The Bulloch County Board of Commissioners' 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, meeting agenda includes a presentation about revisions to the roads and bridges policies — such as how paving projects are prioritized — and a letter supporting a $15 million state grant application for a septic waste-to-sewer system project.
In a previous presentation in July, County Engineer Ron Nelson noted that some dirt roads in Bulloch County have been in a petition and right of way acquisition process for more than 20 years without getting paved. He and other staff members were working on ideas for an evaluation-based process to replace the petition process as the driving force behind county paving decisions.
Nelson said the county staff would still prefer to obtain donated right of way from landowners who support paving or bridge projects as often as possible. But County Manager Chris Eldridge said there needs to be "some breaking point, percentage-wise," after most of the right of way for a project is obtained, when the county will use eminent domain — the legal process
for forced purchase at a potentially court-determined price — to obtain the remainder of needed right of way.
Some commissioners said 80% of signatures was the traditional threshold, and 85% was also mentioned. That was in July, when staff members asked commissioners for further input.
Heading into Tuesday's meeting, Assistant County Manager Crystal Dawson and engineer Nelson were listed as presenters for "draft revisions to administrative policies for roads, highways and bridges." But the draft was not in the publicly posted agenda packet Monday, and the presentation is not listed as an item for a vote of the commissioners at this point.
Septic disposal grant
Tuesday's one designated "new business item" calling for a separate vote of the commissioners is a letter to support an application to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, or DCA, for a grant up to $15 million from the 2024 Hurricane Helene Resilience Fund. The state has $50 million in this fund, with all 61 counties covered by the 2024 disaster declaration eligible to apply, notes Corey Kemp, Bulloch County's Emergency Management Agency director.
His application seeks a grant to help the county install a septic tank waste processing system, with the trademarked Raptor system mentioned in the letter awaiting the commissioners' vote of support and Chairman David Bennett's signature.
"We're pursuing it as a mitigation project because when Tropical Storm Debby came through with all that rain, all of those septic systems were backing up," Kemp said in a phone interview Monday.
Except for Portal's small treatment plant, the nearest facility regularly accepting septic tank waste from Bulloch County-based haulers is near Savannah, so Bulloch County is planning to obtain capacity of its own, he said.
Disposal of waste from septic tanks is also one of the purposes of the $20 million state appropriation through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, or GEFA, to Bulloch County, announced in July. This was also the rationale behind a $4 million federal EPA grant secured last year.
But a portion of the GEFA money may also be used for sewer line installation at the Statesboro-Bulloch County Airport.
Another stated purpose is construction of a sewer main and metering station on the south end of the county to connect to Bryan County's system. The Environmental Protection Agency money will purchase treatment capacity for Bulloch County at the Bryan County Regional Wastewater Plant adjacent to the Daniel Defense factory. Obtaining access for commercial septic haulers was a top priority in Bulloch's plan.
Seeks more help
The up to $15 million grant now being sought through the DCA is separate from and would be in addition to the GEFA money, Kemp said. The letter states that the total estimated cost of the complete septic disposal system project is approximately $30 million.
"While the county is requesting $15 million, Bulloch County will accept any amount awarded by the DCA and will utilize the awarded funds to advance the project to the greatest extent possible," the letter states.