Lee Commission begins year with new chairman
Lee board adopts service delivery strategy, makes several board appointments
Gypsy Crow
By Gypsy Crow
LEESBURG — Former Probate Judge John Wheaton served his first meeting as a Lee County commissioner on Tuesday, and Commissioner Billy Mathis was chosen by the board as its chairman. Commissioner Bill Williams was chosen as vice chairman at the meeting..
Officials from Leesburg and Lee County came together to adopt a 2019 service delivery strategy. The city of Smithville will vote on adopting the agreement at a later meeting. This year marked the first time since the service delivery strategy was adopted in the 1990s that changes were made.
The service delivery strategy is an agreement between Lee County, Leesburg and Smithville to protect citizens from paying twice for the same services, such as jail usage and 911 services. Lee County officials proposed certain changes and amendments that were ill-met by Leesburg and Smithville officials. But after multiple meetings and discussions, a final agreement was made that satisfied all parties.
Mathis’s first order of business as chairman included appointments to standing committees. Williams and Mathis were appointed to the Budget and Finance Committee with Williams as chairman. Commissioners Luke Singletary and Wheaton were appointed to the Personnel Committee with Singletary as chairman, and Commissioners Rick Muggridge and Mathis were appointed to the Road Committee with Muggridge as chairman.
Lee Fire Chief David Forrester was voted in by the commission as director of the Lee County Emergency Management Agency.
Other appointments included:
— Winston Oxford to the Joint Development Authority of Baker, Dougherty, Lee and Terrell Counties;
— Christopher Prokesh to the Lee County Housing Authority Board;
— Clay Griffith, Chris Guarnieri and Jason Sheffield to the Lee County Planning Commission.
The commission approved the destruction of documents in government offices that surpassed the retention schedule set by Georgia Archives and adopted by the commission. The board also approved the adoption of a memorandum of understanding for the Lee County hospital.
Plans to renovate the Palmyra Fire Station were altered. The board chose to cancel the agreement the county had with a company that was supposed to open bids for the project, but after a year of no results, the board chose to continue the project in the way they have always completed projects.
Commission offices will be closed on Jan. 21 in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be held on Jan. 22 at 6 p.m.
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