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Commissioners add personnel to building inspections department
By Lynn Hotaling
County leaders last week (Oct. 19) added three positions to local inspections departments, a move that appears likely to pave the way for a satellite inspections office in Cashiers.
During discussion of the three new positions at county commissioners' Oct. 12 meeting, consensus was that with an additional inspector in both the building inspections and environmental health departments, as well as a shared administrator, a second office would be possible.
Much of the county's building activity is occurring in the southern end, and it would be more convenient for contractors if an inspections office was located in Cashiers, Commissioners' Chairman Stacy Buchanan said.
"We need to provide services to that end of the county," Buchanan said.
Both new inspectors, when hired, will have to spend several months in training, which would mean a second office would not be possible before spring, Buchanan said.
The three new positions will cost a total of $71,211, said county Manager Ken Westmoreland, and are expected to be funded through fees generated by increased building activity in the county.
Continuing to focus on Cashiers, commissioners approved a site development plan that will allow construction and demolition materials to be accepted at the staffed recycling center south of Cashiers.
Engineer Victor Lofquist briefed commissioners on the plan, which would add a C&D transfer station to save small jobbers the 60-mile round trip to the county's Mineral Springs Drive location.
Estimated cost of the project is about $150,000, and only $40,000 was budgeted, Westmoreland said. The county manager proposed taking the rest of the money from a line item earmarked for the landfill gas project with the understanding that those funds would be replaced next year.
The planned changes at the SRC do not include modifying the site to accept brush or stumps, Lofquist said.
Commissioner Brian McMahan said he thinks officials should continue to search for a location in the Cashiers area where stumps and brush could be accepted.
In other solid waste matters, commissioners approved changes in contracts with haulers and the landfill that accepts Jackson County's trash.
Waste Management of Georgia has lowered the disposal fee at the Rabun County landfill from $18.50 per ton to $18.
Kinsland Trucking's contract to haul local trash did not include a fuel adjustment clause; they requested one be added.
Commissioners' action approved a $25 per trip fuel adjustment if fuel costs are between $1.50 and $2.
The change to the scrap tire recycling contract with U.S. Tire was to remove an adjustment tied to the consumer price index and keep only the fuel adjustment clause.
Turning their attention to the historic Jackson County courthouse, commissioners approved a plan to restore the dome using a three-layer membrane system. Officials also approved a shade of green as the color the dome will be painted, with gold inlay on Lady Justice.
By consensus commissioners agreed that the courthouse itself would be painted in shades of white. The actual colors will be determined after the contractor paints samples on the back of the building for county leaders to evaluate, said Commissioner Roberta Crawford, chairman of the committee overseeing courthouse renovations.
In light of numerous requests to use space in the old courthouse, commissioners approved Crawford's recommendation that a safety inspection be performed before further requests are approved.
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