Local & State Headlines

County votes to buy acreage

• The Dougherty County Commission secures 280 acres of land along the Flint River.

Barbara Rivera Holmes

ALBANY — Dougherty County commissioners approved Monday the purchase of 65 acres of land bordering the Flint River and the reallocation of sales tax funds for 190 acres of Boy Scout property. The vote was the final one needed in the acquisition of a total of 480 acres of greenspace in Dougherty County.

The 65-acre tract, in the northeast quadrant of the county near Ledo Road, was approved at a purchase price of $65,000 using $40,786 in Greenspace V funds (from a sales tax referendum) and $24,214 in North American Wetlands Conservation Act funds.

The Boy Scout property, along the west side of the Flint River, will cost a total $721,905, with $245,000 from the second special purpose local-option sales tax and $476,905 from the Georgia Land Trust grant.

The county will be gifted an additional 25 acres of land for its purchase of the 65-acre property.

“(The greenspace) allows the people in Dougherty County to ensure that the future generations will have a place in nature to enjoy,” said Dougherty County Commission Chair Jeff Sinyard, who added that today’s generations are fortunate that leaders in the past also felt an urgency to protect land along the Flint River.

Together with the already- approved purchase of 220 acres of former Radium Springs Country Club land — at a cost of $50,000 in local funds and $940,000 in grant funds — the County Commission has created a seven-mile corridor of protected natural habitat along the river.

The greenspace acquisitions come out to $335,786 in local funds and $1.47 million in grant dollars, for a total of $1.8 million.

Also at the 10 a.m. business meeting, the commission approved $132,665 to Flanigan Plumbing Co. for the purchase of a storage tank for the landfill; a $27,807, three-year contract for rental work uniforms from Riverside Uniform; and $316,440 to Oxford Construction Co. for the building of the southeast entrance at Darton College. It also OK’d annual blanket alcohol license renewals.

Commissioners approved appointments to 17 boards, including the reappointments Dr. John Inman Jr. and County Commissioner Dr. Charles Lingle to the Albany- Dougherty Hospital Authority.

With Commissioner Jack Stone absent from the proceeding, the commission split 3-3 in support of Proctor & Gamble spokesperson Vincent Falcione Jr. and Lamar Reese to fill one vacancy on the authority. As neither applicant won majority support, the appointment will come up again for vote at another meeting.

County Attorney Spencer Lee briefed the commission on the requirement of county residency for an applicant or member of the authority. He said local law dictates that a person live within the county in order to be eligible for appointment, while state law says a person must live within 12 miles of the county line.

“A case can be made that residency (is) required,” Lee said, “but the better part of wisdom would say (go with state law).”

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