Jail HVAC work divides Dougherty County Commission

ALBANY – The discussion of a contract for a consultant on a Dougherty County Jail project turned into a debate of conflicting opinions on whether to replace aging air conditioning equipment with new units or to rebuild the existing chillers at the facility.

The question on the Monday Dougherty County Commission agenda was an amendment to the contract of Macon-based Andrew, Hammock & Powell in the amount of $43,050.

Commissioners had earlier approved a contract in 2024 not to exceed $500,000, of which the firm has spent $250,000. 

The additional fees sought are related to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) as well as plumbing equipment in the main mechanical room at the jail facility.

Using the plans provided by Andrew, Hammock & Powell, the county can order equipment and perform the work itself,  Commissioner Clinton Johnson said. 

The $4.27 million HVAC and boiler project was recommended in July by the commission’s Public Works Committee. That came after there was no appetite among the full commission to tackle an estimated $41 million project for a full renovation at the facility. 

The two large chillers that provide cooling date back to the opening of the facility 34 years ago. The system has been rebuilt once during that time.

Commissioner Victor Edwards, who joined Johnson and Commission Chairman Lorenzo Heard in a vote to reject the $43,050 request, said that rebuilding the current system would save approximately $2 million and bring the project within months instead of the 2028 time frame for the plan that would replace the original chillers.

“The wise thing to do in this type of situation is to push the one that gets it across the finish line and does it faster,” Johnson said.

The county does not have the personnel capable of some of the mechanical work involved in the project, Commissioner Ed Newsome said.

“We don’t have a mechanical engineer on staff,” he said. “This is for mechanical engineering, specs and everything.”

Separate motions to accept the proposal and to reject it both failed in a 3-3 tie, with Commissioner Gloria Gaines abstaining on each of the motions. She asked to table the issue so that she could learn more, a motion that also was rejected.

“I am not clear in my mind yet in the difference between the scope and what kind of warranties we have between the two options,” she said.

In a separate agenda item, the commission voted unanimously to impose a six-month moratorium on large-scale data center projects. 

The commission had earlier this year imposed a brief “pause” and extended it to allow for time to draft regulations for data center facilities in the event a developer proposes locating one in the county.

Commissioners also heard from one resident who had questions about the tax valuation notices that hit mailboxes last week. 

The notices are not a tax bill, and residents’ final bills will depend on the millage rate set by commissioners. The revaluation of all properties in the county, the first performed in more than a decade, caused concern because some property values were more than double the amount from the previous year.

Commissioners will set the millage rate after all appeals are heard on the new property values, a process that could take a while as the number of appeals is expected to be large.