The Bulloch County commissioners approved a contract Tuesday, Dec. 3, for Assistant County Manager Cindy Steinmann to step into the role of interim county manager, since longtime County Manager Tom Couch’s resignation formally took effect Friday.

Commissioners’ 5-0 vote on the contract occurred far into a regular, public meeting that began at 5:30 p.m. and lasted nearly four hours. Hearings and action on 10 zoning requests, plus the discussion and deferral to Dec. 17 of a proposed set of amendments to housing subdivision regulations took up most of the session.

But later “new business” votes included approval of Steinmann’s contract, a resolution for a six-year SPLOST renewal referendum and a notice ending the county’s five-year fire protection agreement with the city of Statesboro when it expires June 30.

That notice is meant to trigger negotiations that will fall to Steinmann to coordinate on the county government’s behalf toward a new fire service agreement, Bulloch County Fire Chief Ben Tapley said in remarks to the commissioners.

Couch served in the appointed county manager role for 20 years through several previous, mostly gradual changes in the elected leadership. But the 2024 elections, especially the Republican primary, brought upheaval.

With a new Board of Commissioners chair and one district commissioner-elect who defeated incumbents set to take office at the beginning of 2025 and another already seated, Couch handed in his resignation in mid-October, timing it to take effect Nov. 29. He is now starting his new job as an assistant county manager for York County, South Carolina.

In late October when Couch’s resignation became public, the commissioners were already talking to Steinmann about the interim appointment, and she acknowledged that she was considering it.

“I don’t have any intent of taking the role permanently,” Steinmann told the Statesboro Herald then. “So, my intent is to keep the ship afloat until such time as the commissioners have recruited and hired a replacement county manager. … I’ll be a resource for commissioners and happy to assist in any recruitment.”

Approached after Tuesday evening’s contract vote, she said that still sums up her intentions.

Steinmann has been a Bulloch County staff member for 10 years and assistant county manager for 3½ years.

The “interim county manager employment agreement” that County Attorney Jeff Akins presented to the commissioners referred to Steinmann by name and as “Manager.” One of the preamble clauses began, “Whereas, Manager has agreed to accept employment as the Interim Bulloch County Manager. …”

Salary & terms

Under the approved agreement, the county will pay Steinmann the equivalent of $175,000 per year, or $6,730.77 each two-week pay period. She explicitly is not eligible for overtime pay. Her reimbursements for travel, lodging, meals and cell phone expenses will be the same as for all county employees, the agreement states.

Under its terms, when a new permanent county manager is successfully recruited, Steinmann “shall resume duties” as assistant county manager “at a salary equal to the amount previously earned in that role.” That would also be the case if she were to resign as the manager or be terminated from the position by the county without cause.

If the commissioners were to terminate the agreement without cause before hiring a permanent manager and not retain Steinmann as assistant county manager, she would be entitled to three months severance pay at the manager’s salary, under the terms of the contract.

Steinmann joined the county staff as a management analyst in December 2014, then was promoted to special projects manager in 2018 and to assistant county manager in the spring of 2021.

A native of Dublin, Georgia, she came to Statesboro as a university student and became a “Double Eagle,” receiving both her Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration from Georgia Southern.

Before being hired by the county, she worked four years for Statesboro’s city government, where her final job was development project manager.

Couch, with 35 years experience with city and county governments, including 20 in the Bulloch County manager’s role, attained a final-year salary here of $202,456.

Fire service agreement

Another “new business” item with effects lasting into 2025 and beyond was a “notice of termination” for the county’s intergovernmental agreement for fire protection services with the city of Statesboro. Without such a notice, the five-year agreement would have automatically renewed, Akins explained in his presentation and an earlier memo to the commissioners.

Under the agreement, the county collects an added property tax for fire department service in two different “districts.” The “Statesboro district” begins at the city limits but extends for five miles into the county unincorporated area from each of the two Statesboro Fire Department stations. The county levies the fire service tax there but sends the revenue to the city for the SFD’s primary response to fires and other calls in that area.

Beyond that district in all parts of the county except Statesboro, the county also levies a fire service tax but keeps it to fund the Bulloch County Fire Department, which has been developed from an originally all-volunteer service to a combined force of career firefighters and volunteers. It now has three full-time staffed stations – in Brooklet, Portal and Register – as well as 11 volunteer stations.

Akins told the commissioners they didn’t have to take any action but needed to issue a notice of termination if they wanted the county to negotiate a new agreement with the city before June 30. Otherwise, the agreement also provides that the city or county can terminate it at any point by giving 12 months’ written notice, so they weren’t necessarily locked in for five years even if they had let the contract renew.

“I would say that say that termination would be appropriate if the county either wants  to renegotiate aspects of the agreement or change the delivery of fire protection services in some way,” Akins said.

He wouldn’t advise the commissioners which way they should go.

But Tapley, the fire chief, said, “The Fire Department’s … opinion is that the contract we’re in now is not Bulloch County-friendly. Right now, there are no fire stations in the five-mile district. As we know, the city has their city stations that respond out, but right now the contract reads that we as a county can’t put infrastructure in the five-mile districts.”

He asked that the current agreement be terminated and a new one negotiated. In particular, Tapley wants the county to have the ability to build fire stations within the five-mile city-served district as a transitional step to the BCFD eventually serving all of Bulloch County outside Statesboro.

On a motion from Commissioner Timmy Rushing, seconded by Commissioner Jappy Stringer, the county board voted 5-0 to send the city a notice of termination of the fire service agreement.

Other business

All of the “new business” votes were unanimous at 5-0, since Chairman Roy Thompson, noting that his wife was ill with pneumonia, left after the zoning portion of the meeting. Commissioner Ray Davis then presided as vice chair, and he does not have a vote when serving in that capacity.

Also 5-0, the commissioners approved the resolution for the six-year Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax extension to be put to voters countywide in a referendum for a March 18 special election. The Board of Elections and Registration will still need to vote to call the election.

And the commissioners unanimously accepted an amended economic development agreement with Revalyu (US) LLC for the company’s PET plastic bottle recycling plant under construction in Gateway Regional Industrial Park. The amendment reflects an increase in the projected value of the company’s investment.