The first Monday of the year is always a big one for the county commission. Commissioners name the new slate of county officers (which is often the same officers from the previous year with the exception of the chair and vice chair), approve the budget, make board appointments, and approve the standard contracts that need approving for the new year.
At Monday morning’s regular meeting, the commission named Johnny Wayne Jowers as chairman, Oscar Paulk as vice-chairman, Tracie Vickers as county clerk, deputy clerks Abby Paulk and Princess Zachary, Tony Rowell as county attorney, Hurst & Hurst as county auditors, Wendell Troupe as road superintendent, and Buddy Jordan as assistant road superintendent. “I certainly want to thank Chairman Kitchens for the wonderful job he did this last year. The last several months, our county has been very unfortunate. We had a bad storm come through and with it left the county devastated. Mr. Kitchens isn’t one to toot his own horn so I’m going to toot it for him. He’s done a wonderful job. He does a lot behind the scenes that you never know is happening. He’s very effective and I thank him for that,” said Jowers as he took the gavel for 2025.
The commission also approved the 2025 budget. The county runs on a calendar year budget not a fiscal year budget; as such, the budget gets approved in the first meeting of January instead of on July 1 of each year. The county had several meetings regarding the budget and had it ready to approve on Monday. The general fund comes in at $22,291,000. The combined special revenue fund is $26,302,800. The budget was approved unanimously.
Several board appointments expire on December 31 as well. Commissioners have to make appointments to those boards at the first meeting of the year. Here are the board appointments for those that expired on December 31, 2024:
- Board of Elections District 2: Alec Waldron
- Board of Elections District 4: Matthew McCullough
- Board of Elections District 5: Bobby Tanner Jr.
- Economic Development Authority: Jimmy Kitchens
- Southern Regional Commission: Johnny Wayne Jowers
- Hospital Authority District 2: Ashley Gillis, Scott Miller, and Ronald Grantham
- Hospital Authority District 4: Russ Story, Willie Marshall, and Naomi Williams
- Hospital Authority At-Large District: Tom Smith, Chris Tuten, and Lee Taylor
- Board of Health: Johnny Wayne Jowers
- Farmers Market: Ted O’Steen and Ashley Smith
- Recreation Board: Eric Merritt
- Okefenokee Blueway Committee: Tony Rowell and Ted O’Steen
Commissioners also approved the following items of business:
- Waycross Judicial Circuit Public Defender’s 2025 Indigent Services Agreement for $257,060.15
- Contract for improvements to Matt’s Way — $168,785.11 from East Coast Asphalt
- Signs and striping on various county roads — $307,768.10 from Peak Paving (nearly 50 miles total, county applied for an Off Safety Action grant from the DOT)
- Contracts to Charles Jones (doing business as Alapaha Animal Control) for animal control services for $40,000 and $139,444 to Alapaha Animal Control for operating the animal shelter (split between city and county based on number of animals brought into shelter; last year, the county’s portion was $71,883.36)
- Alcohol license for Solar Food on Highway 221 North
- Engineering contract for 2026 LMIG improvements to Circle K Road and Ranch Road for $29,447
- County maintained road list – 585.9 miles of dirt roads and 432.55 miles of paved roads, and
- Change order for Maplewood Road and Creekside Drive project in the amount of $21,632.50.
The commission also conducted the first readings of two rezoning requests – one for Rajwant Kaurt at 37 Old Pearson Highway from Agriculture to Commercial in order to put a laundromat on the property and the other from Ydarius Baker for 1.96 acres at 1656 Old Columbus Road (a Willacoochee address but in the Bridgetown community) from Agriculture to Residential Mixed. Baker would like to put more than one mobile home per acre on the property.
The Planning Commission and staff agree with Kaurt’s request. However, the Planning Commission did not approve Baker’s request but county staff are in agreement with the request due to its isolated location. More than one home per acre is permitted if certain water system requirements are met.
The county will hold the second readings, public hearings, and vote on the rezoning requests at the February meeting.