ONe of the main questions I have is what will happen with the land that has already been acquired. The question is should the county sell the land before we start the process all over again. Let's face it, the county needs the money before we begin another project.

I don't think we need to sell the land. I think the big issue is potentially scaling down the plans that were presented. The real question is need. That's what everyone needs to come to terms on. Do we NEED to spend 50-75 Million on a new jail? Do we NEED all of the space proposed by the Sheriff? Do we NEED to find other means to fund the project?

I am trying to figure out why the Detention Center Bond continues to fail.

One problem is that I do not understand how a Bond is placed on Forsyth ballots.
If anyone can correct the following guess at the process, please do....

1. A County Department identifies a project that requires financial resources that are substantially beyond the County Budget.

2. The Dept Head meets with the County Manager & CFO to determine if the project should be funded via a SPLOST, a Bond, or another option.

3. The County Manager (& CFO?) research comparable projects in the area to verify the Bond Amount will not be questioned.

4. If it is thought the project might be controversial, the County Manager gathers a cross section of Neighborhood & Business leaders to request their input.

5. Once the County Manager & CFO are convinced the project details are all acceptable, the bond idea is presented to the Board of Commissioners(BOC).

6. The BOC listen to presentations by the Dept Head, the County Manager, CFO, & any consultants who could provide further details on the merit of the project.

7. The BOC (or the County Manager?) develop a plan on how to reach out to the public to convince them of the merit of the project. The plan includes identifying the number of public forums, the amount of funding available to promote the plan, and identifying a group of citizen leaders in the community to help promote the bond.

8. The Dept is solely responsible for hosting all public forums. The County Manager or BOC have the option to also attend to help provide details.

9. Once 30 days of public input has been gathered, the final wording of the Bond is approved by the BOC & forwarded to the Forsyth Elections Office.

10. Public Forums continue, the press in brought in to help promote the bond, signs are posted....

The Bond language must be approved by the BOC within (#?) days of the election. Once it is forwarded to the Elections Office, the Bond wording is set in stone.

Maybe the time line between gathering input from Forsyth's Citizens & approving the final wording of the Bond needs to be re-evaluated.

Your # 7. is incorrect, and illegal. No taxpayer funds may be used to promote a SPLOST or bond vote.

The bond language must be approved 90 days in advance of the election.

Thank you for the update, Commissioner Richard. Now I have a better understanding of the process.

What a challenging situation! The BOC has the authority to
place a SPLOST or Bond on a ballot; however, they are not allowed to use taxpayer funds to educate the citizens about the SPLOST or Bond.

Therefore, funding to promote a SPLOST or Bond must be raised through volunteer fund raising.

Who champions the fund raising efforts? Is a group of citizens appointed to champion the fund raising & promoting of a SPLOST or Bond?

It is not that we cannot INFORM or EDUCATE citizens. As long as both sides of the issue are presented fairly, i.e. cost, affect of tax rate if a bond is approved, details of the project, etc, we can use taxpayer funds. But it is a fine line that has to be walked, which is what I believe we accomplished in this last go-around. Less involvement by the government is always the best way to go on every issue.

But that is why "the commission" can't promote a SPLOST or bond issue, but individual commissioners can still speak for or against those issues.

Any group of citizens can champion any ballot issue, as long as they register with the Secretary of State's office if they collect funds. On this last issue, the group putting out signs favoring the vote didn't do their homework, and placed illegal campaign signs across the county. They failed to include contact information on their signs as required by GA law. They were very lucky no one pushed that issue.

DRichard
HB 1112 was just signed into law in 2008. This legislation allows for aggressive campagining by anonymous groups and/or persons. I have not looked at the entire language of the bill to see if it includes signs, but it most definitely applies to mailings.
Here is http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printed... news source from the AJC:

Cindy,
I would like to see exactly why building or improving the current jail is not a possibility. I also would like to see involvement of the city of cumming, after all Forsyth county houses their inmates too.

At one of the public forums, someone asked why the County does not choose to either expand or demolish the existing building.

I believe the answers included:

1. The existing jail property cannot be expanded because it is adjacent to a cemetery & other physical barriers.

2. Floors cannot be added to the existing jail because:
a. The existing building was not designed to support the weight of additional floors.

b. From a geotechnical perspective, the site cannot support a multi-level building.

3. Additional observations provided:
a. Even if the existing site could have supported a taller jail, closing the current jail during construction poses a financial, logistical, & safety nightmare.

b. To stay within fire safety standards, Forsyth limits the amount of floors in a building.

There is a budget hearing for the 2009 budget on Thursday. I hope people attend. Having a workable budget is key in ever getting a jail.

Cindy,

The Fire Standards are bogus, as Forsyth County has ladder and ariel units within the fire department that could reach ten floors in elevation, so don't let the propaganda mongers deceive you.

All,

The biggest problem is the HOA's, they should have no power at all, as they are not a part of a recognized political governmental entity recognized by the State Secretary of States Office, and thus should be illegal, let alone granting them more illegal power. the second main problem is the infamous N.I.M.B.Y.
The County Government should and hopefully will be mandated by the Federal Government to replace the Jail by the Dept of Justice and the Sherrif's Department Headquarters by OSHA, as both have been determined to be unsafe as it is right now.

BUT,
If the county is already planning to cut government jobs, how is the jail going to be staffed? Does anyone have any ideas?

Where is the staff going to come from.

We are at serious risk of losing cops from covering and patrolling our streets, let alone staffing a new jail.

I want to be ensured MY NEIGHBORHOOD is safe with police patrols. I want to be sure that when I shop at walmart, police will respond if there is an emergency.

Go ahead and call the Feds..but where are the police going to come from to staff such a jail?

Sorry Mr. McMahon but I think the only authority OSHA really has is to make them clean up whatever is a possible OSHA violation. The question is....what specifically are the OSHA violations if there are any? Has anyone done an actual open records request of public records?

terryb,
It is known that at least one of the current Sherrif's Office Buildings cannot be modified to accommodate current technologies due to asbestos. Do you want the County to have to pay for asbestos abatement for the building, including the handling and disposal of hazardous waste? You could be looking at millions of dollars there alone.

And OSHA can order either the abatement or closure of the building for asbestos safety reasons. I know this for a fact, as I used to be a Company Motorpool HAZMAT Coordinator while I was in Korea with the US Army in 2000. And even the US Army is subject to OSHA regulations and orders, as I had to implement a HAZMAT Program and bring my unit into OSHA compliance, despite being in another country and it met that country's requirements. If I did not bring it into compliance, my Army unit would have been fined heavily and the Motorpool would have been ordered to be shut down and my unit would not be able to handle any HAZMAT materials, including cleaning supplies and supplies needed to complete the units mission to provide fuel and potable drinking water to the troops.

You may think you know about OSHA, but I do know.

Mr. McMahon

Where exactly are you hearing that there is asbestos? Did anyone do open records requests to see where exactly this supposed asbestos is. This has been a rumor for years, but I have seen NOTHING to substantiate it.

If there is asbestos in these buildings, why isn't the newspapers pulling open records and exposing it IF in fact it is there and at what level.

And if there is Asbestos, Why hasn't ANYONE contacted OSHA already?