Dougherty County commissioners discuss tennis complex

ALBANY — Some Albany city commissioners’ concern that their counterparts with the Dougherty County Commission would not be willing to chip in the county’s fair share on common areas at a planned sports complex if the city approved funding for Phase I of the complex were apparently unfounded.

County leaders offered a consensus vote at their meeting Monday to continue discussing a planned tennis center that would be part of the complex with engineers and offered no objection to County Administrator Richard Crowdis’ recommendation that the county include $20,450 as its share of the common areas (bathrooms, parking, sidewalks, concession areas) at the planned complex.

Engineer Robert Ramsey with Albany-based Goodwyn Mills Cawood Engineering told county commissioners the projected cost, based on similar design plans, would run around $1.05 million for the eight-court tennis center with a pavilion area “similar to Darton College’s.” Ramsey said the county’s portion of engineering fees is projected to be $75,600, based on the cost of the tennis center, and $20,450 for work on the common areas.

“That cost seems reasonable,” Crowdis said of the shared costs before he recommended the board approve funding for those costs.

Ward V City Commissioner Bob Langstaff had encouraged the City Commission to table a vote on funding for the complex at its Sept. 27 meeting until city officials had discussed the shared costs with the county.

“I guarantee you, if we vote tonight to go ahead with the (Phase I) funding without discussing shared costs with the county, they’re not going to pay their share,” Langstaff said at the City Commission meeting. However, at the urging of City Manager Sharon Subadan, who assured city leaders that the county would “hold up their end of the bargain,” the City Commission voted 5-2 to approve the Phase I funding.

When District 3 Commissioner Clinton Johnson asked Ramsey, “On a scale of 1-10 what are we getting?” with the planned tennis center and pavilion, the engineer said, “It would be on the lower end, nice but not over the top.”

Commissioners Anthony Jones, Ewell Lyle and Harry James expressed interest in expanding the pavilion area to include a concessions area.

“The idea is to have teams come here (for tournaments), but we want them to return,” Jones said. “I’d hate for folks not to return because we cut corners (with the complex).”

Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas recommended that the county’s Recreation Committee do a “walk-through” at the planned site of the complex and at the Darton facility and report to the commission at its meeting next week.

“I don’t know if y’all are like me, but I’m a visual person; it helps me to see what I’m asked to consider,” Cohilas said.

Also at Monday’s work meeting, the County Commission discussed funding a telemetry monitoring system for the five storm drainage pump stations located in the county. Cost for the monitors, which would come from SPLOST VI, is $56,130 from Digital Contracting Solutions of Sylvester.

“There is currently no monitoring of these standalone stations except when we go there,” County Public Works Director Larry Cook told the board. “This system would give us quicker alerts and allow us to respond to the sites in a more timely manner.”

Following the work meeting, the county board held a special called business meeting to vote on extending current service delivery agreements with the city of Albany through Feb. 28 of next year.

“We had to have a service delivery strategy approved by July 1 or incur sanctions,” County Attorney Spencer Lee told the board. “We’ve agreed on all of these service agreements except facilities management, and we gained an extension through Nov. 1. City and county staffs have been meeting, but they haven’t finalized an agreement. They want to continue their discussions, though.

“We have been granted another extension (through Feb. 28), but we have to approve a joint resolution and send it to DCA (the state Department of Community Affairs). The same resolution will be before the City Commission tomorrow.”

Also at Monday’s meeting, County Extension Coordinator James Morgan gave a quarterly report on extension programs. Morgan noted that 23 schools in Dougherty County are involved in the county’s 4-H program, a total of 1,700 students.

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