December 23, 2019
Board of
Commissioners
County Manager Highlights Year in Review at Last Commission Meeting of the Year
Regular Meetings January 7th, 9:00 a.m. January 21st, 6:30 p.m.
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.
County manager Cheri Hobson-Matthews took an opportunity to review accomplishments of county departments for 2019, during the December 17 Commission meeting. Matthews played a highlight video during the county manager comments portion of the meeting, thankng citizens for their support With over 1,700 employees and 30 departments and partner agencies, she said that county employees have worked diligently throughout the year to provide quality services to citiznes. She noted several of the ribbon cuttings and groundbreakings from 2019 including the Campground Rd. Extension project, the Anvil Bock Rd. project, the North Ola Park expansion, the groundbreaking for Fire Station No. 8 and the opening of the Employee Wellness Clinic. She also said that Henry County is one of only six counties in Georgia to earn the distinction of a Triple A Bond rating. A sampling of additional accomplishments from 2019 included: • Community Service picked up and disposed of more than 300,000 pounds of litter • Facilities Maintenance crews maintained more than 200 county-owned properties including repairs and remodeling, and maintaining HVAC, plumbing, elevators, access and electrical systems. • Code enforcement issued 2,200 warnings and 439 citations resulting in $45,510 in court fines. Continued on page 7
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December 23, 2019 Published by Henry County Communications & Public Information Department Henry County Government
Editor Melissa Robinson
Graphic Designer Meredith Butler
Layout Designer Melissa Robinson Meredith Butler
Contributors Melissa Robinson Erika Richards
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Holiday Closings The Henry County Administration Building as well as the Recycling Center will be closed Tuesday, December 24, 2019 and Wednesday, December 25, 2019 for the Christmas holidays. Both will reopen for business Thursday, December 26, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. The following week the Administration Building as well as the Recycling Center will be closed on Tuesday, December 31, 2019 and Wednesday, January 1, 2020 for the New Year. Both will reopen for business on Thursday, January 2, 2020 at 8:00 a.m.
Commissioners Make Board Appointments The Zoning Advisory, Henry First, Library and the Development Authority Boards all have new appointed members after approval from the Henry County Board of Commissioners at the December 17 Commission meeting. The Board appointed Pete Peterson to the Zoning Advisory Board for a term to expire in December of 2020; Vanessa Thomas to Henry First for a term to expire in December 2020; Chester Ivey to the Library Board for a term to expire in December 2022; and Eddie Ausband to the Development Authority for a term to expire in December 2020. For a complete list of a Boards and Authorities, please visit henrycounty-ga.com/countyclerk.
Celebrity Basketball Game and Toy Drive Serves Community District II Commissioner Dee Clemmons wants to thank everyone who came out to support Henry County families in need through the third Annual Celebrity Basketball Game held at Dutchtown High School this past Saturday. The event featured Warriors of the Concrete, the Jonesboro High School marching band and
celebrity guests Slim of 112 and Shooter and Tabius Tate from Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, among others. Attendees contributed to Henry County’s Christmas toy drive, providing gifts to underprivileged children this holiday season. Proceeds from the event will go to local families and the March of Dimes.
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December 23, 2019 Commissioner Bruce Holmes to Host Forum on the Topic of Human Trafficking District V Commissioner Bruce Holmes will be hosting a town hall meeting on January 11, 2020 at 10 a.m. at New Hope Christian Ministries in Stockbridge to discuss the topic of human trafficking. Attendees will hear from Kimberly Crawford with the Power Panel-Pink Bootz on the Ground organization, who will cover topics that include the state of human trafficking in the metro Atlanta area, how to identify cases of human trafficking and how to help those who have been affected by the crime.
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Members of the Henry County Police Department will also be in attendance to give a human trafficking presentation specific to Henry County. New Hope Christian Ministries is located at 1738 Fairview Rd. in Stockbridge. For more information on this event, please call 770-288-6001 and for more information on the Power Panel-Pink Bootz on the Ground organization call 404454-4601.
Board Approves Purchase of Additional Body Cameras for Public Safety With the achieved success to increase transparency within the Henry County Police Department, the Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of an additional 180 cellular smartphones and equipment for HCPD’s Patrol and Criminal Investigation Division and Special Operations vehicles. The action came at the December 17 Commission meeting. The Verizon Kyocera Duraforce Pro 2 Smartphones are equipped with a digital body camera with access to cloud storage with the Visual Labs Inc. application, an audio and video recorder, a GPS tracking device and 24-hour mobile access to departmental email and text messaging. All evidence from the phone is immediately uploaded to the cloud based system through the Verizon network. The purchase also includes 35 Verizon Jet pack MiFi devices for CID and 118 dash camera systems for the department as well.
In January of 2018, the Commission approved a resolution to purchase 180 Kyocera Smartphones for the department’s Uniform, Code Enforcement and Animal Control Divisions, and earlier this year, they also approved to extend the Visual Labs’ contract for a three-year period. With the Visual Labs’ contract already in place and with the company’s approval of a contract addendum, the HCPD will pay approximately $29,400 for the additional dash camera systems. The total amount for the purchase of the 180 smartphones, 118 systems and installation, subscription fees and 35 jet packs is approximately $71,000. Funds to purchase the equipment listed above will be allocated through the Federal Seized Funds account. For more information about the Henry County Police Department, visit henrycountypolicedepartment. com.
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December 23, 2019 Elections and Registration Department Gives Update to BOC The Henry County Board of Commissioners heard a presentation from Grayson Davis, Elections Supervisor, on recent election updates at the scheduled December 17 Commission meeting. In his report, Davis explained to the Board that there had been an increase of about 3,000 registered voters since the July update given to the commission, bringing the total registered voter count to 179,177 county-wide. Since January, the Elections Office has processed 139,974 applications and of those applications, 11,539 were first-time voters. Davis also reminded viewers that the department will soon be transitioning to a new voting equipment system and expects the machines to arrive by mid-January, and encourages all county residents to visit the Elections Office for a demonstration to learn how to use them. Allocated through state funding in the amount of approximately $2.2 million, Henry County’s inventory of voting and registration equipment will increase to more than 1,600 parts. Davis also listed out challenges the Elections
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and Registration Department will face once the new equipment system is arranged. “Like I mentioned, we have 1,600 pieces of equipment that we have to find storage for and another big challenge is transportation,” said Davis. “With the additional equipment, we will most likely transport 16 to 20 machines for an election day.” Following his presentation, Commissioners raised questions regarding the equipment insurance policy, polling location changes and outreach efforts. Davis said that the Elections Department welcomes any citizen or group who wants to learn more about the machines, voter registration and new polling locations to contact the department and staff will be glad to assist. The Elections Office is located at 40 Atlanta Street in McDonough. To view the entire presentation, visit the Henry County website at henrycounty-ga.com or contact the Elections and Voter Registration Office at 770-288-6448.
Year in Review - continued from page 1
• Transit provided nearly to 70,000 trips. • DOT maintained 1,244 paved road miles including • •
• •
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pothole repair, striping, milling and patching. Human Resources hired and provided orientation to 329 employees. The Tax Commissioner’s office processed over 320,000 Motor Vehicle transactions and issued more than 4,700 Occupational Tax Certificates to Commercial, Industrial, retail and home-based businesses. The Building department processed over 8,000 permits resulting in over $2 million in deposits. Fleet Services completed over 5,000 work orders on county vehicles and refurbished and sold over 70 pieces of retired equipment. Technology services processed and closed 4,898 help desk tickets.
• Stormwater completed 768 inspections; 99- Pipe and structure repairs; and maintained and mowed 507 ponds. Hobson-Matthews thanked employees for their hard work this past year and thanked the Board of Commissioners for providing funding for government services. “Board, we have a lot to be thankful for. Our entire team with the support of the Henry County Board of Commissioners, we’ve done a lot in 2019. It’s amazing to know that we’ve provided over 70,000 trips for residents in Henry County through our transit department and responded to almost 5,000 calls for animal control and a host of other things, and I want to personally thank our staff and to thank our Board of Commissioners,” said Hobson-Matthews. To view the entire meeting online, visit henrycounty-ga.com.
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December 23, 2019
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