Oglethorpe County deputy Jason Metoyer asks Brad Johns to cede the floor during the public comment portion of the Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday. Johns surpassed his allotted three minutes by several minutes. (Photo/Andy Johnston)
Rezone requests were absent from the Board of Commissioners meeting agenda on Monday night as the moratorium on rezone requests remains in effect through Sept. 8.
The zoning board canceled its July meeting, but plans to meet this month and present the ordinance changes to the BOC at its September meeting. The moratorium was put in place at the June BOC meeting in order to review the county’s ordinances.
“I guess what triggered this was a lot of parcels being split and then split again a year later, and trying to slow that down,” said Jeff Sharp, the county’s director of planning, zoning and compliance. “In our ordinance, there’s a minor subdivision, which is basically three lots or less, or a large lot split, but we never had in our ordinance, what triggered it from a minor subdivision to a major subdivision.”
About 25 people attended the meeting, which also included a report from Steve Ledford, the treasurer for the Madison Oglethorpe Animal Shelter. He said MOAS decreased its deficit for the 2024-25 fiscal year to $4,984, a reduction of 95%.
“I would like to say we were able to do better than we had promised,” Ledford said. “We changed a lot of things, we had to do a lot of soul searching, but we implemented some things that allowed us to save a good bit of money.”
The shelter cut supply and payroll expenses while seeing a $16,806 increase in donations. Adoption rates are still down locally and statewide, so Ledford sees this as an area of improvement for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
MOAS also will expand its advertising and outreach, lower adoption fees and start programs funded by donors to spay and neuter cat colonies.
Claudia Reit, who lives in Stephens, was selected for the vacant Board of Assessors seat, filling the seat left by longtime BOA member Larry Nackerud, who ended his 24-year tenure in June. Reit has experience in the building and real estate industries and wants to focus on the tax assessment appeals process while on the board.
Reit also recently became secretary of the Oglethorpe County Chamber of Commerce.
The BOC approved a referendum for this year’s general election that will allow voters to vote for a 1% Floating Local Option Sales Tax, making up for revenue lost from HB 581. The BOC also approved an Intergovernmental Agreement with the cities of Lexington, Arnoldsville and Crawford to share the estimated $8 million in FLOST revenue between the cities and county.
The tax, if approved by voters, will go into effect on Jan. 1 and run through Dec. 31, 2030.
During public comment, Crawford’s Scott Pettis again urged the BOC to file a federal lawsuit against the board of education, and promised to continue coming to BOC meetings.
Brad Johns showed photos of Almond Drive and its intersection with Watson Mill Road, which he again requested that the county repair due to runoff damage.
Johns also demanded more information about the county’s new drone program and didn’t yield the floor until Oglethorpe County deputy Jason Metoyer stepped in, forcing Johns to finish.