Commissioners discuss road maintenance
Lower homeowners insurance possible for some county residents
There were a number of fairly routine matters on the agenda at the Feb. 7 Catoosa County Commission meeting, but the big topic of the night was road maintenance.
Residents turned out to express concern about Charles Lane, a private road that, according to one man who lives on it, is in such bad condition that the fire department won’t risk sending a truck down it.
According to the resident, all the people who live on the road are handicapped, and when an ambulance had to be called to assist one of them, the fire department had to catch a ride with it. The gentleman stated further that the county had maintained the road at one time and even put up a green road sign indicating ownership; but, he said, the sign was replaced within a few days with a blue one, indicating that the road was private. Commissioners agreed to look into the matter.
Another issue involved Taylors Ridge Road. A proposal was introduced to “abandon” part of the road.
County attorney Chad Young explained to the commission that the last hundred feet of the road in question was not paved and had never been maintained by the county. He said it is owned by one family and is not the county’s responsibility.
But residents who live at the end of the road said at the meeting that maps show that the road does belong to the county and they would like the county to assume responsibility for maintaining the full road, including the unpaved segment.
Commissioners passed the proposal after Young explained that the process of actually abandoning the road segment
The cost of your homeowner’s insurance is influenced by how good the fire protection is in your community.
Some Catoosa County residents now have better protection, thanks to an arrangement among the Catoosa County, Walker County and Tri-Community fire departments, which could make it possible for them to get lower insurance rates.
“The agreement,” said new Catoosa County Fire Chief Randy Camp, “drops boundaries and allows the department closest to the fire to respond.”
Camp appeared at the Feb. 7 Catoosa County Board of Commissioners meeting and told commissioners and the public that the agreement among the departments was instituted in 2015 under his predecessor, Chuck Nichols, but that he wanted to remind citizens of affected areas that they might want to contact their insurance companies to see if they can save some money.
Communities are rated on their quality of fire protection by a company called Insurance Services Offices Mitigation – or ISO. ISO provides its assessments to insurance companies, which use them to set the premiums they charge their customers.
“The ISO rating for a residence is determined partly by how close you live to a fire department that can respond to a
consisted of three steps, and commissioners and residents would both have further opportunity to address the issue.
Young said the first step toward abandonment was to pass the Certification Resolution to Consider Abandonment – the step taken at the Feb. 7 commission meeting. The second step will be to send certified letters notifying all property owners on the affected stretch of road of the action taken. The third step will be a public hearing at which residents can further share their wishes before commissioners vote on the issue.
The commission also
passed Certification Resolutions to Consider Abandonment of parts of Misty Meadows Lane and Frontage Road.
In other business, Catoosa County Chief Financial Officer Carl Henson reported that LOST and SPLOST tax revenues for the month of December 2016 were up by $8,000 over the previous December. He noted that tax revenues had been down for most of 2016.
County Manager Jim Walker introduced new Catoosa County Parks and Recreation Director Travis Barbee, who has held similar positions in North Carolina, Virginia and Bartow County. Walker said that Barbee and his wife, Amanda, said they hope to make Catoosa County their “forever home.”
Catoosa County
Staff Accountant Rachel Clark presented commissioners with a proposed contract with Point & Pay LLC, a credit card processing company that will manage credit card and debit card payments made by citizens to various county
departments. Clark said there will be a small convenience fee, paid by card users, added to the transactions. She told commissioners that the county attorney had reviewed and approved the contract. The proposal passed unanimously.