage caused by Tropical Storm Alberto in May.

In other decisions, the board approved:

• The annual contract for the senior center with the Department of Human Services to provide transportation for seniors to the senior center and to the grocery and doctor’s offices in the amount of $32,000.
• Adopted of a surplus resolution for eight vehicles assigned to the Sheriff’s Office;
• The purchase of two new fully-equipped Ford Explorers for the Sheriff’s Office from Jacky Jones Ford for $86,930;
• An increase in the fee for participation in league basketball at parks and recreation of $5;
• A title transfer of a 2000 Blue Bird bus from the White County Board of Education to the Sheriff’s Office;
• Adoption of a resolution passed by the Georgia General Assembly that mandates all counties to increase the cost of 911 calls from pre-paid wireless phones from 75 cents to $1.50;
• Authorization to issue a request for proposal (RFP) for a new compactor for the convenience center;
• Appointment of Commissioner Edwin Nix to serve as the voting delegate for the 2018 ACCG Legislative Leadership Conference;
• Appointment of Erica Owens to the White County Department of Family and Children’s Services Board.

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