Commission plans to move into the newly renovated building this fall
The Jefferson County Commission met for its May meeting at the newly renovated Jefferson County Leisure Center.
Once the agenda was adopted, Jefferson County Administrator Jerry Coalson started to talk to the commission members and constituents about putting a new sound system in the old Louisville Middle School campus which is being renovated into a new office park for county government services. The building will need updated AV equipment, speakers, and office furniture, he said.
The commission plans to move into the repurposed building in the fall of 2025 and its move coincides with the widening of the U.S. Highway One Louisville bypass beginning to apex after three years of constant construction.
“We are looking at two different companies to provide an AV system for the new building,” Coalson said. “The new major vendors we are looking at are both companies that have facilities in Augusta and have a large client base in the area. We are going to need an AV system that will be able to use gooseneck microphones and ceiling speakers. One way we can save money is by using smart TV’s instead of the standard display models and also we can run the messages as needed instead of having them going constantly.”
Coalson presented two options to the commission the first being a cost of $89,000 plus for a base package from Front Stage who actually showcased the practical use of its system as a recent ACCG Conference. The other option is Gattis Pro Audio, which not as large as Front Stage, provides audio services to a number of large churches, businesses, and organizations around the Central Savannah River Area.
“Gattis not only is cheaper than Front Stage, they also have strong customer service and will really work with us to ensure our AV system does what we need it do,” Coalson said. “It’s a long lasting system but it also gives us several options to be able to add other plug-and-play attachments like a camera if needed. Also it will work other systems and can be plugged into other systems unlike other AV systems. It’s definitely something we are going to need and I have tried to find the best value for our money.”
All of the commissioners readily agreed with Coalson about the necessity of an AV system but also wanted to make sure that they were being diligent with the dollars of the taxpayers.
“Commissioners want to be able to be heard not just when conducting business, but we also want to be able to have a two-sided conversation with the citizens with each one of us can speak and hear what we need to to be able to do our jobs,” Jefferson County Commission Chairman Mitchell McGraw said.
The commission later voted to accept the administrator’s proposal to accept Gattis Pro’s bid to provide an AV system for the building. During old business the commission also took up the selection and purchase of office furniture for the office park.
“One of the most important things we need to do is to find the best built furniture that will last,” Coalson said. “There was a desk from the furniture that we just got at the leisure center that had been renovated and it’s already starting to fall apart. We had bid information from three of four companies and I have really worked hard to find the best value for our money. I think our best bet is the pieces we can get from Best Office solutions and other vendors. We may get a desk from them and a chair from Amazon.”
Commissioner Wayne Davis also pointed out that to keep using the chairs that commissioners had been purchased in the past would help save money.
“The chairs we have are really good. I think the diligence the administrator has taken on helping us to lower the original price quoted by almost by $200,000,” Davis said. “Using the combination of purchasing from Best Office and other vendors should be able to give us our best deal.”
Coalson said that even though the GMASS Full Reassessment was on the May agenda, it would be postponed to a later date.
“The GMASS full reassessment isn’t ready yet so we will postpone that until later. We will know our full FY 2025 budget number later this week and then we will start scheduling budget meetings. You don’t legally have to have the tax digest complete to finish the budget but having all of those numbers makes it much easier,” Coalson said.
Under the last actions of old business, the commission took up a request to rename a section of road on U.S. 1. Mary Norton Rhodes wanted to have the road named after her family and their ties to the area. However, when this topic was originally broached at a previous meeting the commission took no action. While Rhodes presented her case there was another side that cited historical and local ties to name the road Ebenezer Church Road. The road has been finished but the county has not legally taken possession of it yet.
“From a legal standpoint we can’t really make a determination either way until the road actually becomes part of Jefferson County. I recommend we postpone any action until that happens,” Jefferson County Commission Attorney Dalton Dowdy said.
The agenda only had two pieces of new business was to accept a bid on a combo air pressure/welder and to hear an update from Wendy Whitten, Jefferson County Hospital CEO.
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