County to Appropriate Three Parcels of Property through Eminent Domain

The Barrow County Board of Commissioners voted 4-2 on Tuesday to condemn three parcels of property on Bankhead Highway, land the county plans to use for three permanent easements for placement of sewer lines.

Commissioners Isaiah Berry and Larry Joe Wilburn voted against exercising eminent domain — the law by which a government can appropriate private property — which board chairman Daniel Yearwood said became necessary after negotiations to purchase the parcels, owned by Harris and Pat Hardegree, failed.

“It’s personal property. Whether we need it or not, I just don’t believe in taking a person’s property,” Berry said after Tuesday’s meeting was adjourned. “I have never voted for a condemnation and I never will if the condemnation against a citizen. I’d rather try to work it out with them and do whatever we can.” 

Exercising eminent domain was a last resort, Yearwood said.

“We just didn’t think we were going to be able to get to where (the property owners) wanted to be,” he said. “Our appraisal was one thing and his was another. We had to do this to make sure we were moving forward (with the sewer project).

“I don’t like condemnations,” Yearwood added. “That’s a last resort and that’s where we got to. I would not in any way do that to anybody if I thought I was not treating them fair.”

Despite Tuesday’s vote, Yearwood doesn’t expect the matter to be settled.

“It’s not settled by any means,” he said. “It’s just saying we believe one thing, you believe something different, we’re going to go ahead and move forward with our project and it will be settled later.”

County commissioners voted unanimously during Tuesday’s meeting to allow Yearwood to sign an agreement for purchase of property on Maynard Street for the county’s health department. The purchase price is not to exceed $141,000.

In other business, Sheriff Jud Smith came before the board with a request for $203,000, money to be put used for repairs and maintenance on department vehicles and the purchase of fuel.

“I’m not asking for anything frivolous,” Smith told the board. “We have to respond to calls. We have to maintain the fleet we have.”  

Berry asked about a fuel consortium that had previously been discussed. Commissioner Ben Hendrix said he and Billy Parks had attending several meetings over past month with other municipalities — the cities of Winder, Auburn, Statham and the town of Braselton, as well as the Barrow County Board of Education — revisiting joining the North Georgia Fuel Cooperative, which would allow the consortium to purchase fuel in bulk at prices lower than those each municipality and the school system are paying now. Hendrix said joining the fuel cooperative would require a storage facility and expenses would be incurred in building fuel sites. After determining the amount of fuel being used by each of the cities, the school system and the county, Hendrix said he would see if there was enough interest to move forward.

“It’s going to require an initial outlay of money shared by all the members,” he said. “We are really caught between a rock and a hard place. Yes, we don’t have extra money to buy fuel, but we can’t not have fuel. I think we need to revisit take-home vehicles.  That’s one way to cut down on fuel consumption.”

Hendrix recommended the board review the policy for vehicles driven home by county employees within the next 30 days.

Commissioners voted 4-2, with Wilburn and Steve Worley opposing, to approve a budget amendment that would give Smith the additional funding he requested.