Photo: Robin Kemp/The Clayton Crescent

Happy New Year, Clayton County! We’re eagerly awaiting the final figures on our annual NewsMatch fundraising drive and will announce those as soon as we get them. Meanwhile, we’re still hard at work for you on the upcoming Clayton County sheriff’s race, unsanitary conditions in a local apartment complex, and political machinations on the Board of Commissioners. Both Lovejoy City Hall and the Clayton County Board of Elections main office remains closed due to weather damage. Elections and Registration is conducting limited operations from 1285 Government Circle, Jonesboro. Please use mvp.sos.ga.gov to check your voter registration information.

Here’s what your elected officials are up to this week:

Monday 1/2

Government offices are closed in observance of the New Year’s holiday, which fell on a weekend.

Tuesday 1/3

Government offices reopen.

5:30 p.m.: The Clayton County Board of Commissioners holds its pre-agenda meeting to discuss a possible summer incentive program payment for four lifeguards. The regular meeting follows at 6:30 p.m. Consent agenda items, some of which may be voted on separately instead of all together, include:

  • Contract awards:
    • RFP 22-110: Annual contract for Clayton County Senior Services transportation services to MLB Transportation, Inc., dba Luvell Solutions of Conyers, GA. The money will come from Atlanta Regional Commission Grant and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
    • ITB 22-271: An $82,000 contract for a fence at the Flint River Community Center to Natural Enclosures Fence Company of McDonough. The money will come from the ATLARGE Cap Improvement Fund.
    • ITB 22-285: $620,662 in construction improvements for the Clayton County Police Department Sector 2 Precinct to Diversified Construction of Georgia, Inc. of Tucker.
    • SWC 22-329: $188,021.37 for NetApp storage expansion for the county Information Technology department. The county will use ARPA funds to buy the service through a statewide contract with ProSys Information Systems of Norcross.
  • Budget Amendment 2-22 would allow CCPD to use money earned from from RedSpeed Georgia LLC to buy $566,041 of additional radios and Untility Rocket boxes for county police vehicles.
  • Resolution 2023-1 would set where Clayton County’s public funds are deposited.
  • Resolution 2023-2 will authorize the chief financial officer to deposit funds into the Local Government Investment Pool and authorize the CFO and chair to “execute any document” to make that happen.
  • Resolution 2023-3 will designate which “officials and those individuals within the District Attorney’s Office” are allowed to sign checks on the Witness Transportation Arrangements account. Those include DA Tasha Mosley, Kimberly Arnzen, Monica Scott, and Brian Busch.
  • Resolution 2023-4 will designate who is allowed “to sign checks on the bank accounts of Clayton County,” specifically the Chairman or the Vice Chairman (“in the absence of the Chairman”) along with the CFO, on accounts the BOC controls.
  • Resolution 2023-6 authorizes the county to apply for a $15,000 grant from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for Neighborhood Watch programs.
  • Resolution 2023-7 authorizes the county to apply for recertification for Local Administrered Projects of the Georgia Department of Transportation through March 2026, which would “establish uniform practices for Federal aid funded transportation projects.”
  • Resolution 2023-8 is for an amended location agreement with Netflix, which will be shooting a film at Spivey Splash through January 31.
  • Resolution 2023-9 authorizes the county to enter into Articles of Agreement with Community Outreach in Action for $6,000 in food distribution.

Other items include Resolution 2023-5, which designates the BOC vice-chair, as well as two appointments held by District 4 Commissioner DeMonth Davis: a three-year term for Diane Givens’ seat on the Elections and Registration Board, and a three-year term for Charlton Bivins’ seat on the Parks and Recreation Board.

Public comment comes after the agenda items above and before any executive session. The board allots ten 2-minute slots. The meeting is not over if the board goes into executive session. Frequently, the board will vote on important legal matters after the executive session, which is when most citizens have left.

6 p.m.: Morrow DDA/URA quarterly meeting. One seat is vacant; Alaina Reaves’ term expires this month. New business includes board vacancy, the DDA / URA Finance Report by R.J. Shumate, an update on lease agreements, and property updates on the “Dark Space,” Strada, Reynolds Road, The District (where several businesses have set up shop in the strip mall and the banks of the creek have been clear-cut), Tea Room, Adamson Parkway, and Southlake Circle. Morrow’s minutes prior to August 9, 2022 have been removed from the redesigned website. We have access to them from another source and will crosspost them in our Docs page later this week so citizens can continue to refer to these important public records.

The Jonesboro Design Review Commission meets; no meeting time or location appear on the published agenda as of 10:37 p.m. Monday. On the agenda:

6 p.m: Forest Park City Council work session. New business includes:

  • introduction of the new Public Safety Director Anthony Gallman, whose plans include firehouse dropboxes for mothers who want to give up their babies
  • an administrative appeal for an Immunotek BioCenters plasma donation center at 833 Forest Parkway (the old Rite Aid building) that the council voted down at its October 3 meeting “due to the concern regarding the potential negative effects such centers might have on local neighborhoods”
  • choosing a mayor pro tempore for 2023
  • setting candidate qualifying fees for the Wards 3,4, and 5 council elections on November 7, 2023 at $432. The city would have to publish the announcement by February 1 and will set qualifying dates for interested candidates later.

7 p.m.: Forest Park City Council regular meeting: the council will vote on agenda items during this meeting. An executive session also could be called. The meeting is not over when the council goes into executive session, but ends after the council returns from executive session and, if necessary, takes a public vote on whatever was discussed before adjourning the public meeting.

Send additions and corrections to editor@claytoncresent.org.

Robin Kemp is executive editor and CEO of The Clayton Crescent, which she founded in 2020. She has worked for Gambit, CNN, The Weather Channel, Clayton News, Henry Herald, and numerous freelance outlets....

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