Members of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners could change the way the county determines residential building permit fees when they meet Monday.
The commissioners meet at 6 p.m. in the meeting room of the county courthouse. The meeting will be livestreamed on the county’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
The proposal would not change the actual fee table. But it would change the way those fees are applied to particular projects.
Currently, residential building permit fees are based on the cost of construction. But the county doesn’t verify the costs presented by builders.
The commissioners will consider a proposal to change the permit fee to a flat fee of $145 per square foot. That fee is 88% of the national average, which county officials said accounts for regional differences. Staff will multiply $145 times the square footage to determine the cost of construction and then apply the fees to that amount.
County officials said the new fee scale would be more consistent and fair.
The commissioners are also scheduled to vote on whether to:
• Approve a $607,000 contract with Graphite Construction of Cartersville to remodel the bathrooms in fire stations 2 through 6.
• Approve a $100,000 contract with Trane for repairs to the heating and air conditioning system at the jail. The work will be funded by a state jail mitigation grant.
• Approve a six-month, $91,568.38 maintenance agreement with Motorola for the county’s emergency dispatch radio system.
• Approve a $78,000 purchase of new uniforms for the fire department through Sourcewell, a buyers cooperative representing more than 50,000 local governments and school systems across the country.
• Approve the $49,000 purchase of a computer for the fire department from First Due of Garden City, New York.
• Accept a $36,051 state American Rescue Plan Act grant to fund a full-time investigator in the district attorney’s office.
• Reappoint Matthew Thames to serve as guardian ad litem in Whitfield County Juvenile Court for one year. The guardian ad litem represents the interests of the children in court proceedings. Thames would receive $42,850.
• Reappoint Jerry Moncus, Bryan Rayburn and Joshua Smith as indigent defense attorneys for Whitfield County Juvenile Court for one year. Each would receive $35,350.
The commissioners are also expected to vote on whether to allow vehicles to be bought through state purchasing contracts. These contacts are negotiated by the state government, which is often able to get better terms than local governments.