With the budget and millage rate settled for the new fiscal year starting Oct. 1, the Putnam County Board of Commissioners spent its first monthly meeting last Friday settling back into the business of governing.
Items on the agenda included a 2024 federal grant application for Putnam Transit, a new fee schedule for restaurant inspections, a new contract for state court probation services, and a new member for the Department of Family and Children’s Services board.
Now starting its 38th year, Putnam Transit is seeking a doubling of its 2022 capital-and-operating- expenses budget to $576,000 for 2024, with the federal and local shares split 50-50.
The federally initiated program is aimed at providing daytime/ weekday transportation services for rural communities.
Each of Putnam Transit’s three 8-passenger buses are equipped with wheelchair lifts and averaged just under 1,000 trips a month in 2022. One-way passenger fees range from $2 to $5, and up to $8 for out-of-county trips, for instance to Oconee Regional Medical Center.
The commissioners approved the renewal of state court probation services with Dublin-based Judicial Alternatives of Georgia, with $40 to $50 probation fees footing the costs.
Meanwhile, the flat fees charged by the county health department for restaurant inspections for the past six years will see some changes under a new formula from the Georgia Department of Public Health. The new formula will differentiate more between the two-meals-a-day, mom-and-pop diner and the drive-thru services at a fast-food restaurant.
The board appointed retired school counselor Roxanne Waller to fill a vacancy on the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services board.
Nuggets from staff reports included:
· One of the county’s ambulances is out of commission and in an auto body shop awaiting transplant parts after it hit a deer. The deer was pronounced DOR.
· Barring technicalities, Putnam firefighters may be in the running for any biggest catch award after they recently helped fish a pickup truck out of Lake Oconee.