Dougherty Commission agrees to buy former golf course for trail head

ALBANY — The Dougherty County Commission approved six action items at its regular meeting Monday morning, spending just under an hour zipping through a light agenda.

The Board approved a resolution providing for the acceptance and execution of a real estate sales agreement by the county administrator authorizing the purchase of 10.698 acres of property from Ealum Estates Inc. in the amount of $150,000. State Rep. Darrel Ealum, R-Albany, formerly operated a golf course on the property.

This property will be used as the Radium Springs Trail head and is funded in SPLOST VI – Greenspace Acquisition. The trail will run along the Flint River all the way to Sasser.

The commission approved a request from residents of Fairview Avenue to rename it to Fairfield Road, its original name. Residents had complained about difficulty receiving items bought online because some shippers systems don’t recognize Fairfield Avenue.

The board also approved a initial payment of $116,225 from the Special Services District Fund to Tetra Tech for developing the county’s long-term recovery plan. In addition, the commission announced it would conduct a public hearing at 6 p.m. Dec. 12 in Room 100 pf the Government Center to provide input and receive information in regard to the county’s Long Term Storm Recovery Program.

The commissioners also approved a budget amendment to the general fund — M&O, reducing the fund balance and expenditures by $318,725. That reduces the overall budget from $49,451,946 to $44,133,221 and the general fund balance from $6,518,270 to $6,199,545.

The commission OK’d the acceptance of the proposal for HVAC controllers for the Dougherty County Jail from the most responsive vendor, Southland Controls of Sylvester, for an estimated expenditure of $211,209.34. Funding is budgeted in SPLOST VI.

The Board then went into executive session for personnel matters.