Legislative Committee Minutes – June 30, 2015

For your consideration, please review the minutes for the Legislative Committee Meeting from June 30, 2015:

BGJWSC_Legislative_Committee_Minutes_June_30,_2015a

To read the minutes, please open or download the pdf from the link above or you may see more below:

Present:                    

Thomas Boland, Committee Chair                                  

Allen Booker, Commissioner

Steve Swan, Executive Director

Charles Dorminy, Legal Counsel 

Absent:                      John Cason, Commissioner

Also Present:             Donald Elliott, Commissioner

Chairman Boland called the meeting to order 3:00 PM

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

There being no citizens who wished to address the Committee, Chairman Boland closed the Public Comment Period.

ADOPT:

Commissioner Elliott made a motion seconded by Commissioner Booker to adopt the minutes from the August 28, 2014 meeting. Motion carried 3-0-1 (Commissioner Cason was absent for the vote)

DISCUSSION:

Charles Dorminy introduced Brad Carver, legal counsel for the Hall Booth Smith Atlanta office, via phone. Brad is the head of legislative affairs for HBS and will be assisting with legislation issues at the state levels and further.

The committee discussed items on the 2014 Legislation House Bill document. Updates were made regarding immunity and exemption from liability to be the same as Glynn County. The timeline was discussed and Brad stated that once the revised version of legislation are submitted he will shepherd through and work with bill sponsors. He noted that legislation counsel works year round but it won’t be adopted until next year.

Imminent domain was discussed as well as previous House Bills. The subjects of a quorum and when a chairman votes was also discussed.

Further clarification of Solicited programs were discussed for Group 1 and Group 2 customers. These groups are identified as needing assistance of bill paying to low-income residential customers.

The need for a Code of Enforcement Authority was discussed. Steve met earlier with the Fire Department and discussed ISO and fire hydrants and identified areas where enforcement is necessary. Code of enforcement is also essential in cases where there is water theft and tampering with bypass lines and fines are ignored. It was noted that these issues need to be addressed in the Ordinances, Legislation and Operational Agreement. Brad and Charlie stated they will be follow up with bill sponsors and determine the course of action.

There being no other business to bring before the Committee, the Chairman adjourned the meeting 4:20 pm.