County legal fees are twice the budgeted amount
News May 3, 2019DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Legal services in 2019 will cost Dawson County taxpayers about $250,000 more than what county commissioners had budgeted.
The budget was set at $160,413. But, after four months less than $20,000 remains so the Board of Commissioners were forced to approve an additional $250,000 during Thursday’s commission meeting.
Most commissioners agree the fault does not lie with the interim law firm of Jarrard and Davis. Some blame the overrun on former in-house counsel Lynn Frey who resigned in December due to poor health.
Commissioners Julie Hughes-Nix and Sharon Fausett say Frey frequently did not show up for work and rarely worked an eight-hour day in the office. Both say they told County Manager David Headley and other Board members about the problem in 2017 but nothing was done. They also say that much of the work he was supposed to do was left for Jarrard and Davis to complete.
Nix said, “In the fall of 2017, department heads were saying to me we have an issue. (Frey) isn’t coming to work. He’s not getting the work done. I alerted the rest of the Board to that. I wanted him in the office from 8 until 5 because that’s what we hired him for. I think that was doable. I kept trying to get the attention of the Board but they didn’t have an issue with that. As a result, we let this linger on and this is what we created. If we had addressed the issue in 2017 when I tried to, we would not be in the situation we are in now.”
After the meeting, Fausett said, “We definitely sounded the alarm a long time ago but got nowhere. We made it crystal clear many times that we wanted him in the office five days a week. We even wrote him up on performance evaluations.”
Commission Chairman Billy Thurmond said, “Mrs. (Angela) Davis did say last week that as soon as we cleaned up the remainder of the stuff that is pending, we would see a downward trend.”
Two years ago, county commissioners decided the $180,316 they paid attorney Joey Homans for legal services for one year (2016) was too much. After 20 years of service, they declined to renew his contract and hired Frey to replace him.
But Homans’ fee was a bargain compared to what the county will spend this year and he was on hand to take a victory lap during Thursday’s meeting.
“Two years ago, when you made another appointment other than me after 20 years, you asserted that it was done to save the taxpayers money,” he said. “With this request (for additional funding) your total legal fee will be $410,000.
“The comment that it was done to save taxpayers money, I took as an attack on my integrity and my character. It was an indicator that I was gouging or overcharging. The fact, that legal fees now are twice what they were, I submit, absolves me of that. I submit that what you’re paying for legal services to very competent legal counsel reflects there was no overcharging. There was no gouging. In fact, taxpayers are now paying more.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Sheriff, attorney threaten reporter, demand retraction
News July 8, 2019DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — In complete disregard of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and in an effort to silence a news reporter, Sheriff Jeff Johnson and his attorney have demanded retraction of an editorial published by Fetch Your News last month regarding a deputy’s refusal to report to a single-vehicle accident on Nimblewill Gap for more than six hours.
On June 18, 2019, Joey Homans wrote: “I have been retained by Sheriff Jeff Johnson and Sgt. Larry Busher as a result of the libelous article you published on June 14, 2019 at dawson.fetchyournews.com. Your effort to camouflage and cover your malicious, hateful and libelous obloquy by posting under the “opinion” designation fails.”
Homans is the former Dawson County Attorney. The Board of Commissioners declined to renew his contract in 2017. He subsequently sued the Board of Commissioners on behalf of Sheriff Johnson in a failed lawsuit that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars.
He concludes his attack on this reporter by stating: “Your article lacks actual, unvarnished truth and was published solely to damage Sheriff Johnson and Sgt. Busher. Therefore, on their behalf, I hereby demand that your June 14 publication be retracted within five (5) days of the date of this letter, that the retraction be clearly stated as such, that the retraction be published in the same manner that the libelous article was published and that no further publication or dissemination of the false statements set forth within your article occur.”
It has been three weeks since the threat was received and there has been no retraction. There will be no retraction. Not in five days, five weeks, five months or five years. What has failed is Sheriff Johnson’s attempt to ignore the First Amendment and frighten this reporter into writing a retraction.
Fetch Your News will have additional articles that focus on the Nimblewill fiasco, including Johnson’s false claim that the accident did not occur in Dawson County. Gilmer County officials are not pleased that Johnson attempted to scapegoat Gilmer County to cover up his sergeant’s failure to respond.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
What next in Sheriff Johnson vs. Dawson County?
News February 4, 2018DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Both parties in the Sheriff vs. Dawson County Board of Commissioners Battle of the Budget agree on one thing: The court has no authority to decide what amount of money is sufficient for Sheriff Jeff Johnson to carry out his sworn duties.
Johnson’s attorney Joey Homans petitioned the court to order the county to approve a budget sufficient to allow that to occur. The sheriff proposed an all-in 2018 budget of $9,564,324. The board approved $9,173,080, which commissioners say is an increase on nearly $1 million over the previous year.
Homans has accused the Board of “abuse of discretion” in cutting the sheriff’s proposed budget. Commissioners say a $1 million increase hardly constitutes abuse.
During two days of testimony last week, Homans clearly established the sheriff’s office is understaffed. Division head after division head testified their employees cannot get the proper training due to a lack of personnel and that paid leave and overtime pay are also a problem.
What is not so clear is who is to blame for the staffing problem.
The sheriff contends those issues could have been resolved if the Board had approved the budget he proposed. Commissioners argue the sizeable increase they approved should be enough.
There are currently nine positions in the sheriff’s office that are frozen. However, as a duly elected Constitutional officer, Johnson has the authority to fill those positions, frozen or not. He also has the flexibility to move some money from his line items to help fund the positions.
So what happens next?
The judge gave the two parties until Feb. 15 to come to an agreement. If they cannot resolve their differences, he will issue a ruling.
If he decides the approved budget is sufficient, the sheriff can appeal. If he rules it insufficient, the Board still has the authority to approve the budget with no direction from the court. If the sheriff still does not agree, he could return to court.
Another trip to court would damage the relationship between the county and the sheriff, which is already strained almost to the breaking point. It would also be very expensive for taxpayers.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Decision on sheriff, county rift continued to Feb. 15
Business January 31, 2018DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – The bitter dispute between Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson and the Board of Commissioners will not be resolved until at least Feb 15.
After a two-day hearing in Senior Superior Court Judge Fred A. Bishop’s courtroom, Johnson’s attorney Joey Homans and County Attorney Lynn Frey agreed to have the sheriff and county officials meet again to see if they can resolve their differences.
“It seems to me there ought to be a face-to-face sincere sit down here between the two parties to see if there is some middle ground,” Bishop said. If the two sides do not agree, Bishop said he would render “an appropriate judgment.”
Homans petitioned the court for an order of mandamus to force the county to provide what he calls “a budget sufficient for the sheriff to perform his sworn duties.” In presenting his case Tuesday, Homans accused the county of “abuse of discretion” because commissioners made cuts to the sheriff’s proposed 2018 budget.
Homans rested his case Wednesday morning. Frey then made an opening statement before calling his only witnesses — Chief Financial Officer Vickie Neikirk and Board of Commissioners Chairman Billy Thurmond.
Frey began by stating the sheriff received 29 percent of all available funds in the 2018 budget. He also said Johnson got the largest increase of all general fund budgets and did not receive a cut in the previous year’s budget as Johnson has claimed.
Neikirk confirmed Johnson did receive an increase in his 2018 budget and that he received an increase in every line item but one. She also pointed out that the county’s tax revenue today is considerably lower than it was in 2008, before the recession, when it was about $12 million.
Thurmond testified that funds are tight. It cost the county $1 million to implement an across-the-board salary increase for county employees to address serious retention problems, he said. He also said the county was informed that it would cost an additional $300,000 to insure employees in 2018. Asked why the county didn’t approve the sheriff’s proposed budget, he said, “There wasn’t enough revenue.”
Asked about the positions that are frozen within the sheriff’s office, Thurmond said the sheriff has the authority, as a Constitutional officer, to fill those positions and that money can be moved from his line items to pay for salaries.
In his closing statement, Homans said, the Board of Commissioners abused their discretion in the cuts made to the sheriff’s proposed budget. “They really haven’t presented any evidence other than to say we don’t have the funds,” he said.
However, Frey countered by saying, “There is no reason to believe there has been an abuse of discretion, certainly nothing that would be a basis for mandamus or order to give more money to the sheriff. Mandamus is only available in a case of a clear legal right, and I don’t think he has shown a clear legal right to anything more than what they have given him.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Sheriff, county fail to reach budget agreement
News February 7, 2018DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson and county officials failed to reach an agreement on the sheriff’s 2018 budget during a 90-minute meeting Tuesday which places the decision back in the hands of Senior Superior Court Judge Fred A. Bishop Jr.
Johnson filed a lawsuit against the Board of Commissioners, claiming the budget they approved was not sufficient for him to perform his sworn duties.
Commission Chairman Billy Thurmond said he, Commissioner Chris Gaines and County Attorney Lynn Frey met with Johnson and his attorney Joey Homans Tuesday.
“We had a good discussion but did not reach an agreement,” Thurmond said. “It was cordial on both sides. We explained we would continue to look at the revenue and would need time to see what the final numbers are from the property tax evaluation.”
Thurmond said he would update the rest of the Board of Commissioners on the meeting when they go into executive session during Thursday’s meeting.
Unless the board decides something different, Thurmond said he expects the case to go back to Bishop for a verdict.
Homans and Frey will prepare briefs for the judge to review. Regardless of which side prevails, there is likely to be an appeal.
Fetch Your News reached out to the sheriff for his comments, but he did not return our call.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Sheriff’s attorney presents case against county
News January 30, 2018DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – The dispute between Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson and the Board of Commissioners over the sheriff’s 2018 budget entered Senior Superior Court Judge Fred A. Bishop’s courtroom Tuesday. Attorney Joey Homans began by asking Bishop to order the county to provide a budget sufficient for the sheriff to perform the duties of his office.
Homans acknowledged the judge has the authority to order the county’s compliance but cannot decide a dollar amount to be awarded.
In his questioning of Johnson, Homans said the county reported the total amount approved to the sheriff was $9,564,324. However, he added, the sheriff did not have discretion over about $600,000 in Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) funds or $260,000 in capital projects.
In his cross examination of Johnson, County Attorney Lynn Frey elicited testimony that indicated only once since 2010 did the sheriff’s office have more than the current 112 employees. Johnson has often cited the growth in the county’s population as a reason he is requesting more funding, but when Frey asked if the sheriff knew how much population growth there has been, he could not answer.
County 911 Director Alisha Rucker testified there has been an increase in calls for service from 61,241 in 2015 to 65,96e in 2017. She also noted marked increases in reported assaults, domestic violence, child abuse, forgery and sexual battery.
Capt. Matt Hester, who supervises the Uniform Patrol Division, testified the shortage of personnel impacts his officers’ ability to enforce the laws and leads to them being more reactive rather than proactive. “With the current personnel we have,” Hester said, “we’re more in a reactive stance. They respond to calls for service and don’t have as much time to generate proactive activity. They go from call to call to call as opposed to looking for criminal activity.
Lt. Theresa Kirby, who works in the detention center, said the jail is currently allotted 37 positions but has only 33 and needs 57. She testified the division cannot afford to send officers for training.
The lone witness from outside the sheriff’s office was Bill Harkswell, coordinator of jail and court services for the Georgia Sheriff’s Association. Harkswell conducted an analysis of the sheriff’s office in 2014 and concluded that 139 employees were needed to adequately perform the duties at that time. The county currently has 112 employees.
Harkswell said he had 11 years of experience in analyzing staffing needs for sheriffs and that he had performed between 20 and 40 such analyses.
Frey asked how many times Harkswell had ever recommended a reduction in staff. Harkswell answered, “Never.”
The hearing will resume Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. Homans said he has only one more witness to call before Frey begins his defense.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Headley: Sheriff’s budget increase close to $1 million
News November 22, 2017DAWSONVILLE Ga. – A report issued by Dawson County Manager David Headley during Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting indicates first-term Sheriff Jeff Johnson, who is threatening to sue the county for a bigger 2018 budget, received an increase of close to $1 million over the 2017 budget.
The sheriff’s budget for the current year is $6,822,566. The approved budget for 2018 is $7,365,547, an increase of $542,981. But Headley points out the sheriff’s office also will receive an increase of nearly half a million dollars in SPLOST funding and an additional $300,000 in capital funding.
Headley’s report indicated the sheriff’s office has received a budget increase in each of the last four years, including next year’s increase of $985,277.
The county manager took exception to a statement made by attorney Joey Homans, who represents the sheriff’s office, at a recent town hall meeting. Homans said commissioners refused to “sit down at the table” to negotiate a budget resolution.
“The notion that we have refused to meet over these matters is just wrong,” Headley said in his report. “The sheriff made his request for a large budget back in July. Since then, we have had several public meetings and hearings and the sheriff and his attorney were allowed to speak as much as they wanted. One of those meetings was a special called meeting held specifically for discussion of the sheriff’s budget.”
He added that the county has repeatedly reached out to the sheriff to offer assistance in matters such as human resources, finance and purchasing, grants and maintenance. “We have a well-trained staff and policies in place which can help with compliance with the law and doing things in the most efficient and economical way,” Headley said. “Our offers have frequently been ignored or declined.”
Headley said he chose to issue his report to clear up much of the confusion and misinformation that exists regarding the dispute between the county and the sheriff.
Johnson has often stated that he needs more officers on patrol, but Headley countered by saying, “Of the sheriff’s position requirements, none are for patrol. He asked for four detention officers for the jail (his top priority), a school resource officer, a communications officer, an investigator, accreditation manager and court services deputy.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Sheriff Discusses Budget Impasse at Community Meeting Monday
News November 7, 2017DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson held a community meeting at the Professional Development Center Monday to explain the basis of the budget dispute between his office and the Board of Commissioners.
Between 30 and 35 people attended the hour-long meeting and about two-thirds were sheriff’s office employees.
Johnson requested a budget of $8,961,406 but commissioners approved only $8,273,080. “If nothing changes with this budget, it’s going to put us in a very difficult position,” he said.
Johnson acknowledged that his entire staff, along with other county employees, received a substantial pay raise recently. “I applaud that raise,” he said. And, he added, “We now have the nicest fleet (of cars) we have ever had.”
But, he pointed out that a 2015 study showed there were 139 positions in the sheriff’s office and today only 112. “In 2010, there were 116 employees, four more than today,” Johnson stated.
Joey Homans, the sheriff’s attorney, notified the county last month that he has filed a petition for mandamus in Superior Court stating that the budget approved constitutes “abuse of discretion” by the commissioners in that they failed to fulfill their duty to adopt a budget making reasonable and adequate provisions for personnel and equipment necessary to enable the Sheriff to perform his duties.
Speaking at last night’s meeting, Homans said the dispute is all about positions. “We’ve asked that nine positions be unfrozen and one new position,” he said. “The one position commissioners approved out of those 10 was for a school resource officer.”
Homans said he had made several recommendations about how the sheriff’s budget request could be funded. “But we can’t even get anybody to sit down at a table and talk with us,” he added.
Reached at his office Tuesday morning, Commission Chairman Billy Thurmond said commissioners have met with the sheriff and his attorney on more than one occasion.
“Obviously, we have met with the sheriff and his attorney and all those meetings were open to the public because I want as much transparency as possible,” he said. “I have also met with the sheriff in his office and I know some of the other commissioners have met with him also.”
Thurmond added should the budget impasse wind up in court, “I’m confident we have done our due diligence in providing adequate funding for the Sheriff’s Office.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Commissioners Set Millage Rate at 8.138
News August 19, 2017DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – The Dawson County Board of Commissioners set the 2018 millage rate at 8.138 mils Thursday, resulting in a 4.45 percent increase in property taxes.
The new rate will increase the taxes on a home with a fair market value of $250,000 by $34.70. Taxes on a non-homestead property valued at $200,000 will increase by approximately $27.76. The board’s action followed one public hearing on Aug. 10 and two on Thursday.
The only Dawson County resident to speak Thursday was Walden Sheriff, who was opposed to the increase.
After the millage rate was approved unanimously, the board opened a public hearing on the FY 2018 budget.
Commissioner Chris Gaines read a list of proposed reductions and increases that he said would have the overall effect of reducing the general fund budget by $291,609.
The largest reduction proposed was elimination of a 2 percent salary increase for county employees which would result in a savings of $294,540. Employees received one pay increase as a result of the wage and salary study earlier this year. Commissioners unanimously agreed to forego their own pay raise which was scheduled to take effect in January.
The proposed budget has drawn some opposition from Sheriff Jeff Johnson.
Former Dawson County Attorney Joey Homans, appeared on behalf of the Sheriff’s Office and stated that “The sheriff can’t provide law enforcement for the citizens of the county on the budget that is proposed.”
Homans pointed out that a Georgia Sheriff’s Association report in 2015 stated that the sheriff’s office was deficient. He also pointed to tremendous growth along the Ga. Hwy. 400 corridor and major residential growth planned by the City of Dawsonville as events that place increased demands on law enforcement.
Homans said Sheriff Jeff Johnson would like to work with commissioners to resolve the issue and he requested the board schedule an additional budget hearing one week before the budget is adopted.
Commissioners approved the purchase of a 50-foot battery-operated, trailer-mounted boom through a federal contract with GSA at a cost of $35,662.72.
The board also agreed to move forward with replacement of Black’s Mill Bridge, a single-lane bridge that has been closed and can’t be repaired. Public Works and the Purchasing Department will bring cost analysis back to the board for its consideration.
County Names Finalists for In-House Attorney
News January 24, 2017DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The two finalists for the position of staff attorney for Dawson County are Hiawassee City Manager Richard H. Stancil and M. Lynn Frey III, former in-house attorney for the City of Brunswick from 1998 until 2011.
Frey has over 35 years’ experience in civil practice, including litigation, local government, contracts, employment law and insurance matters. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in religion in three years at Emory University then attended the University of Georgia Law School, graduating with a degree in Juris Doctor, Cum Laude.
He served the City of Brunswick until 2011 when the City chose to outsource it’s legal services and he went into private practice
Stancil served as Hiawassee City Attorney from 2007 to 2009 and City Manager from 2007-2016.
Prior to working with the City of Hiawassee, He worked for a general practice law firm. He is experienced in civil and criminal litigation, corporate and nonprofit law, administrative representation, personal injury and real estate. The firm represented clients ranging from real estate, health care banking to commercial development.
Cumming attorney Joey Homans has served as Dawson County Attorney for the past 20 years. County Commissioners decided to hire an in-house staff attorney late last year.
County Manager David Headley said recently that the decision is “mainly an efficiency and economics issue.”
Commissioners Discuss Agreements with Probation Company, Legacy Link
News February 24, 2017DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Judge Andrew Fuller presented a request for renewal of the contract between Dawson County and Northeast Georgia Probation Services, Inc. (NGPSI) for Probation Supervision and Rehabilitation Services during Thursday’s Board of Commissioners work session.
The letter designates NGPSI as the sole provider of probation services for the county as ordered by Superior and Probate Court. NGPSI provides services and programs for misdemeanor offenders on probation by the courts.
Legacy Link, which provides multiple services for the county’s senior center requires the county to sign a commitment letter each year to receive funding.
The commitment is for a local government match. For the last several years the annual match amount has been $9,450 per year. That was the amount budgeted for 2017. The new commitment letter states is for $10,450 for July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018. Because the grant crosses years, the increase needed for 2017 is $500. In 2018, the other half of the increase ($500) will be budgeted. Legacy Link provides services like Meals on Wheels, congregate meals, transportation, and center management to the county.
The board is also considering a request for $2,600 to provide training for four new members and 2 returning members to the Development Authority of Dawson County.
The county’s new attorney Lynn Frey reported that a charge of discrimination filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in January against the Sheriff’s Department was responded to by former attorney Joey Homans and that the EEOC has not taken the claim as one they will pursue. In dismissing the administrative claim the EEOC has given the former employee a “right to sue” letter which states that it is now up to the claimant to decide whether to take it to a State or Federal court by filing a Complaint in Court. The claimant will have 90 days to file suit or lose the right to further action.
Frey also reported that Homans had drafted an answer to the Dawson Forrest Holdings lawsuit: before turning the file over to him and that he would handle the matter going forward.
Commissioners Approve FY 2018 Budget
News September 22, 2017DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – The Dawson County Board of Commissioners approved a FY 2018 budget of $25,516,312, an increase of 4.98 percent over last year’s budget during Thursday’s meeting.
Chairman Billy Thurmond made it clear from the start of the budget process that one of his goals would be to set a realistic budget that did not overestimate the amount of revenue the county would receive.
Commissioners faced several hurdles in balancing the budget. A wage and salary study last summer indicated that county employees were underpaid. To rectify that situation, commissioners approved a salary increase that totaled about $1.08 million. The amount the county pays for employee healthcare also rose by approximately 18 percent.
To help balance the budget and to maintain the 8.138 millage rate, commissioners reduced the fund balance (reserves) by $1.4 million.
The new budget includes $7.3 million for the Sheriff’s Office, an increase of about $500,000 over last year, but stops short of the $8.1 million Sheriff Jeff Johnson requested. During several meetings with commissioners, Johnson said $7.3 million is not enough to allow him to fulfill the duties of his office.
The dispute does not necessarily end with the adoption of the budget. Sheriffs are constitutional officers, elected by the citizens. If push comes to shove, the sheriff can take his appeal through the court system.
Asked today if he and his attorney, Joey Homans, plan to exercise that option, Johnson said, “We have some evaluation to do. We will probably decide by the end of next week.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Vendor Protests Awarding of Jail Demolition Project
News May 20, 2016DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Commissioners held an abbreviated meeting Thursday, with only one thorny issue involving a protest from Wrecking Corp, Inc. over the awarding of a bid for the demolition of the old jailhouse.
Commissioners recently voted to award the contract to Townley Construction of Dawsonville with a bid of $72,350. The attorney for Wrecking Corp, told commissioners his client should have been awarded the work because it was the lowest responsible bidder with a bid price of $71,500.
“The lowest bidder was disqualified and Wrecking Corp then became the lowest bidder,” he said. “Post bid, we found out this was a Local Small Business Initiative (LSBI) project but it was never advertised as such. It’s unfair in hindsight to come in and declare it a LSBI project. We feel it should be a level playing field.
“Another concern is that to be a LSBI project, there needs to be an affadavit submitted with the bid and I understand that did not happen. So, it should be excluded under the Dawson County ordinance from consideration and the bid should be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder.”
But County Attorney Joey Homans said the LSBI exception was embedded in the county ordinance and commissioners could award the bid to Townley Construction, Wrecking Corp or rebid the project.
In other business, the board unanimously:
Approved the 2016 Land Use District Map;
Amended the 2016-17 Health Insurance Renewal selecting Option 2;
Approved the Dawson County Transit Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy;
Approved intermediate jail demolition.