Ware County Manager Scott Moye presented some unexpected news during the County Manager report at the end of the Monday, September 9, 2024, County Commission meeting.
Moye contacted the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) about two projects on the Regional TSPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax) list to be paved.
The commission, during its last meeting, in a 3-2 vote (Chairman Elmer Thrift, Commissioners Timothy Lucas and Sammy Hendricks voted aye; Leonard Burse and Jerry Pope voted nay), approved using LMIG (Local Maintenance & Improvement Grant) funds from the next two years to go ahead and pave Thigpen Road and Gibbs Lane.
Moye reiterated he was under the impression projects could not be swapped once they were put on the Regional TSPLOST list and that if projects were completed by the time they came up for implementation, the funds allocated for those projects would be forfeited.
In Moye’s conversation, he found out the swapping information was correct, but the forfeiture of the funds was not.
“We can be reimbursed,” said Moye to the commissioners. “We have to document everything as if they were paying for it and it has to meet GDOT standards.”
Moye has already turned in the application and the GDOT will send an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for the commission to approve.
“We document our costs for the file and when those projects come up in the system, then we turn in our documentation and they (GDOT) will reimburse the county,” he said.
This news was met with a huge collective sigh of relief as estimates were about $2.5 million for the two projects. Now these two projects can be completed in a timelier manner and the costs will be recovered.
