HEART OF GEORGIA ALTAMAHA

REGIONAL COMMISSION

COUNCIL MEETING

MINUTES

April 23, 2015

Council Members Present / Staff Present
Bob Brockman / Brett Manning
Dr. Michael Stoy / Janice Jones
Bob Little / Rafael Nail
Bobby Peacock
Desse Davis
Irene Burney
Wayne Hall
Dwayne Johnson / Guests
Jack Foskey
Guy Singletary / Mr. Keith Dixon, Job Training Unlimited
Claxton, Georgia
Ronald Herrington
Tim Williamson / Ms. Patty Griffin, Job Training Unlimited
Claxton, Georgia
John Roller
Charlie Williams / Mr. Bill Lindsey, County Administrator
Candler County
John Jones
John Raymond Turner / Ms. Carolyn Dallas, Congressman Jody Hice’s Office
Izell Stephens, Jr.
Keith McNeal
Andy Cone
Michael Estes
David Brown

CALL TO ORDER

The Regional Council meeting for April 23, 2015, was held at the Mount Vernon/ Montgomery County Community Service and Senior Citizens Center in Mount Vernon, Georgia. The meeting was called to order at 7:01 P.M. by Chair John Raymond Turner.Chair Turner welcomed everyone to the meeting and gave the invocation.

INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS

Chair Turner introduced and welcomed the guests: Mr. Keith Dixon and Patty Griffin,Job Training Unlimited, Claxton, Georgia;Mr. Bill Lindsey, County Administrator, Candler County; and Ms. Carolyn Dallas, Congressman Jody Hice’s office.

ROLL CALL

Chair Turner asked Janice Jones to call the roll. The roll was called by Janice, and a quorum was present with twenty-one(21) Council members present at the meeting.

APPROVAL OF THE MARCH RC COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES

Chair Turner stated that the Minutes for the March 26, 2015 RC Council Meeting had been mailed out to all Council Members and he would entertain a motion for approval. A motion was made by Desse Davis and seconded by Wayne Hall to approve the Minutes, as mailed. The motion passed unanimously.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Chair Turnercalled on Janice Jonesto give the financial reportJanice then asked the Council to turn to the financial statement for period ending March 31, 2015 on page 9 and 10. Janice stated that page 9 was the balance sheet by category. She then explained that on page 10 the year-to-date revenues exceed the expenditures in the amount of $59,248.83. Janice then asked if anyone had any questions. There being no questions, a motion was made by Wayne Hall and seconded by Charlie Williams to approve the financial statement. The motion passed unanimously.

WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (WIOA) REPORT

Chair Turnerthen called on Keith Dixon to report to the Council on WIOA activities. Keith stated that a handout was in the packet showing the tentative Job Fair schedule. He let them know that the next job fair would be on April 30 in Montgomery County. Keith updated the Council on the unemployment rate stating Georgia’s Unemployment Rate for February was at 6.4% which was a decrease of .1% from the month before. He let the Council know that the Heart of Georgia Altamaha Region was at 8.1% unemployment rate. Keith then went over the Customer Counts Report for March. He stated that the total customers served were 1,253. He also let them know that a total of 13,773 customers have visited a One-Stop since July 1, 2014.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Chair Turnercalled on Executive Director Brett Manning to report to the Council.

Executive Director Brett Manning reported to the Council the following:

  1. WIOA

Brett informed the Council that a new appointee from Vocational Rehab had been submitted to the Regional Commission for approval as an area-wide WIA Board appointment. The appointment is Mary Beth Faulk. A motion to approve Ms. Faulk to the WIA Board was made by Wayne Hall and seconded by Keith McNeal. The motion passed unanimously.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) effective date is July 1, 2015. To move forward with WIOA, the local board must submit an application for the Board to be certified as WIOA compliant and to be officially recognized as a Local Workforce Development Area (LWDA). This was voted on by the WIA Board and passed unanimously. Now as the Chief Local Elected Officials (CLEO) Board for the region’s local WIOA Board and LWDA, the Regional Council must vote to approve the WIOA Board’s decision as previously stated. A motion was made by Keith McNeal and seconded by John Roller. The motion passed unanimously.

  1. Department of Human Services Transportation Program

The Council was provided information about the Department of Human Services Transportation program that is administered by the Regional Commission. The number of trips provided by the program for the month of March totaled 13,245 for an FY15 YTD total of 111,252.

  1. TIA Update

Brett informed the Council that there were handouts in the Council packet for the local TIA distribution through February, 2015 as well as the total distribution through February, 2015. The TIA amount collected in February for the constrained list was just over $1.7 million and the local distributions totaled $587,016.87 which amount to just over $2.3 million collected for the month of February. The year-to-date total of TIA funds collected was $4.5 million. Since the beginning of the program the total collected is$61.6 million. He let them know that we are still running around 17-18% behind in revenue. He informed them that as Mike had stated at last month’s meeting that all projects in Band 1 should be under construction before the end of the year. He also stated that if a local government is interested in delivering a Band 2 project to get there applications in.

  1. FY2015 Community Development Block Grant Applications (CDBG)

Brett informed the Council that Regional Commission staff submitted ten (10) CDBG applications for local governments in the region. Brett told the Council that a list detailing the CDBG’s was in the Council packet. Total requested funds was just over $4.8 million with other funds which also included local cash totaling $565,787 and in-kind amounts totaling $628,734 for a total of just over $6 million in projects. The total amount of persons benefiting by these projects are 4,716 persons, 85% of who are low to moderate income. DCA will announce the grant awards in August.

Dates to remember:

Brett informed the Council Members that the next Council Meeting will be on May, 28, 2015 at 7:00p.m. at the Mount Vernon Senior Center. There will be an Executive Committee meeting to discuss budget amendments for the FY15 budget as we prepare for the new upcoming fiscal year.

PlanFirst applications are due to DCA by May 15, 2015.

Brett also informed the Council that Jay Shaw a former representative had passed away.

OTHER BUSINESS

A question was asked about was there anything coming up during the summer for the youth. Keith Dixon explained that they still had not received the allocation from the feds to date for summer youth funding. He let them know that they normally get funds the first of April but they had not received any as of now but hopefully would receive funding soon.

Another question was asked by Wayne Hall, County Commissioner, Jeff Davis Countyabout the Insurance Services Office (ISO) visiting local governments and rating them. He let them know that the ISO had been to see them and stated that a fire station has to be within five miles of your residence or your insurance rates will increase drastically. Wayne then asked was there any money available to build fire stations or purchase fire trucks. Brett stated that grants are very limited. He let them know that there is usually some low interest loan money available. Brett explained that he tries to stay on top of money that is available. He told him that the USDA has done some funding in the past. Brett then asked Guy Singletary, County Administrator, Johnson County if they had used USDA in the past for EMS funding. Guy stated that they used a Community Facilities Block Grant/Loan program and he was not sure if fire fell under that grant or not. Brett stated that he would investigate and find out what was available.

Wayne Hall stated he was going to have to build four additional sister fire stations to have enough stations within the five mile radius. He stated that even after building those additional stations there would still be several buildings out of the five mile radius.

Guy Singletary made a suggestion. He stated that in Johnson County they were building sub-stations to house spare fire trucks. He explained that when volunteers are called they can go to the main station or sub-station. He stated that basically you have to have a truck within those five miles. He also stated that the problem with grants is that you will be required to build a station like you would see in downtown Atlanta not one you would see in a rural area. Brett let them know that he would explore and see if any monies were available and share the information with the local governments.

ADJOURN

There being no further business, a motion was made by Wayne Hall and seconded by Charlie Williams to adjourn the RegionalCouncilMeetingat7:50P.M. The vote was accepted unanimously.

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