Here are several articles that, in detail, outline
the discussions that took place at the end of 2001 and for most of the year of
2002 up to now on the finances of the Emergency Services Agency. The articles
begin in November, 2001, and are in chronological order until
ESA BOARD LOOKS AT 2002
BUDGET
The board governing the Emergency Services Agency
met
--The operations budget for 2002 presented by the Executive Director totaled $5,166,812 in expenses and $5,178,816 in anticipated revenues. Smith also said the total expected expenses that would be incurred by the ESA by the end 2001 would be $4,856,041 and the revenue would be $4,868,465. Those revenues included all property taxes, fees and charges paid. One of the departments with the largest budget is fire suppression; its operating expenses were set for 2002 at $2,177,358, while the estimated expenses for 2001 will be $2,084,628. For the volunteer fire departments, 2002 expenses are budgeted at $222,410 and 2001 expenses are expected to be $254,671. Purchases and contracted services are budgeted in 2002 at $520,492 and expected to be $535,277 in 2001. Supplies are budgeted in 2002 at $268,203 and are expected to be $297,138 in 2001.
--Debt service on the interest towards operating funds and pre-sales tax obligations are budgeted for 2002 at $126,411 and expected to be $126,086 in 2001. After the meeting, the Executive Director said he expected the debt service in 2002 on SPLOST-financed equipment to be about $698,421; that includes 7 new fire-pumpers, the new ladder truck and new ambulances.
--Personnel Services, which includes salaries for
the ESA, is budgeted at $4,230,347 in 2002 and is expected to be $3,870,617 in
2001. Smith told the board the salaries included average raises of 5% for employees
based on merit. Smith said some employees had not had raises in 14 months.
Smith also pointed out that the budgeted salaries were for employees currently
on duty. Additional firefighting personnel that are needed were not included in
the budget. He said Fire Suppression were currently at least 6 personnel short
of what was recommended under national standards; those standards call for four
personnel to roll-out with each fire truck dispatched, while the ESA currently
rolls out with less. Smith said as each of the three outlying fire stations are
completed, each needed at least 18 personnel to staff with two firefighters on
a 7-day a week, 24-hour basis. Smith said once those outlying facilities are
completed, they would be staffed with firefighters already in service, but it
will take at least 6-months lead time to train the firefighters that would
replace those personnel sent from the
--Smith told the ESA board that there were several areas that needed attention for future funding. The ambulance service needed to replace two trucks that were in very bad shape; in the past year the ESA had bought two new units. Smith said fees that go to E-911 – including the per-phone line charge on customer bills – are about $400,000 short of meeting the actual expenses of E-911. Smith said the county commission was the only entity legally allowed to impose additional fees for each phone line. He said he would be coming to the county commission in the future to ask for new fees to provide a way for individual cell-phone users to be located when they call 911.
The Emergency Services Agency board
of directors met
--The board went into an executive
session to discuss what the chairman, Ricky Smith, called personnel issues.
After the executive session, the board took action on authorizing the hiring of
the extra personnel in the 2002 budget, the purchase of the ambulances and the
amount of the merit pay raises. After the meeting was over, ESA Director Jack
Smith said during the executive session the board did discuss a specific
employee’s personnel record and discussed making progress on finding a site for
a new Ochlocknee fire station to be manned 24-hours a day.
--The ESA board adopted a budget
for 2002 that was virtually the same as the $5.2 million budget reviewed the
week before. The budget was only for the operations of the ESA; spending by the
agency for new capital equipment will be adopted later under a Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax budget. However,
the board did authorize the immediate purchase under SPLOST funding one new
ambulance and also the purchase of another new ambulance after the first of
2002. Chairman Smith said the ambulances were bought after
--Over thirty firefighters and
--The three
--After the meeting, Chairman Ricky
Smith said the ESA board decided to create nine new positions in the ESA, but
which department would get how many positions would be decided later. Smith
said, “We definitely hope that within the next six months or a year we can
revisit this and hopefully hire three or four more people.” He said salary
increases were lowered from a proposed 5% merit based increase to a 3% merit
increase, “We will probably come back in six months and revisit this percentage
as far as the salaries are increased and see if we could do a little better. We
sure hope we can but that’s to be seen.” Smith said, “We don’t know as far as
the tax dollars how they will come in. Right now the economy is in real bad
shape but we also realize the ambulance service, the E-911, the firefighters
are protections we want to keep going for the citizens of
--
The Thomas County Board of
Commissioners voted to approve all budget resolutions for 2002 during a meeting
--Commissioners voted to approve
budget resolutions for 2002. Included in the vote was the budget for the
Emergency Services Agency of revenues of $5,178,816.36 and expenditures of
$5,036,004.53. In that budget, the ESA created nine new positions but lower
proposed merit raises for employees from 5% to 3%. The
commission has to officially adopt the millage required to fund the budget from
the three fire districts in the county. The budget is only for the
operations of the ESA; spending by the agency for new capital equipment will be
adopted later under a Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax budget. The ESA budget was presented to the county
commission by ESA Executive Director Jack Smith. During discussions with Smith,
County Commissioner Elaine Mays said she thought the budget for training may be
“too high” compared with other training budgets for specialized personnel in
other county departments. Smith said there were several factors that made
training for firefighters and
--The commission reviewed the appointments to the
various advisory boards of the county commission. There are some that have
members with terms that expire at the end of 2001. On the suggestion of
Commissioner Moses Gross, the board decided to advertise the openings on the
various boards. The commission will consider the appointments after the first
of 2002. The only exception will be for the board governing the Emergency
Services Agency. That board has two members appointed by the county commission
and two members the
The Emergency Services Agency board
of directors met
--E-911 Director Ann Powell told the ESA board that when the new 911 dispatch center was completed in the downtown fire station next to the Thomasville City Hall, the dispatch center would be at least capable of using new technology to locate cellular telephone calls within a five mile radius of the user, but most likely within several hundred feet of where the calls were being made. Powell said there was every indication that there would soon be federal mandates that the cell-phone 911 locator system be required in every state. She said to implement the technology, the cellular telephone companies had to be paid for the use of their user databases and equipment. The funding for those payments could come from fees authorized by the state of 28-cents to 30-cents per cell-phone. The Executive Director of the ESA, Jack Smith, said the Thomas County Board of Commissioners was the agency-of-record for 911 and had to authorize the imposition of those fees; the fees could begin 18 months before the system was actually in place. Smith asked the county commission members present at the meeting what the best way was for the ESA to get the commission to approve the fees. Mays said the best way was to appear before the commission in person and make the case for the locator system. Smith said he would go to the commission at their second meeting in January to ask for the fees.
--The ESA board voted to buy two new 2002 model ambulances at $70,350 each, one before the end of the year under the 2001 budget and one just after the first of the year under the 2002 budget. The board was told the ambulances would be the same price and from the same company as two other ambulances bought early in 2001.
--New fees were discussed that the
--The status of new fire stations
were discussed. Smith said staff was still looking for a location for the
Ochlocknee fire station, the county public works department had requested plans
for the
--Board members discussed the end
of the year financial report as of
--Cash, accounts receivable and prepaid expenses total $2,717,539.01. Net fixed assets are $4,512,955.56. The total assets are $7,230,494.57. Liabilities include accounts payable, $71,872.75; due to the City of Thomasville, $150,000; notes to Bank of Thomas County (the president of the Bank of Thomas County is the citizen member of the ESA board, Ervin Brock), $3,000,000; notes to the City of Thomasville, $23,798.25; notes to Commercial Bank, $51,332.88; notes to Bank One Leasing (for fire truck financing) $1,242,109.31; a note to Commercial Bank for financing the new ladder truck, $710,000; accrued interest payable, $132,715.78; accrued bank leave, $23,342.81; for a total of $5,405,171.78. The fund balance is $1,825,322.70. That makes a total of liabilities and fund balance of $7,230,494.57.
--In the income statement for the
ESA, under revenue, the total year-to-date (YTD) is $5,837,643.23. The budget
for 2001 for income was $4,530,981.53. Included in the revenue was tax
collections YTD from Fire Zone 1 of $1,945,628.23 (budgeted for 2001 was
$1,930,941.22), Fire Zone 2 of $313,570.84 (budgeted for 2001 was $353,
456.76), and Fire Zone 3 of $609,158.84 (budgeted for 2001 was ($661,626.98).
E-911 revenue was YTD $291,826.72,
--In the income statement for the ESA under expenditures the total YTD was $5,004,408.13; the 2001 budgeted expenditures was $4,524,474,17. Included in the expenditures were YTD for personnel services, $3,945,891.74; for purchased/contracted services $520,741.15; supplies $290,015.89; capital outlays $3,648; other costs $23,449.98; debt service $220,661.37.
CHANGES IN ESA PERSONNEL
Jack Smith, the Executive Director of the Emergency Services Agency in
--Previous to being Special Projects Director,
--While
Richard Smith has resigned from the
Emergency Services Agency board of directors and
--At the Tuesday meeting, Commissioner Richard Smith was re-appointed as one of the county’s two representative on the Emergency Services Board to serve a two year term. That action came after Commissioner Mays moved Smith’s name and Commissioner I.L. Mullins immediately seconded it. The vote to approve Smith’s appointment to the ESA board was approved on a unanimous vote.
The Emergency Services Agency board met for a brief
meeting Thursday, January 17, for the first time in 2002. Thomasville City
Council member Earl Williams was elected chairman of the ESA board and County
Commissioner Bobby Brown was elected vice-Chairman. Elected to replace Ervin
Brock as the fifth member of the board was
ESA BOARD HEARS ABOUT 911 CONCERNS
The board governing the Emergency
Services Agency heard about concerns with the 911 dispatching system during a
meeting Thursday, January 31. Thomasville Police Chief David Huckstep outlined
a list of those concerns that he said represented the views of the users of the
911 system in the county. At the meeting with Chief Huckstep and supporting his
views were Sheriff Carlton Powell, several firefighters, including the
Battalion Fire Chiefs, and
--Chief Huckstep said, “If the [new
911] center fails, then all public safety fails.” He said the new building
being built next to the
--Huckstep said the 911 center currently being built here did not have room for expansion, needed a good air quality control system and windows. He said the current facility being built “isn’t good for keeping good people employed.” It needed “proper computers” and communications and control systems even if it was more expensive than buying piecemeal, “The biggest suggestion I have is buying one turnkey operation from one vendor.” The consoles to be put in the new facility “needed to be more than the band-aid system currently in place.” He also said personnel in the field needed “more than the portable radios they currently have”; more powerful radios were needed to communicate from outlying areas of the county. Huckstep said the new center needed reverse-911 (a system that calls phones with automatic emergency notification messages) and needed dispatchers trained in giving emergency medical aid over the phone. Also needed were plans for putting in place a way for locating cell-phone calls to 911. Huckstep said when the new center was built, it needed to have at least five dispatchers on duty, one for answering the telephone, one for handling law enforcement communications, one for handling fire communications, one for medical calls and one for communications with outside agencies including state and national information databases. Huckstep said the current practice of having three dispatchers on duty at a time was “not enough.” After the meeting, city council representative Roy Campbell said the issues Chief Huckstep raised were important but the ESA board were aware of them and were addressing them.
--The ESA board approved a $3 million
line of credit from the Bank of Thomas County after bid openings from several
banks offering interest rates on payback. The winning bid from BTC was a rate
of 2.45%. Other bids were from Suntrust at 2.66%, a floating rate of 68% of
prime from Commercial Bank (currently 3.23%) and a ceiling of 4.02%, and from
Thomasville National Bank a floating rate of 68% of prime or an option of
3.20%. Attending her first meeting as the fifth member of the board was Ann
McCrickard of
The Emergency Services Agency board
met Thursday, February 21, and discussed addressing in the city of
The Thomas County Emergency
Services Agency has decided to place the construction of a new volunteer fire
station for
--Executive Director Jack Smith
told board members that the
--Smith and fire staff told the board that new firefighters were in training and seemed to be all high quality personnel. In addition to 18 new volunteers currently undergoing training, Smith said there were 18 volunteers already trained and available to work to supplement positions on the shifts of the full-time firefighters that were open because of sickness, vacations and training. Smith said using volunteers in the career positions would help the department avoid excessive overtime costs. There were also 9 new full-time firefighters close to receiving full certification.
--E-911 Director Anne Powell said there were problems of late with shortages in filling shifts due to sickness and childbirth. Powell also said the 911 staff had worked to bring the over 900 places in Thomas County that had addressing problems down to about 130. She said she expected those few problems would be dealt with shortly. Powell said work is continuing to improve the E-911 system to identify cell-phone locations when they call into the center. There was also progress to develop emergency medical dispatching training for call-takers in the E-911 center.
--The Emergency Medical Service
department told the board that two new ambulances would be in service by next
week as soon as radios were installed. Once in service, the
--After a closed executive session, the ESA board voted to increase Executive director Jack Smith’s salary by $2,000 a year and negotiate a bonus at the end of the year. The board also commended Smith for a job well done.
The Emergency Services Agency
approved a bid to construct the
--The board approved a bid by Vista
Construction Company of
--Smith told the board that the
first county fire station in Coolidge was manned 24/7 as of April 15 and the
only work that needed to be completed was landscaping. Smith said several local
business in Coolidge and
--In an executive session that lasted almost an hour, the board discussed pay issues and potential litigation with its attorney. After the closed session, Smith said the pay issues involved career firefighters who are also volunteer firefighters in their communities. Smith said those issues would continue to be addressed by the board.
--Smith told the board that there were decisions that had to be made soon on technology upgrade options to the E-911 system. The board will meet in a special workshop May 7 to discuss the upgrades.
The Thomas County Emergency Services Agency wants
to spend almost a million dollars for software and equipment for the new E-911
center being built in downtown
--On Monday, May 20, Chairman
Williams said, “No one is considering going up on any property tax to pay for
this,” but he did say “We’ve got to do something in the next thirty days” to
figure out how to pay for the equipment and software. Williams said, “We can’t
do without – it’s a public safety issue.” He said, “We are going to go to the
City Council and
--Among the other expenses the ESA board will also ask the county to meet will be implementation of “Phase One Wireless Identification”; that is designed to allow 911 calls from cell-phones to be located just as 911 calls from land-line phones are located. The board plans to ask the county commission to impose a $1.00 fee per cell-phone and a $1.50 fee per land-line phones to pay for the cell-phone 911 locator system.
ESA VOTES TO BORROW MORE MONEY
The Emergency Services Agency governing board has voted to borrow more money for operating expenses. Also discussed was the status of volunteer fire departments in the county and the status of new fire stations. The board met Thursday, June 27, in a regular session; one of the members, county commissioner Bobby Brown, was not present. Present were the chairman, Thomasville city council member Earl Williams, city council member Roy Campbell, county commissioner Elaine Mays and board member Ann McCrickard.
-- The board voted unanimously
Thursday to borrow $140,700, at 3.91% interest, from Bank of Thomas County to
help meet operating expenses on an interim basis, until board members can
devise other revenue sources during a workshop. The ESA took a $3 million line
of credit in January from the Bank of Thomas County to meet expenses until
property taxes were collected at the end of the year. According to Executive
Director Jack Smith, “Expenses for the agency are on track with the budget, but
revenue collections are down.” Smith said much of the day-to-day operating
expenses of the agency were run on revenue from
--The buildings being built by the
agency, such as the fire and E-911 station in downtown
--There was some discussion about the equipping and supply for the twelve volunteer fire departments in the county. Volunteer Fire Department Liaison Chris Jones said currently there were about 130 volunteer fire fighters signed on in the county. Jones and Smith said as a general rule each department would be allocated with new equipment for 12 volunteers per department, but some of the departments could have more and some less.
--Smith said fully equipping and maintaining each of the volunteer
departments was an expense that the ESA board had to consider along with other
future expenses. Smith told the board that almost a million dollars was
required to equip the new E-911 center. Smith told the board he needed their
direction and decisions on how expenses would be met and how money would be
raised to adequately fund the operations of the ESA. The board will meet in an
extensive work session July 9 in an effort to reach those decisions.
The governing board of the Thomas
County Emergency Services Agency held a morning long workshop on Tuesday, July
9, in
--Smith said the board looked at the long-range funding options for the agency. He said, “Many different options were discussed, but no decision was made on definite plans for the future. We are diligently looking at other sources of revenue, but not in the area of property taxes.” Smith said the board also looked at personnel issues, especially volunteers in the county. Smith indicated that there might be limits on the number of volunteers in some departments. Smith also said fully equipping all volunteers in a department was discussed. He said the consensus of the board was that “every station will be equipped to the level of actively participating volunteers.” Smith also said he discussed with the board his ideas for the allocation of career firefighters among the stations in the city and the three manned stations in the county to make sure each station had personnel needed to respond to emergencies.
--A full meeting is set for July 22
at
ESA BOARD MEETING APPROVES CREDIT LINE
The Emergency Services Agency
approved an application for an additional line of credit with a local bank to
provide money for operating expenses. The ESA Board also discussed the
possibility of applying for a loan to provide for E-911 equipment. The action
came during a meeting of the ESA Board Tuesday, July 23. The board also a
shortfall in revenue from
--The Executive Director of the ESA, Jack Smith, told the board that a $1.2 million line of credit was needed to provide funds for operating expenses until the end of the year. Smith said the money was needed until property taxes came in for the ESA at the end of the year. Smith also said an about $1 million was needed for the purchase of E-911 equipment. He said local lending institutions were asked to provide separate bids on rates for the line of credit and the loan for the E-911 equipment. Smith asked the Board to approve the bid on a line of credit, but he said he took the bids on the E-911 equipment loans only to provide information to the Board, “We still have discussions to do on possible cell-phone fees and other possible sources of revenue before we take out a loan on this.” Board member Roy Campbell suggested that the line of credit be increased to be able to pay off some $300,000 already borrowed from Bank of Thomas County for operating expenses and the Board approved that increase to $1.5 million. The board approved the lowest bid that came from Thomasville National Bank for the line of credit at 3.2% interest. The bank offered an interest rate of 68% of prime for the E-911 equipment loan. The only other bank that offered bids on the credit line and the equipment loan was Commercial Bank. Smith said Bank of Thomas County said they were satisfied with the loans already made to the ESA; SunTrust and Thomas County Federal did not submit bids.
--The ESA Board approved the write-off
of $48,911.09 in debts to the
--The Board discussed ongoing
problems of addressing in the county. Smith said the developer of a subdivision
in the City of
--The ESA Board approved the
purchase of UHF and VHF radios, pagers, software for
ESA LOOKING AT FUNDING PROBLEMS
The board governing the Emergency
Services Agency met Thursday, August 22, and discussed financing for the
agency. The consensus developed that board members had to seek property tax
rates for the agency at least as much as previous years, an action that would
require public hearings by a reluctant Thomas County Commission. ESA board
members discussed other options for meeting funding needs. Among other issues
discussed, the ESA board also passed on policy limiting non-emergency ambulance
transports to
--ESA Executive Director Jack Smith
explained the situation facing the board in the next several weeks as property
tax millage rates are set. State law requires that if property taxes paid by
citizens are increased, then public hearings by the entity raising the taxes
have to be held explaining the increase. In this case, that would be the
--During discussion of the millage
rates, the Chairman of the county commission, Josh Herring, sat in on the ESA
board meeting. Herring said a county commission Finance Committee meeting
Thursday had recommended that the county’s own millage rates be “rolled back”
to avoid increasing taxes paid by property owners because of increases in
assessments and avoid public hearings. He estimated without the roll-back and
holding millage rates for county government the same as last year would mean an
additional $396,000 in revenue to the county. Herring said the county faced
some serious funding decisions in the future, “We can hold the millage rates to
the roll-back level this year without too much of a problem, but next year the
county faces cutting services or getting more revenue.” Herring indicated that
the commission would have to hold hearings for any proposal by the ESA to hold
millage rates to at least the same rates as last year’s – something Herring did
not say the county commission was anxious to do.
--ESA board member Roy Campbell, a
member of the Thomasville City Council, said during Thursday’s meeting it was “important
to know where the money will come from” to pay for a line of credit negotiated
with Commercial Bank. A representative of the bank told the board members at
their meeting that the bank was willing to make the line of credit “unsecured”
if the Thomasville City Council and the Thomas County Commission back the
credit.
--The ESA board passed a new policy
on the non-emergency ambulance transport of patients. The board said
--The ESA board passed a new policy
limiting the number of volunteers supported by each volunteer organization in
the county to twelve. The previous policy was to accept all comers to volunteer
organizations, with some having over 25 members. ESA officials said with the
cost of equipping a volunteer firefighter at over $3,000, the ESA needed a
limit on the number of volunteers.
--In other issues, the ESA board
heard that the Sunset Volunteer Fire Station was being re-activated. As soon as
that station goes into service, the ESA will ask the Insurance Service
Organization to re-evaluate the ISO fire insurance ratings for the entire
county. The building of the new
The Thomas County Board of
Commissioners postponed setting a tentative 2002 millage rate for property taxpayers
during a meeting Monday night, August 26. Commissioners decided to call a
special meeting next week to set a tentative millage after the Emergency
Services Agency recommends its millage rate. During the meeting Monday,
commissioners did decide to try to put a pay raise “of at least” two to three
percent for county employees into next year’s budget. Commissioners also
postponed approving a line of credit for the ESA.
--The county commission’s agenda
had an item to set the tentative millage for 2002, but commissioners decided to
postpone the action. County Manager Mike Stephenson told commissioners that the
ESA had not submitted its proposed millage rates and he needed those figures to
make a recommendation to the commission. The ESA board advises a millage rate
for the three fire districts in the county, but the county commission sets the
millage. In previous years the county commission has followed the
recommendations of the ESA board, but not without close review. Stephenson told
commissioner he expected the ESA board to call a special meeting this week to
set its millage recommendations.
--
--The Emergency Services Agency
approved an application for a $1.5 million line of credit from Thomasville
National Bank for operating expenses during a meeting July 23. Executive
Director Jack Smith told the ESA board the money was needed until property
taxes came in for the ESA at the end of the year. At that July meeting, Smith
discussed the possibility of applying for a separate line of credit of $1
million to provide for E-911 equipment. On August 22 the ESA board met and
discussed a line of credit negotiated with Commercial Bank for the 911
equipment. A representative of the bank told the ESA board that the bank was
willing to make the line of credit “unsecured” if the Thomasville City Council
and the Thomas County Commission backed the credit.
ESA AND
After a week of meetings in which
the Thomas County Emergency Services Agency governing board and the Thomas
County Board of Commissioners worked to set millage rates for
The board governing the Emergency
Services Agency had recommended that the millage in each of the three fire
districts in the county be increased by one full mill in order to meet a
deficit in operating expenses during an almost three-hour meeting Tuesday
morning, September 3. On Thursday, September 5, the Thomas County Board of
Commissioners set tentative millage rate for the county at a called meeting
that included setting rates for fire districts at less than recommended by the
ESA board. Roy Campbell said Jack Smith handed a letter of resignation as
Executive Director to the chairman of the ESA board, Earl Williams, before the
county commission meeting.
--The ESA board voted Tuesday to
request the county commission raise the millage in Fire District 1, which
essentially comprises the City of
--During the Tuesday meeting, ESA Executive Director Jack Smith said that starting in 1999, and every year since, the average amount of operating expenses was $4.73 million per year. However, known and anticipated revenue for 2002 will be about $1.83 million and has been about $340,000 less than that for previous years, leaving an accumulated operating deficit, so far this year, of $3.376 million. Smith said the problem was not an increase in budgeted operating expenses; he said the budget for 2002 was on track. However, Smith said collection of revenues were substantially down. Smith also said the capital construction of the ESA with new buildings and the acquisition of new equipment was paid for with the SPLOST voted on by citizens and there was no deficits in that budget.
--The vote by the ESA board on the millage recommendation was not unanimous. ESA board member and County Commissioner Bobby Brown voted no on the increase. He said after the meeting that he felt the increase was too much and that instead there were places in the ESA budget that expenses could be cut. The rest of the ESA board voted to raise the millage: Thomasville City Council member Roy Campbell made the motion to make the recommended millage raises and voted yes; Ann McCrickard the ESA board member from Boston seconded Campbell’s motion and vote yes; County Commissioner Elaine Mays voted yes; and City Council member Earl Williams voted yes.
-- All but two members of the
--On Thursday, September 5, the
Thomas County Commission set the fire district millage rates for 2002 at what
is termed the “rollback” levels, citing concerns about deficits of revenue over
expenses. Commissioners acknowledged that meant that revenue deficits for the
ESA would likely continue to build and that millage rates in 2003 would likely
have to be set at more than proposed for this year, but as Commissioner Mary Jo
Beverly said, “This is just to take a breath and see where we are.” During the
commission meeting, ESA board member Roy Campbell told the county board, “When
originally started, we based the millage too low.”
--County commissioners voted unanimously, including the two county members of the ESA board, to set the millage rates for Fire District 1 at 3.87 mills, for Fire District 2 at 2.868 mills and for Fire District 3 at 1.725 mills. These are the rates that allow for the same amount of revenue to be raised from the districts, but allowing for increases in property tax assessments. The rates set for 2001 were 4 mills for Fire District 1, 3 mills for Fire District 2 and 2 mills for Fire District 3. The ESA’s board had asked that the 2002 millage be set at 5 mills for Fire District 1, 4 mills for Fire District 2 and 3 mills for Fire District 3.
--County commissioners, including
the two on the ESA board, said they were surprised at the deficit at the ESA
and concerned. Chairman Josh Herring said with the news of the deficits at the
ESA, “The board has real concerns about tax increases.” He said, “We can’t
raise taxes if we’re going to be in debt. We need time to find out why it
happened and what we’re going to do about it.” Herring told the numerous fire,
--The motion to set the ESA’s
millage at the rollback level was made by Commissioner Beverly. Herring
seconded the motion.
--County commissioners also set a
tentative general government millage for 2002 at 6.543 mills for incorporated
areas of the county and 5.3 mills for unincorporated areas of the county. That
is not quite the rollback rate that would prevent a tax increase in the
unincorporated areas – that rate would have been 4.921 mills – but slightly
lower than the rollback rate for incorporated areas, 6.981 mills. Chairman
Herring said changes in state law calculating the insurance premium rebate
meant that the county would not get enough back from the rebate to allow the
commission to set a full rollback rate. The millage for 2001 was 7.17 mills for
incorporated areas and 5.68 for unincorporated areas. Because of the increase
in millage, the commission has to have three public hearings for citizen
comment. Those hearings are set for
--There were indications that county commissioners had at least an idea that the ESA was dealing with deficits before the ESA meeting on September 3. County Manager Mike Stephenson provided an outline for exerting more control over the ESA in a memo dated August 30 and sent to commissioners. The memo suggested ways to reign in spending by the ESA, “given the recent discovery of serious financial troubles” at the agency. In the memo, Stephenson said, “If Emergency Services is not willing to accept these conditions, then I recommend you keep their millage rate at the roll-back level and deny approval of loans.” The conditions Stephenson suggested to the commission include having the ESA provide detailed shift schedules for EMS, fire and 911 departments; no new positions created in the ESA without prior approval of the county commission; no ESA purchases of $5,000 or more without prior approval of the county commission; no pay increases of any kind implemented without prior approval of the county commission; ESA providing to the commission a listing of all employees with job titles and pay scales; the designation of interim department heads for the Fire Department and EMS until permanent appointments are made (currently the Fire Department and EMS are run on a day-to-day basis by shift supervisors and the Executive Director is the department head for each); annual budgets for the ESA departments submitted under the same format as county departments; ESA accounts will be reported using a “governmental fund method” like county departments instead of “enterprise fund methods”; SPLOST finances will be kept separate from normal operations and separate financial statements issued once a month; the Executive Director will submit an operations report in person once a month to the county commission.
--After a city council workshop meeting Wednesday, September 4, Thomasville Mayor Rick Singletary talked about the ESA’s recommendations on millage and the county commission’s possible response. He said, “The city and county have appointed two members to represent citizens on the ESA board. All four are very capable and have done a good job over the years and they should be given the chance to make their case for an increase in the millage.” The Mayor said the county commission faced a choice to “cut service or levy taxes I assume.” He said, “The timing is very bad here. With some of the county commissioners up for re-election this year, it has to have an effect on the thinking of some of them.” Asked if he thought there was a chance the ESA would be broken up, Singletary said, “It’s only speculation that there will be any breakup.” Asked about the memo from Stephenson to the commissioners about conditions for any acceptance of an increase in millage, Singletary said, “It looks like a business plan for the county to take over everything.”
--The city and county created the
ESA in 1999 with local legislation from the General Assembly to provide
consolidated fire, emergency medical service, 911 dispatching and emergency
management for the entire county by combining former city and county emergency
services under a unified structure. The ESA is governed by a board with two
members from the city council, two members from the county commission and one
member from the public. The ESA is funded by property taxes in the three fire
districts. The county commission is the only entity legally able to impose the
property tax, but an agreement with the city calls for the commission to pass
on the millage recommendations of the ESA board. The ESA has taken out loans
from financial institutions in anticipation of revenue from future property taxes.
The most recent loan – in the form of a line of credit – has been offered by a
bank on an unsecured basis if the city and county would guarantee the loans,
which they have not done yet. In 2000 the citizens of
ESA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RESIGNS; ESA BOARD MEETS BUT
POSTPONES ACTION
The Board governing the Emergency
Services Agency met starting at
--The ESA board voted to establish
committees of board members to “oversee” operations of the ESA: Fire,
--Before the ESA board went into
closed session, Mays said, “I hate to decide to split up fire ,
--Several of the board members were asked about the status of the ESA after the meeting. Earl Williams, the chairman of the ESA board, said, “We have decided to meet in a joint city-county meeting at the court house to discuss the future of this. In the meantime, the chairman, which is myself, will be on a day-to-day basis up here, making sure everything goes smoothly. If I need some other board member, I’ll call them up to help.”
--Roy Campbell was asked about the future of the ESA. He said, “The city council is fully committed to support this anyway that we have to. But I can’t speak for the county.”
--Josh Herring, the chairman of the county commission, was asked what the status of the ESA is going to be and he said, “I’ll tell you more after the meeting of the city and county workshop on Monday.” Herring said, “The main thing we did today was how to meet payroll, who’s name to put on certain documents. But after the city and county meet to figure the direction we’re going, then we’ll know more. Right now, the main thing we’re after is taking care of our employees, making sure payroll is out on time and keep the services going to the people.” Asked if the ESA has a future as it has been constituted, Herring said, “The city and county started the agency together. The city and county will meet next Monday and try to make a decision on which direction were going with it.”
--Also asked after the meeting if
the ESA will continue as an organization as it has been for the past years,
Elaine Mays said, “I think on Monday when the Board of Commissioners and the
city of
Thomas County Commissioners proposed a 3-2 county majority on the ESA board during a joint city-county workshop on Monday, September 16. Commissioners said it was in order to control the ESA’s finances. Commission Chairman Josh Herring said during the meeting, “If the county commission is responsible for taxation, then we need a majority.” Herring told the meeting that the commission felt that “in the past decisions were made that were not good. If a majority of the ESA board was made up of county commissioners, then maybe we won’t have the problems we’ve have been having.”
--At the meeting Herring said commissioners were
calling for an assessment team of outside professionals to study the service
delivery of the fire, ambulance and 911 departments of the ESA. The chairman
also proposed during the meeting that if the City of
--The joint workshop met in response to concerns about the indebtedness of the ESA as county commissioners are setting the 2002 millage rate. The commission held two public hearings Monday on the millage rate, including the millage for the three fire districts that fund the ESA, and will have another hearing on September 24 before setting the final millage rate. Commissioners say they will set the fire district rates at a level that will bring in the same amount of revenue as last year instead of the full mill increase called for by the ESA board at a meeting in August. It was news of the ESA’s debt, variously described as $1.8 million to up to $5 million, that caused the county commission to call for changes to the ESA that would have the county control its finances. Currently, the ESA governing board has two representatives from the county commission, two from the Thomasville City Council and one representative from the public chosen by the ESA board. The commission proposed Monday that the county’s representation be increased from two to three members.
--Chairman Herring said during the September 16 workshop that the county was not alleging any malfeasance or misappropriation of funds, just “mismanagement.” The commissioners felt that problems with the ESA would be alleviated with control by the county. “Money is the problem,” according to Herring, “and the county feels that they need more say-so in the management of the ESA. If the county levies the tax, then we want to have a say in how the money is spent.” Herring said, “The county commission wants to be sure we get the services we pay for.” He said the current delivery of fire, ambulance and dispatching services were working, “but accountability is not working.” Herring proposed that if the city would levy property taxes in the city to fund the ESA’s city services, then the county commission could raise taxes in the rest of the county; then the ESA’s board could remain as currently constituted. Herring proposed the city and county “pro-rate” the taxes, but said he could not define how that would happen, “That’s something that would have to be worked out with the city.” Elaine Mays, county commissioner and a member of the ESA board, said, “There has been a problem and the kindest thing we can say is that it is a management problem. There has not been any misappropriation but there has been a management problem.” Mays said ESA department heads had not seen or worked with a budget. She said the county and city could take the proposals by the county to change the structure of the ESA “and work with this.” Mays also said it looked like ultimately, “it looks like we’re going to have to come up on millage or borrow more money.” Mays said employees of the ESA needed to be reassured that “their jobs need to continue – tomorrow is just another workday. Disbanding the ESA is not a good idea.” Herring also said that millage rates for the ESA would likely have to be increased next year “maybe two to two-and-a-half mills to get the ESA out of debt,” but the commission did not want to raise millage this year until “we have a handle on what’s going wrong.”
--City council members responded by saying they felt that management was the problem with the current difficulties of the ESA, but that the structure of the ESA did not need to be changed. Earl Williams, city council member and a member of the ESA board, said, “We thought this was the one thing the city and county could do together. Maybe it was a mistake not letting the ESA have taxing power. Everyone wants first class service and that’s what we tried to do. We have the equipment and personnel to do the job. We have to do the job ourselves and it is expensive.” Williams and other council members said they believed the current ESA structure did not need to be changed to deal with the current problems, “We want equal control or no control.” Mayor Rick Singletary and Council Member David Lewis expressed concerns about the county “micromanaging” the ESA. Singletary said if the ESA acceded to the county’s demand for detailed control of operations before a new director is hired, “Then the county would be one-hundred percent in control. What would the ESA do?” Herring said the ESA would be in charge of day-to-day operations, but the county would be in control of the finances and needed to have on-going control. The Mayor said that before the ESA was formed, the city worked to build its fire department to a Class 3 status, “That’s about the best that we can have for a town our size. What guarantee can we have that the city keeps that status?” Council member Camille Payne said both the city and county set up the ESA equally and the city needed to be part of the management of the organization. Payne advocated having the ESA “be responsible for their own business and the county could say yea or nay on the major issues.” Payne said, “I think the ESA could work with the county commission instead of being dictated to. If the ESA had been funded properly, then we wouldn’t be having this problem.” Roy Campbell, city council member and member of the ESA board, said despite the multi-million dollar debt, “The money was well spent. The trouble is in 1998 the property tax coming to the ESA was two-point-seven million dollars and it is still two-point-seven million dollars. We have been underfunded from the beginning.”
--The council members and commissioners acknowledged the need for at least an interim director for the supervision of the ESA on a day-to-day basis, but could not agree on who that would be. It was decided that Roy Campbell and Elaine Mays would continue to spend as much time as needed at the ESA offices running things until a decision could be made on a director.
Thomasville City Council members heard Josh Herring, the chairman of the Thomas County Board of Commissioners, say he was “disappointed” with the city council and was personally inclined to recommend to the county board that the Emergency Services Agency be disbanded. Herring made the remarks towards the end of a two-and-a-half hour city council workshop on Wednesday, September 18. The county chairman said he attended the regularly scheduled city workshop meeting to hear the city’s reaction to proposals made by the commission to control deficit spending by the ESA. What the chairman heard was city council members saying they did not approve of the proposal for the county to have a majority 3-2 membership on the ESA governing board.
--During the city council workshop
Herring, along with County Commissioners Karl Abrams and I.L. Mullins, both
residents of
--Thomas County Manager Mike Stephenson told the city council during the workshop, that, “We need to go ahead and look at raising taxes. The county commission has not talked about breaking up the ESA – that talk has come from the city council. The issue that drives concerns of county commissioners is the increasing of property taxes.” Stephenson wanted to know how the city would prepare citizens for an increase in taxes. He also wanted to know how the county can be guaranteed that they will never be put in a position where they will face a decision to raise millage drastically, “What kind of process will be in place to keep that from happening again.”
--Much of the city council workshop
on September 18 was taken by discussions among the council members about the
ESA issue. Mayor Rick Singletary said at the opening of the meeting, “There is
really only one issue to discuss and that is the county’s request to take over
a majority of the ESA board.” During a joint city-county workshop meeting
Monday, September 16, the county proposed that the ESA governing board have an
additional representative member from the count commission added to make the
membership 3 county members, 2 from the
--City Council member Earl Williams, who is also one of the city members of the ESA board, said, “The agreement with the Governor [setting up the ESA] called for equal participation and we’ll have to go back to legislation [to change the board]. I’m not in favor of a majority by the county on the board.” Speaking about county commissioner’s displeasure at citizens expressing objections to them about tax increases, Williams said, “The county has got to learn how to take the shaking fingers. I want the best - first class - and we are doing it for the people’s own good.”
--The other city council member on
the ESA board is Roy Campbell. He said Wednesday he was not in favor of a 3-2
county majority on the ESA board. He said, “If the county approves a budget,
then the city should approve the budget. We all share responsibility in this.
We have found the whole revenue structure was not set up right. To get the
revenue we need to deal with the deficit, we would have to cut personnel by
twenty-percent and we can’t do that.”
--City Council member David Lewis said he “would like to know how a third county commissioner would change the situation.” He said the city council could agree in principle on a 3-2 county majority on the ESA board, “but then what would they need the city council for.” Lewis said, “The county should take back the 3-2 proposal unless they can submit empirical data that shows the county commission can do the job better. . . The county can feel they can do a better job if they are in charge – we can’t accept it.” He said he was concerned about the current low morale of ESA personnel. Lewis said there had already been one person who lost their job at the ESA, and more people “shouldn’t have to worry about their jobs. Let’s have the county withdraw their 3-2 proposal and we would have the climate calm down. We need to have these personnel focused on doing the best they can on their jobs instead of worrying about if they are going to have their jobs.” Lewis said, “Given the true numbers on the debt, we don’t need change in the structure but we need to do something about the numbers. If the true numbers had been presented, then maybe the manifesto [presented at Monday’s joint meeting] didn’t need to be presented. I think the county will be reasonable – we don’t need a 3-2 majority but deal with the numbers. . . If the county withdrew the 3-2 proposal, then we can go on.” Lewis asked Commission Chairman Herring if the council agreed to all the demands of the county, including the 3-2 county majority, would the county commission still have to pass property taxes to pay the ESA debt. Herring responded by saying taxes would likely have to be raised, “but we need operational control.”
--City Council member Camille Payne
said, “We went into this as a joint endeavor and the primary reason was to
provide better fire protection in outlying areas of the county. We also wanted
to have fire and
--Also at the Wednesday meeting was Scott Sterling, a candidate for County Commission District 7 in the November election. He said he was concerned that “since all this broke, the ESA, city council and the county commission looks bad. When some said they didn’t know, then people said they should have known.” He said, “If the county has the authority to approve the ESA’s budget and millage, then they did not need the 3-2 vote on the ESA board.”
The Thomas County Board of Commissioners did not discuss the Emergency Services Agency during their regular meeting Monday night, September 23, but the Thomasville City Council did discuss the Agency and its future, deciding to send a letter to the county outlining the city’s opposition to calls by the county to control the ESA. The city council met Monday night in a regular meeting at a location separate from the county commission.
--During a workshop before the meeting, council members discussed a letter that will be sent to the county commission outlining the city’s response to a call by the county for various changes in the structure and operations of the ESA. Among those changes called for by the county is adding one more representative from the county on the ESA governing board to make the makeup three members from the county, two from the city and one public member. County commissioners told the city council in meetings last week that the 3-2 board, along with other reforms, would insure that the county would control the operations of the ESA and make sure that what the county has called “financial irregularities” would not happen again. Commissioners have been upset with calls by the ESA board for a full millage increase in property taxes to pay for the ESA and have been concerned with deficits in the ESA’s revenues versus expenses.
--In the letter to be sent to the county commission, the city council calls for the county commission to keep the membership of the ESA board as it is currently constituted – two members from the city council, two from the county commission and one public member. The council also calls for keeping the terms of the ESA board members at two years, not as a limit, but as a way for members to stay on the ESA board to develop continuity. The city council did not propose any new funding structure for the ESA; some county commissioners have said they might be willing to forgo the call or a 3-2 split on the ESA board if the city would fund the ESA with a property tax levied by the city council while the county commission levied property taxes in the rest of the county for funding the ESA. The city council did accept county suggestions that an outside assessment team study the ESA to report to the city and county on their findings and the council said it was a good idea that both the city and county managers be present at all meetings of the ESA board.
The City of
--In the letter from the city
signed by Mayor Rick Singletary, the first paragraph said, “In order to attract
industry, enhance economic development and improve the quality of life in
County Manager Mike Stephenson called local media
to meet at his Friday morning, September 27. There he gave the press an outline
of the debt obligations of the Emergency Services Agency as compiled by the
county’s auditor, Darrell Mills, of Simmons and Simmons. The bottom line was
that the operating debt to carry over to the year 2003 is $2,732,451. The
information handed out by the
--The information provided by the County Manager showed that the estimated total revenue to the ESA (not including SPLOST funds) by the end of 2002 will be $4,306,434; this is short by $872,382 of the revenue budgeted for 2002 of $5,178,816. The handout had an estimated total of expenses of the ESA by the end of 2002 at $4,940,901; this is short by $2,904 of the expenses budgeted for 2002 of $4,937,997. Estimated revenues short of estimated expenses (less principal payments on operating loans of $43,456), or estimated cash shortfall from operations, is $677,923. The outline had property tax revenue for 2002 from the three fire districts using rollback rates estimated at $2,628,657.
--Mills has net loan proceeds to be
taken in 2002 at $1,748,206. The total cash available (minus the cash shortfall
from operations) is listed as $1,070,283. The operating debt on
--As of August 31, 2002, loans to
be paid by property taxes and other revenue, including the lines of credit,
loans secured by two ambulances and loans for three fire trucks, total
$4,084,701. The lines of credit are the only loans that have to be paid by
--Included with the handout on the
numbers outlining the ESA operating debt projections, was a letter from Mills
to Earl Williams, Chairman of the ESA board. The letter said in Mill’s review
of the sales tax expenditures by the ESA, Mills found one noncompliance of
government auditing standards: the ESA used $42,500 of sales tax money for
salaries on
ESA APPOINTS INTERIM
CHIEFS
The members of the Emergency Services Agency board announced their appointments of interim Fire Chief and interim EMS Director this Wednesday morning, October 9. Serving as interim fire chief until a permanent appointment can be made was Ronald Roberts, one of the three Battalion Chiefs in charge of shifts on the fire service. Appointed as interim EMS Director until a permanent director is appointed was Derick Ogletree, one of the three shift supervisors currently at the EMS. The ESA board’s unanimous decision on the appointments came during a meeting Tuesday, October 8, where the members also discussed the appointment of an interim Executive Director for the agency.
--The ESA board voted to offer the jobs to “existing personnel at no increase in compensation.” The board decided on the two appointments during a closed session and offered the jobs later in the day. The board also voted to hire an interim Executive Director of the ESA as soon as possible and named ESA board members Bobby Brown and Ann McCrickard as a committee to bring a short list of names to the board for consideration. During the meeting Tuesday, the board briefly discussed what kind of permanent Director for the ESA was needed; a consensus was that with the fire service, EMS and 911 under the supervision of professionals, what was needed for the ESA Director was someone with the ability to run the ESA with “who is a financial person.”
--In discussions during the meeting, ESA board members said since they still faced the possibility of the ending of the ESA, it would be difficult to find someone to be an interim director. Board member Roy Campbell said, “It will be hard to hire an interim director when there is still talk about breaking up.” Campbell said by the end of the year he hoped that “the status of the ESA will be clearer and we can hire a permanent director, but we still need a interim director.” County Manager Mike Stephenson attended the meeting and said it would be difficult to build a budget for the ESA without an agreement on “new revenues.” City Manager Tom Barry at the meeting said the ESA needed to go ahead and plan for the continued delivery of services “until something different is decided.” Board member Elaine Mays, who is also a county commissioner, said the county “has to decide how much control they want of the ESA. If the county wants total control then there is no reason to have an ESA board. Let’s put it on the table and see what the county wants.” Mays said, “Roy and I don’t want to remain [on the board] if every decision we make will make someone aggravated on the county board.”
--Thomasville Police David Huckstep also attended the meeting and said he hoped the city and county supported the ESA and did not allow it to break up, “It’s an emergency situation and the city and county need to be meeting every day until a consensus is reached on the status of the Emergency Services Agency.”
--Also at the ESA board meeting Tuesday was Sheriff Carlton Powell and County Commissioner Moses Gross.
The Thomas County Board of Commissioners had a regular meeting Tuesday, October 8. There was no public discussion of the Emergency Services Agency controversy except when a citizen, Ted Green of Libby Lane, asked if his fire protection was going to change. During the time of the meeting where citizens could address the commission, Green told County Commission Chairman Josh Herring that he had heard “talk” that county volunteer firefighters would soon be providing fire protection to his residence. Green said he currently depended on career firefighters from Thomasville fire stations to respond to his place which is just outside the city limits; Green said he was concerned that response time for volunteers would be too long to any fire at his home. Herring told Green, “No one has decided on any change in fire protection for you. There has been no change in the status of the ESA.” Herring also told Green that “We’ll keep fire services for you the same as we have whether the ESA is disbanded or not.” Commissioner Bobby Brown, one of the two members of the county commission on the ESA board, told Green, “We had a meeting today [October 8] we’re not going to disband it.”
The Thomasville City Council met in a regular workshop Wednesday, October 9, and most of the discussion was on the Emergency Services Agency. The council decided to urge the ESA governing board to present a budget for 2003 to the city council and county commission for both bodies to vote on by mid-November. Mayor Rick Singletary said, “I’m uncomfortable where things are now. The City has responded to the issue and the county has not. I don’t feel like we can keep it hanging out there . . . We need to have the public realize there is an effort to keep the ESA together and if the city and county approve a budget, then they will get that.” The Mayor said, “The county had presented a written list of points to deal with the ESA issue and we have sent a written response. Except for rejecting the call for restructuring the ESA board to give control to the county, we have substantially met all the other demands. It’s time for the county to respond.”
--Council member and ESA board member Roy Campbell said the ESA was working with all its departments and would have it ready by October 17. A consensus on the council was to be able to vote on approval of the ESA budget by November 15 and there was hope that the county commission would do the same. Mayor Singletary said he was “really, really pleased” the ESA was going ahead with the budget process and present it to the county, “The county is going to have to come to the party and be part of the progress on this.” Council member Camille Payne said she trusted the ESA board to come up with a good budget, saying there should be “no problem with a budget, unless the county doesn’t adequately fund the budget.”
--Campbell reviewed the recent ESA meeting with the council where interim fire and EMS supervisors were appointed. He also reviewed the financial problems of the ESA with the council, saying the agency was “basically under-funded in revenue.” Campbell said with the current ESA budget of about $4.9 million, there would likely be a shortfall of about $609,000. Council member David Lewis said it looked like to him that the shortfall was a “structural deficit” and because it had accumulated over the two-and-a-half years of the ESA, “that’s where the accumulated debt of the agency came from.” Campbell said he and fellow ESA board member, and county commissioner, Elaine Mays had been working to provide day-to-day supervision of the ESA and had done what they could to “cut expenses here and there.” However, Campbell said a major part of the expenses was personnel costs and it had become clear that there were serious shortages in personnel, “especially in fire and EMS.”
--There was some discussion among council members of different ways to structure the operations of the ESA. Mayor Singletary said, “We need to brainstorm some management proposals.” One suggestion was to have the city manager oversee the operations of the fire service and the county manager oversee the operations of the EMS and 911; the suggestion was that operations could be supervised by someone familiar with government operations and the ESA director’s position could be reduced to a financial officer. Another suggestion was to have fire and EMS combined to operate under one chief and another chief for 911.
The Thomasville City Council came to a consensus during a workshop meeting Thursday, October 17, to negotiate with the Thomas County Board of Commissioners to end the Emergency Services Agency. Council members will send a letter to the county calling for those negotiations. During the meeting, the five members of the council, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, decided that the effort to have an agency run jointly by the city council and the Thomas County Board of Commissioners was not working. In the words of Mayor Rick Singletary, “The current status quo is just not going to work. We can do a better job of being responsible for what we take over.” Also attending the meeting was County Commissioner and ESA board member Elaine Mays.
--Most of the discussion at the workshop was on fire protection. Mayor Singletary said, “We need to operate this without stress, agony and pain. We should let the county operate th