Dougherty coroner asks to become salaried employee

ALBANY — Dougherty County commissioners were asked Monday to consider an ordinance that would allow the county’s coroner to decide whether he wants to be paid on a per-call basis, as is currently the case, or become a salaried employee.

Dougherty Coroner Michael Fowler had approached the commission last year about the salary issue, asking that the board consider making him a salaried employee. In making the request, Fowler said becoming a county employee would provide insurance that he currently does not have.

He asked the board Monday to set an annual salary of $65,000 rather than the $175 per call he’s currently paid.

“We looked at the calls Mr. Fowler has made as coroner over the past four years, and his average annual salary has been around $55,000, based on a rate of $175 per call,” County Administrator Richard Crowdis said. “Under the proposed legislation, he would be required to respond to a minimum of 75 percent of all (death) calls in the county, and he would be responsible for managing the county morgue, which is one of the projects on our SPLOST VII list.”

Crowdis said 52 of the state’s 159 counties have approved, through the General Assembly’s Local Legislation process, ordinances that allow coroners to become county employees.

“If this board approves this request next week, it would have to first be approved by our local delegation — which is a formality — and then approved by the General Assembly,” Crowdis said. “At this stage of the legislative session, time does become a factor.”

County Attorney Spencer Lee said he’d spoken with the local delegation’s senior member, Gerald Greene, R-Cuthbert, who assured him that passage of the ordinance next week would allow time for the Legislature to act on the measure.

The board also got an overview of disaster recovery efforts by representatives of both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration.

FEMA Intergovernmental Affairs officer James Woodard said one of the biggest misconceptions that the agency’s representatives are dealing with is the assumption that FEMA would return their residences to pre-storm conditions.

“Our goal is to get people into permanent housing,” Woodard said. “But FEMA is not a fix-all that will make your storm-damaged property whole again. What we look for in a FEMA-verified loss is to provide a home that’s safe, sanitary and functional.”

County Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas said he’d encountered the same kind of misconception while visiting storm victims.

“I have not and will not promise anybody that FEMA funding will make them whole again,” Cohilas said. “That’s not what FEMA does. But what we will do is put victims in contact with the nonprofit volunteer groups that are providing help.

“To a certain degree, this (recovery effort) is a game, and you have to know how to play the game. You have to know the right people to call, the right contacts to make.”

Woodard responded, “You say it’s a game. I say it’s a process.”

SBA Public Affairs Specialist Karen Knapik said that agency serves as a bridge between what services insurance companies provide and what FEMA can do.

“We’re the rebuilding partner,” Knapik said. “Our (loan) rates right now are the lowest they’ve ever been. The rates range from 1.5 percent at the lowest to 3 percent at the highest.”

The commission also got an “unmodified clean opinion” from auditor Mauldin and Jenkins, whose representative, Meredith Lipson, praised the county for its bookkeeping acumen and its efforts to keep budgets in line.

“Expenditures came in under budget in every department,” Lipson said. “That’s amazing, and it shows that management kept a close eye on all spending.”

Lipson said that at the end of FY 2016, the county had $20 million in assets and around $4.5 million in liabilities, leaving a fund balance of around $15.5 million.

The board also head a proposal to purchase six mobile camera systems for new police vehicles and a proposed revised mutual aid agreement with Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany.

City Commissioner Jon Howard brought representatives of several groups that have been actively involved in storm recovery efforts — including Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful Director Judy Bowles, Leesburg City Council member Judy Powell, YMCA officials Dan Gillan and Tami Parsley, Albany Lions Club President Connie Houseman and Lions District Gov. Willie Cooper — for a presentation before the County Commission.

Cooper said the Lions Club had earmarked $50,000 in aid and delivered some 9,000 sanitary kits to the region.

“I came today to tell you that we’re here with you to provide long-term help,” he said.