Bulloch County Commissioners met on Tuesday, June 25, 2024 for a special meeting to vote on the approval of memorandum of understandings (MOU) with Bryan County on two issues related to wells being drilled in Bulloch County to provide water to the Hyundai Metaplant America in Bryan County.
One of the MOU's is related to providing water and sewer services to each other according to negotiated terms and conditions. The second creates a Well Mitigation Program between Bulloch County and Bryan County. This is a fund that the two counties will establish to provide funding to any citizens whose wells are impacted by the new wells in Bulloch County.
As the meeting began, Tom Couch, Bulloch County Manager, requested that public comments be moved to the top of the agenda which allows citizens to speak before the Commissioners take action on items on their agenda. In the prior meetings, public comments have only been allowed after all votes were cast on agenda item. The commissioners agreed and public comments were open.
Eight citizens signed up to speak in the public comments section. They consensus of the first two speakers were a concern that there was not ample time given to review the MOU's and respond appropriately to any concerns they may with the documents.
Venus Mincey White, Clerk of Bulloch County, shared with Chairman Roy Thompson that they had given proper notice as required by law to the legal organ, media and to citizens. She said the law requires 24 hour notice prior to a Commission meeting. She confirmed that they had done that.
After polling the audience and seeing a large number of hands go up when Chairman Thompson asked citizens if they felt there was not proper notice given for this meeting or ample time to review the information.
He then called for a vote from the Commissioners to determine whether to continue with the meeting or postpone the meeting. When the vote was called, three commissioners voted to continue and three voted to delay. Chaiman Thompson cast the tie breaking vote to postpone the meeting.
They have rescheduled the meeting for Thursday, June 27, 2024 at 5:30 pm. to move forward with a vote on these two items.
Editors Note:
Even though Grice Connect is not the legal organ, Mrs. White routinely places the meetings on Grice Connect's events calendar. She did this as well for this meeting. The Grice Connect events calendar also displays key community events in the morning email, which included notice of tonight's meeting. The Bulloch Daily has over 30,000 subscribers. As evidenced in the meeting tonight, many citizens are still not aware of this free service to the community.
All content and access to Grice Connect is free, so citizens are not required to pay to view content. There is no password needed to view content on Grice Connect. Citizens can access the events calendar by visiting the Grice Connect website or by subscribing to the Bulloch Daily email.
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Before them meeting ended, two of the eight citizens who signed up to speak were allowed to speak. Below is an overview of the meeting as it occurred.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Bruce Simons: He is not convinced that water will be there for our grandchildren. The future is in your hands. The Well Mitigation MOU currently covers a 5 mile radius off of an arbitrary point on I-16. He feels that radius should be adjusted to 5 miles from the center point of the actual well. He also recommended increasing the radius to at least a 10 mile radius from each well. If land owners are affected, they also may need legal representation and would like the Well Mitigation Fund to include legal representation for the affected parties if needed. It should not be up to some arbitrary group to approve the funds. One of the MOU's has language that says future domestic wells should be limited. How can you limit wells? At least grandfather in existing land owners to be able to drill wells, especially farmers. The main thing he is concerned about is pulling water out for 25 years at this level. They have that long to pull before they have surface water to replace the wells.
Ben Kirsch, Legal Director of the Ogeechee Riverkeeper: Mr. Kirsch addressed concern about why the special meeting was brought up on such short notice. He and others only had 24 hour notice of the meeting. He believes there is a trend in the commission not listening to the public when it comes to this project. He didn't see that the meeting was published in the legal organ, on the County Facebook page or receive an email. He has spent all day reviewing the documents and has not completed properly reviewing them. Citizens simply need more time to review the MOU's for something this important. Kirsch had three specific requests:
- He wants to see some impacted community members on the advisory council, from Bulloch and Bryan County to make sure there is something done in favor of the people impacted in regard to the water and sewer agreement.
- He wants something done with the PFAS chemical (found in non-stick cookware, stain-resistant carpets, cosmetics, and firefighting foams, and has been linked to several health issues), and doesn't want any more of it in the Ogeechee River. Even with an alternate water source like groundwater, there will still be 3.5 million gallons pumped out daily from Bryan County.
- Even with an alternative source of water, there is still going to be at least 3.5 million gallons per day pulled out by Bryan County for 25 years. This does not make sense for long term water supply.
COMMISSION AND STAFF COMMENTS
Chairman Roy Thompson then asked Kirsch and the crowd at the meeting if they had see the notice on the Bulloch County Commissioners website. Some said they had seen it on Facebook, some said they didn't have access to computers, some said they didn't get an email, and some weren't notified until after 4 pm, 25 hours before the meeting started.
He then asked to see a show of hands from the crowd to see if they wanted to continue the meeting or if they wanted to reschedule for another date. Following this, he asked the commissioners to take a vote, which ended three to three, and Chairman Thompson broke the tie and decided to reschedule the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
These were the items on the agenda that Commissioners postponed voting on.
1. Motion to Approve a Memorandum of Understanding for a Well Mitigation Program between Bulloch County and Bryan County
This MOU enables Bulloch and Bryan County to establish a well mitigation program to establish a framework and a plan that meets the requirements of the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. No Amendment is requested at this time. Outside funding will be budgeted when the framework and plan is in place.
2. Motion to Approve an Intergovernmental Agreement between Bulloch County and Bryan County to Provide Water and Sewer Services
This IGA enables Bulloch and Bryan County to provide water and sewer services to each other according to negotiated terms and conditions. No Amendment is requested at this time. Outside funding will be budgeted when the framework and plan are in place.
