Henry County Update - Newsletter

September 22, 2017

Board of

Commissioners

Henry County EMA Hosts Delegation from Countries around the World

Regular Meetings Oct. 3, 2017 9:00 AM Oct. 17, 2017 6:30 PM

Meetings held at: Administration Building Community Room 140 Henry Parkway McDonough, GA 30253 Regular Commission meetings air daily on Henry TV Charter Channel 180 and AT&T U-Verse Channel 99, at 9 a.m. & 7 p.m.

Henry County hosted a delegation, one of many within the past ten years, of foreign officials who were in the United States to learn about emergency communication and management. Delegates from Bangladesh, Cameroon, China, Dominican Republic Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Indonesia, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Vietnam made the trip to see firsthand how emergency communications are handled on a federal, state and local level.

The 14 delegates started their biannual four month tour in early July at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta where they received training on public health emergency management. The delegates were also able to visit the Georgia Department of Public Health’s Emergency Operations Center.

The delegation made their stop in Henry County to learn and gain a better understanding on how the United States manages emergencies on various levels and the specific strategies utilized for coordination at the county level.

Henry County EMA Director, Don Ash shared various techniques, such as the National Incident Management Systems or NIMS, a comprehensive, national approach to incident management that is applicable at all jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines.

Henry County has gained a reputation for outstanding emergency preparedness Continued on page 2

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September 22, 2017 Delegatoin Continued from page 1

Published by Henry County Communications & Public Information Department Henry County Government

Editor Melissa Robinson

and as a result, the county has been a frequent stop for such tours, hosting a previous delegation from China, as well as groups from Thailand, the Republic of Georgia and South Korea in recent years.

For more information about Henry County’s Emergency Management Agency, please visit www. henrycountynsp.org/Departments/PublicSafetyEmerg encyServices/E-911.aspx.

Graphic Designer Meredith Butler

Layout Designer Melissa Robinson Meredith Butler

Contributors Melissa Robinson Erika Richards Kevin Williams

Community Collaborative Upcoming Meeting Set for September 26 Connecting Henry will host a Community Collaborative Meeting on Tuesday, September 26 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at Shiloh Baptist Church in McDonough.

This Collaborative Meeting’s keynote speaker will be Jodi Spiegel, Henry County’s Senior Assistant District Attorney and the topic of discussion is sex trafficking.

Shiloh Baptist Church is located at 253 Macon Street McDonough, GA 30253.

henrycounty-ga.org

County Adopts Supplier Inclusion Policy in Outreach Efforts to the Business Community

In an effort to communicate its strong commitment to the promotion of opportunities to small, local, DBE (disadvantaged business enterprises), veteran-owned and women-owned businesses, the Henry County Board of Commissioners approved a Supplier Inclusion Program Policy which outlines measures that the Purchasing and Procurement Department will take to enhance its efforts to reach out to those desiring to do business with the county.

Purchasing Director Rod Gray presented the policy and outlined the program goals that will promote opportunities and remove obstacles of participation for small, local, DBE, women-owned business and veteranowned business enterprises. Gray said the county is committed to diversity and non-discrimination in its policies and stated that “the County will make a good-faith effort to utilize local businesses, small business enterprises, DBE businesses and femaleowned businesses throughout the procurement process.”

Commissioners lauded the policy and thanked Gray and staff for their efforts in bringing the program to fruition.

District II Commissioner Dee Clemmons, who helped spearhead the inclusion policy initiative thanked Gray and staff for their excellent work and said that the policy came about after discussions on how the county can remove obstacles for small, local, DBE and women-owned businesses.

“Commissioner Barham and I had a discussion at our last meeting about how we are removing obstacles for those businesses that we’ve stated here.

How do we as a Board and how do we as a county become a better partner in our own community, and I think that was the whole reasoning behind this,” said

Clemmons. “We want to let our community know that we want to partner with them, and we see this policy as a genuine commitment and effort for this Board to take some responsibility for the economic impact to our community. If nothing else comes out of this, I want to make sure we go on record that Henry County goes above and beyond what is required by law to make sure that we are an inclusive county that is concerned about all communities doing business in Henry County.”

Several objectives of the Supplier Inclusion Program include a provision that for goods and services that require a formal solicitation (those equal or greater that $50,000) recognition will be given to the vendor business classification as specified by the submitter in the bid response; bidders will be encouraged to identify primary and second-tier suppliers and subcontractors that are local, small, DBE or veteran or women-owned business enterprises for the project being bid; the county will conduct sealed bids for commodity purchases that are available through state and cooperative purchasing contracts when the requested commodity can be sourced through a local, small, DBE, veteran owned or female-owned business; for bids less than $50,000, the Purchasing Department will emphasize the utilization of a diverse supplier base consisting of the groups outlined in the policy; and the Purchasing Department will host quarterly vendor workshops in order to communicate available business opportunities with Henry County to the vendor community, and to expand and diversify the supplier base that is used to source county purchases.

Commission meetings are available on demand through www.henrycounty-ga.org and rebroadcast daily on Charter Spectrum Channel 180 or AT&T U-Verse Channel 99.

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September 22, 2017

henrycounty-ga.org

BOC Approves Community Development 2016 CAPER

The Board of Commissioners approved the 2016 Consolidated Annual Performance and Evaluation Report (CAPER) for the Henry County Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG). The action came at the September 19th Commission meeting.

The CAPER explains that the CDBG program expended over $1.7 million in CDBG money which assisted in funding the demolition of five blighted residential structures primarily located in low to moderate

income neighborhoods; the housing rehabilitation of 22 single family, owner-occupied, low to moderate income homes; the delivery of seven public service activities; and the public housing modernization of 36 rental units owned by the McDonough Housing Authority.

CDBG dollars also funded park and recreational improvements at McBrayer Park in Hampton and Memorial Park in Stockbridge; improvements to public facilities utilized as crisis shelters; construction for a new sidewalk in a low to moderate income neighborhood in McDonough; as well as program administration and delivery of Fair Housing activities.

For more information on Henry County’s Community Development Block Grant, please visit www.co.henry.ga.us/Departments/A-C/ CommunityDevelopment.aspx.

BOC Approves FEMA Program Grant

The Board of Commissioners approved the Integrated Emergency Management Coordinated grant for Henry County’s Emergency Management Agency (EMA), at the September 19 Commission meeting.

Henry County was one of two communities chosen to participate in this grant program.

Don Ash, Emergency Management Director said, “This grant program is offered to communities throughout the United States and we were fortunate to be selected as one of the communities in the southeast region of the U.S.”.

The FEMA funded grant will allow 75 individuals from Henry County management teams, elected officials and critical stakeholders to travel to the

National Training Academy in Emmetsburg, Maryland where they will participate in an Integrated Emergency Management Course (IEMC) presented by FEMA. The IEMC, specifically designed for Henry County cities, is a program where Henry County personnel will receive training on how to prepare communities for complex coordinated attacks.

“FEMA will send a team down to Henry County to work with us to build a strategic plan directly effecting our communities so it is tailored specifically for Henry County,” said Ash. The program has been slated for January 22, 2018.

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