COVINGTON, Ga. — Some county commissioners on Wednesday complained that badly-needed projects were left off an advisory committee’s list recommended for funding if voters approve the renewal of the 1% SPLOST this year.

But some county staff members also reminded the Board of Commissioners during a Wednesday work session they must act quickly to choose what projects they want included on the ballot or they will not make a July 19 deadline for the referendum's inclusion on the Nov. 8 ballot.

County attorney Aaron Meyer said the Board must choose the projects, complete negotiations with six cities over the split of SPLOST proceeds and approve an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the cities by July 19.

"That's the 'drop dead' date," Meyer said. 

"We don't get a 'do-over,'" he said. "If we don't have an IGA for the project list, we have to wait until the next election."

Special projects consultant Jeff Prine of Ascension Program Management asked commissioners to make their decisions early enough to give him the time to review them to see if the projects recommended could be built with the money reserved for them.

Prine had worked with the advisory committee for the same purpose.

Advisory committee Chairman Baxter Bouchillon said the seven-member panel worked to balance needed projects with what members believed voters would support when choosing whether to renew the 1% sales tax on the Nov. 8 ballot.

Bouchillon said Board of Commissioners members ultimately have the final decision on what SPLOST project categories are listed but he encouraged them to seriously consider the committee's recommendations because its members were appointees of each county commissioner, the county chairman and the interim county manager.

"This committee was charged by the Board of Commissioners to come up with a list of what they felt was representative of what the citizenry wanted," he said.

Interim County Manager Jarvis Sims said the advisory committee worked hard to narrow down $141 million in requests to a list of $84 million in projects.

"It is a reflection of seven people who understand what our county needs to move forward," he said.

District 5 Commissioner Ronnie Cowan said he could not understand why the committee had left money for renovation of the historic Cousins High School building off its list.

Cowan said the building needs millions in renovation work and for mold removal. The county also invested millions in buying the 60-year-old building and part of it houses a Georgia Department of Driver Services driver's license office, he said.

"We need to take care of what we've got before we start going with something new," Cowan said. 

He said the building — which was the county's high school for Black students until 1970 — already has water and sewer service, as opposed to new construction which would require development of a building site.

"That's a historic, Black high school. It don't need to be ignored," Cowan said. 

Commissioners also said they were surprised by the last-minute addition of five projects to the list of 15 general and specific projects they already had seen from the advisory committee.

Sims explained it was related to a late discovery that an additional $5 million may be available in the county's share of SPLOST proceeds.

He said this year's SPLOST committee used the same split that was used for the 2017 SPLOST to estimate the unincorporated county had 75% of the total population. The percentage meant the county would receive $84 million out of a total of $140 million over the six-year life of the SPLOST.

However, Meyer said an analysis of 2020 census numbers showed that those who live in unincorporated Newton had swelled to about 82% of the total population and an additional $5 million may be available for county projects. Sims said he then added the five projects, including $1 million for the Cousins building. 

Bouchillon said the advisory committee's recommended projects were separated into five general categories. The committee agreed that priority should be given to Public Safety and Infrastructure needs, followed by Quality of Life, Debt Service and Economic Development, he said.

Recommended projects, categories and planned expenditures included:

• Debt service (Debt Service), $10 million.

• Administration Building reutilization (Infrastructure), $2.34 million.

• Brown Bridge Road widening (Infrastructure), $12 million.

• Centralized storage and maintenance facility (Infrastructure), $1.9 million.

• General government fleet replacement (Infrastructure), $2.5 million.

• Transportation countywide improvements (Infrastructure), $9 million.

• Transportation resurfacing (Infrastructure), $9 million.

• Animal Services building expansion — phase two (Public Safety), $1.075 million.

• Fire Services countywide improvements (Public Safety), $4.655 million.

• Sheriff's office mobile command unit (Public Safety), $1.6 million.

• Public Safety fleet replacement (Public Safety), $12 million.

• Countywide park improvements (Quality of Life), $3.5 million.

• Library (Quality of Life), $900,000.

• Westside Community Park (Quality of Life), $10.277 million.

Sims said an additional project the committee recommended, an HVAC chiller for the Newton County Detention Center, stopped operating recently and was replaced on an emergency basis.

The additional projects Sims recommended included:

• Hwy. 278 Community Improvement District (Infrastructure), $1 million.

• Nelson Heights community center improvements (Quality of Life), $1 million.

• Cousins School building renovation (Quality of Life), $1 million.

• Washington Street community center (Quality of Life), $1 million.

• Newton Trails (Quality of Life), $1 million.

However, the Board will not know how much money it will work with until after it completes its negotiations with representatives of Covington, Mansfield, Newborn, Oxford, Porterdale and Social Circle, officials said.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet with representatives from the six cities to discuss distribution of the SPLOST funds during a Special Called Meeting Monday, June 27, at 6 p.m. at the Historic Courthouse.

They also agreed to meet in a July 5 work session to discuss any changes they wanted to make to the list and possibly vote on a final list July 12.