VIENNA- The Dooly County Commissioners met for their regularly scheduled first Thursday meeting on Thursday, February 2.

The commissioners started out discussing the 2015 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) multi-purpose project. Bids for the roadwork portion of the project were taken before Christmas and the original bid from Reeves Construction was $576,142, which exceeded the county’s budget of $488,000. The price with Reeves Construction has since been negotiated down to $482,607.70 and it was recommended that the county proceed with the project. The commissioners discussed the options and they determined that they would make the final decision on the project at another meeting in the near future. They wanted to review all of the costs of the project to make the best decision for Dooly County.

Next, Judge Willis

addressed the commissioners about the appointment of a new senior judge. After the discussion, the commissioners approved the appointment of local Judge Lonnie Anderson to the position of senior judge.

The Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) was the subsequent item on the agenda. The current SPLOST in Dooly County is due for expiration on December 31 of this year, so the next SPLOST will be voted on May 22, 2018. The commissioners reviewed expected revenue and projects of the cities along with the entire county in an attempt to determine how to distribute the funds. They decided to use the same formula as last time, where the county received 75% of the funds, and the cities divided up the remaining 25% based on 2010 population numbers. The particular allocation of the funds was to be finalized by February 9.

The final item on the agenda was the decision on purchasing three new motor graders for the Public Works Department. Currently, the Public Works Department has three motor graders nearing the end of their lease. The commissioners reviewed options presented by representatives from Yancey Brothers and John Deere in an attempt to determine which motor graders to purchase. After a lengthy discussion, it was determined that the John Deere equipment was more affordable, and the money that was saved on the equipment could be allocated to a different county project in the near future.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Commissioners will be Thursday, February 15 at 9 a.m., at the Dooly County Commissioners’ Office located at 113 N. 3rd St. Vienna, Ga.