I attended the December 12, 2024, Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
Commissioners Skelton and Gohagan were present.
The first item on the agenda was “Bid Award – Road and Bridge – Pavement Condition Survey.”
The Road and Bridge Administrator reviewed the three bids that were received to survey the county’s paved road network.
He seemed to be leaning toward accepting the bid from IMS, the company who had previously surveyed the county’s roads. He explained that IMS used a survey technique that lasers and scans the county roads, taking pictures of the cracks. If IMS was to create a road grade map that would be available to the public, it would cost extra.
Presiding Commissioner Skelton called the representative from IMS and was informed that it would cost $65,000 for the survey and an extra $7,500 to prepare a public layer. Skelton asked if they would prepare the public layer for free? The IMS guy said he would check with his boss and call back.
While they waited, Commissioner Skelton mentioned that he had received an email from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding the Tunnel Dam. Skelton was planning a trip to Washington DC for a NACo meeting and wanted to meet with somebody from FERC to discuss the matter.
The FERC email explained that the possibility of a meeting depended on what Skelton wished to discuss. This was due to the fact that there is a contested proceeding regarding the surrender of the project currently pending before FERC. They were reluctant to discuss the matter with Skelton outside of a public meeting.
Skelton wondered who was contesting the dam surrender proceeding? County Attorney Green surmised that the party contesting the proceeding was most likely the dam’s owner who was opposed to tearing down the structure.
Commissioner Gohagan next asked the County Auditor if he had made any progress with moving the $3 million LEST-2 money into the trust?
The Auditor responded that he hadn’t done anything with that.
Gohagan asked if the the money shouldn’t be transferred by the end of the year?
Laughlin offered that it probably would. He said he is currently focused on inventorying the Sheriff’s Office before Sheriff Helms leaves office.
Sheriff Helms was present at this meeting and reminded the Commission that the original intent of the LEST-2 tax increase had been for pay raises and equipment for new hires. That was what was promised to the voters and he didn’t understand why there seemed to be any confusion about how the sales tax revenue should be used.
Suddenly, the IMS guy called back and…you’re not going to believe this, folks….they somehow found a way to meet the county halfway on the cost of the interactive public map. After talking to his manager, it was going to cost a total of $68,150 including the public access road map.
This was approved unanimously by the Commission.
The final agenda item was “McGrath Insurance – Discuss County Prescription Drug Plan.”
The county’s medical insurance broker from McGrath recommended the county switch its Pharmacy Benefit Manager back to Express Scripts. The benefits for the employees would remain the same and it should save the county money. Ozempic-type shots would still be covered as long as they were prescribed by a doctor.
The new plan would start on January 1st.
The Commission voted unanimously to change Camden County’s pharmacy plan to Express Scripts.
And that was that.
Among the Dogwoods 