[PAGE 1] REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. Commissioners’ Public Meeting Room Dade County Government Administrative Building 71 Case Avenue, Room 259 Trenton, Georgia 30752 ___________________________________________________________________________ MINUTES ___________________________________________________________________________ This document is tentative until ratified and approved by the Historic Preservation Commission; and therefore shall not be binding on the county or any officer. ___________________________________________________________________________ Scheduled date for ratification: September 15, 2021 ___________________________________________________________________________ CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Donna Street called the meeting to order at 2:01 p.m. ROLL CALL ~ COMMISSION MEMBERS Donna Street, Chairperson PRESENT County Representative Audrey Clark, Vice Chair PRESENT City Representative Rex Blevins PRESENT County Representative Sarah Moore PRESENT County Representative Cindy Richie ABSENT City Representative Chairperson Donna Street announced a quorum of Commission members present, and therefore a legal meeting was called to order and in session. EX OFFICIO MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE Ted Rumley, County Executive ABSENT Ex-officio member for Dade County Alex Case, Mayor of Trenton ABSENT Ex-officio member for City of Trenton COUNTY STAFF IN ATTENDANCE Don Townsend, Clerk to the Board of Commissioners PRESENT Carey Fauscett-Anderson, County Public Information Officer PRESENT Historic Preservation Commission – Regular Meeting - Minutes ~ 08/25/21 ~ Page 1 [PAGE 2] APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Chairperson Donna Street called for any changes or updates to the published agenda. Mr. Don Townsend recommended discussion of a new COVID-19 protocol as to when to hold meetings. Hearing no other amendments, the Chair called for approval of the agenda as amended. Commissioner Sarah Moore moved to approve the agenda as amended, and Commissioner Audrey Clark seconded the motion on the floor. The Chair called for approval of the agenda by polling each Commissioner whereas the board unanimously approved the agenda as amended: Motion made by: Mrs. Sarah Moore Seconded by: Mrs. Audrey Clark Those voting in favor: 4 – Blevins, Clark, Moore, Street Those opposed: 0 – N/A Decision: Passed by unanimous vote READING OF MINUTES Chairperson Donna Street announced the reading of the minutes from the previous regular meeting of the Trenton-Dade County Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) held on July 21, 2021 would not be necessary since all commissioners were provided an electronic copy of the minutes prior to today’s meeting. The Chair called for any corrections to the minutes, hearing none she entertained a motion to accept the minutes as presented by Mr. Don Townsend, Recording Secretary of the HPC. Commissioner Mr. Rex Blevins moved to approve the minutes as presented, and Mrs. Sarah Moore seconded the motion on the floor. The Chair called for approval of the minutes by polling each Commissioner whereas the board unanimously approved the minutes as recorded: Motion made by: Mr. Rex Blevins Seconded by: Mrs. Sarah Moore Those voting in favor: 4 – Blevins, Clark, Moore, Street Those opposed: 0 – N/A Decision: Passed by unanimous vote CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS APPLICATIONS There were no applications presented or decisions pending at today’s meeting. APPEARANCES Chairperson Street welcomed County Commissioner Melissa C. Bradford, Mr. Russell Brown and Mr. William Back attending today’s HPC meeting Historic Preservation Commission – Regular Meeting - Minutes ~ 08/25/21 ~ Page 2 [PAGE 3] UNFINISHED BUSINESS Ms. Street introduced the first item under unfinished business ~ Historic Courthouse Renovation Project. The Chair recognized Mr. Jamey Blevins via mobile phone to discuss options regarding the renovation project. Mr. Blevins outlined several options how his company could assist with the renovation efforts to the old historic courthouse. His recommendation included the following: The role of a Construction Manager as Adviser (CMa) is to act as an advocate and adviser for the project owner. The singular purpose of the CMa is to look out for the owner’s and project’s best interest, with the project taking precedent. This is accomplished with the CMa assisting in compiling bid packages to ensure complete scopes of work, solicitation of bids, vetting of trade contractors’ proposals and capabilities, reviewing and approving payment requisitions, overall project planning and scheduling, and providing inspections of work to ensure conformance with the contract documents. The CMa would also provide a monthly report documenting the project status for the commissions review. These are the base services a CMa would provide. The CMa contract arrangement provides the county with a management option to have better control of the project while also reducing cost compared to a traditional hard bid procurement method. The trade contractors would be contracted directly with the county and managed by the CMa. Additional services, i.e. full-time onsite supervision, can be provided if requested. As we discussed, the more traditional option is design-build-bid, commonly referred to as hard bid. This option will provide the county with a traditional relationship with a contractor(s) to perform specified scopes of work. The lacking component with this method is the general oversight provided by a CMa or general contractor. If the intent is to phase the project by releasing specific trade packages over time, this method carries a larger risk of scope gaps and additional work related to these gaps. If a hard-bid route is decided upon, I highly recommend the county consider appointing an owner’s representative to oversee the construction process. Chairperson Donna Street thanked Mr. Blevins for his time today and explained to him the HPC would adopt a resolution to formally request the Board of Commissioners to considered hiring BCM, Inc. for the role of Construction Manager as Adviser (CMa) s outlined above to complete all renovations necessary to the old historic courthouse. Commissioner Sarah Moore moved to adopt a resolution to formally request the Dade County Board of Commissioners to considered hiring BCM, Inc. for the role of Construction Manager as Adviser (CMa) to complete all renovations necessary to the old historic courthouse, and Mrs. Audrey Clark seconded the motion on the floor. The Chair called for any further discussion, hearing none the Chair polled each Commissioner whereas the board unanimously approved the resolution to be transmitted to the Board of Commissioners by the County Clerk. Motion made by: Mrs. Sarah Moore Seconded by: Mrs. Audrey Clark Those voting in favor: 4 – Blevins, Clark, Moore, Street Those opposed: 0 – N/A Decision: Passed by unanimous vote Historic Preservation Commission – Regular Meeting - Minutes ~ 08/25/21 ~ Page 3 [PAGE 4] Chairperson Street reviewed the list of available windows at the old courthouse. The last two windows sold were to Ms. Kathleen E. Mackay in memory of her father Honorable James A. Mackay; and a window sold to Mr. David Mann in memory of Sarah M. and Andrew J. Clark. Mr. Townsend confirmed the new number of windows available for purchase were (13) thirteen as of September 1, 2021. No official action was taken. Ms. Street announced the upcoming Christmas calendar was on schedule. The proposed calendar will exhibit the portraits painted by Ms. Meredith Brock-Bishop commissioned by the Bank of Dade in the 1970’s. Our goal is to have the calendars produced by September 30, 2021 to go on sale as soon as possible. No official action was taken. Ms. Street reviewed the grant opportunities and noted that most of the proposed grants rely on information from the construction management company to calculate an accurate price and timeline for beginning and ending each infrastructure project. This information is critical to grant applications before submittal could be achieved. No official action was taken. Also, under unfinished business was a report by Mr. Don Townsend to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs as part of an ever-four-year review of the Historic Preservation Commission’s role in maintaining the County and City’s certification as a Certified Local Government (CLG) unit with the State of Georgia. Mr. Townsend noted the evaluation form and supporting documents were quite extensive totaling over 200 pages. He reported the required forms were submitted on July 15th well in advance of the July 30th deadline. Mr. Townsend felt relatively sure the County and City would be recertified as a CLG for another four-year period. No official action was taken. Ms. Street noted collectively we have decided to host virtual public information sessions to educate local citizens on the happenings of the local Trenton-Dade County Historic Preservation Commission. Mrs. Carey Fauscett-Anderson agreed to digitally record some of our members making these presentations accessible through the County’s website. She awaits anyone who would like to schedule a time to record a video to be placed on all County social media outlets. Commissioner Melissa C. Bradford and Mrs. Anderson announced several students at Dade County High School require so many service hours to earn their honor cords for graduation ceremonies. One such student, Miss Jose Biddle has already performed some digital website designing that included drone footage of our County’s Parks and Recreation Department that looks great. These students could greatly assist the HPC in developing website design and enhance public information regarding local historic preservation. The Chair recommended Carey reach out to the high school to see what kind of ideas these students could assist the HPC with in the future. No official action was taken. Chairperson Street called on Mr. William Back to make a presentation regarding the State of Dade Historic Preservation, Inc. Mr. Back acknowledged that most paperwork has been completed and filed with the appropriate agencies. He required the Secretary/Treasurer and one other board member to officially sign some documentation. He also reviewed the list of officers voted on at a special called meeting on June 16, 2021. Commissioner Audrey Clark reminded the HPC we needed to pay Mr. Back for his work performed, whereas the Chair Historic Preservation Commission – Regular Meeting - Minutes ~ 08/25/21 ~ Page 4 [PAGE 5] agreed. Commissioner Sarah Moore moved to authorize the transfer of funds owed back to the local HPC from the Dade County Historical Society (collected from prior calendar sales) into a new account to be established at the Bank of Dade under the title of State of Dade Historic Preservation, Inc. Furthermore, by acceptance of those funds from the Historical Society for purposes of reimbursement to Mr. William Back for the incorporation fee and pay the application fee to the Internal Revenue Service for not-for-profit status, and to the Georgia Secretary of State to record the organization’s letters of incorporation. Commissioner Audrey Clark seconded the motion on the floor. The Chair called for any further discussion, hearing none the Chair polled each Commissioner whereas the board unanimously approved the motion on the floor as stated previously. Motion made by: Mrs. Sarah Moore Seconded by: Mrs. Audrey Clark Those voting in favor: 4 – Blevins, Clark, Moore, Street Those opposed: 0 – N/A Decision: Passed by unanimous vote Chairperson Street tabled the agenda item regarding the phase 2 survey of the Piney area to a later meeting. No official action was taken. NEW BUSINESS Chairperson Street called for any new business, whereas Mr. Townsend noted the need to establish some COVID-19 protocol for times when holding a meeting may not be possible due to community spread of the disease. Chairperson Street recommended tabling this item until next month’s meeting. No official action was taken. Chairperson Street called for any new business. Hearing no further business to discuss, the Chair announced the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Trenton - Dade County Historic Preservation Commission would take place on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. to be held here inside the Commissioners’ Meeting Room. The Chair then declared the meeting adjourned at 3:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted as recorded, __________________________________ Don Townsend, Clerk to the Commission Historic Preservation Commission – Regular Meeting - Minutes ~ 08/25/21 ~ Page 5