PROCEEDINGS HELD BEFORE THE BALDWIN COUNTY COMMISSION
(Special Meeting - Budget Deliberations)
Thursday, August 7, 2008

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:

Charles "Skip" Gruber
Frank Burt
Wayne Gruenloh

ALSO PRESENT:

Michael Thompson, County Administrator
David Brewer, Assistant County Administrator
Elizabeth Smith, Accountant
Ron, Cink, Budget Director
Kyle Baggett, Finance Director
Susan Lovett, Personnel Director
Andrea Legrone

MR. CAL MARKERT: Some of the decisions we've got to make now is what to fund the 13 with. We do have the service-road project that's funded, two and a half million of our bond-issue money, then our agreement. We think that project may come in -- it's estimated at nine million -- we think it may come in at eight million. But that agreement we've got, we've got to give them a pro rata share of the savings to all of the parties. So we won't actually -- it won't save us a million, but it may save us five hundred thousand.

CHAIRMAN FRANK BURT: That's the interchange?

MR. CAL MARKERT: The service road, yes, sir, and the interchange.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: And that interchange won't even be let, he said, until, when, December or March or --

MR. CAL MARKERT: 2010.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: Won't be let until 2010?

MR. CAL MARKERT: We hope to start our service road, though, in the spring of next year.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: When you say the service road, you mean the one that's already in there or --

MR. CAL MARKERT: The -- the other part.

MR. MICHAEL THOMPSON: The part going to Bass Pro?

MR. CAL MARKERT: Right. They're building the interchange and this stub. We're building that. Of course this is Woodrow.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: Right.

MR. CAL MARKERT: We're -- we'll pave Woodrow this year, within the next month --

MR. FRANK LUNDY: It's got a binder on it now.

MR. CAL MARKERT: We can start building this before they build the interchange. And we'll have that built when they start building the interchange. And they'll build to us. We gave up trying to do them together. They won't allow two-to-one slopes and all kind of stuff that would have just killed us.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: Well, when will the design and all be finished and approved?

MR. CAL MARKERT: Probably by the -- Depends on what the Feds do with that environmental document.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: You got a group that's fighting the environmental thing, I mean, the drainage out the there and going into D'Olive.

MR. CAL MARKERT: Yeah, yes, sir, we do.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: We could get shut down on that altogether. But, anyway.

MR. CAL MARKERT: The environmental document is at the Federal Highway for the second time. So I think it will get approved. And who knows?

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: If it does, then we can go to work.

MR. CAL MARKERT: Right.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: We have a Corp permit and all that or whatever we need?

MR. CAL MARKERT: We've got to get a Corp permit for a little bit of wetland disturbance on that creek.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: And we've got funding sitting there for this; is that right?

MR. CAL MARKERT: Yes, sir. And all them crazy agreements.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: But they've already put up their money or the rest of it?

MR. CAL MARKERT: They committed to it. I don't know how, but they -- once -- I don't remember whether once we open the bids or something, they have to put the money in an escrow within a certain amount of days. And then it's paid to us after I -- Frank will do the estimate. The contractor sends in an estimate. We'll check it and certify it. And then they'll send in their portion all the way through. So it'll be fun to get all the -- Daphne and a11 the parties together.

MR. KYLE BAGGETT: But we've got it set up to track that now.

MR. CAL MARKERT: Yeah. They won't --

MR. KYLE BAGGETT: We've got a shared trust; we've got the accounts receivables. So that will be, you know, easier to track. It will be visible to everybody.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: Will we be billing one party, or would we be billing Daphne and --

MR. CAL MARKERT: Daphne and Timber Creek -- MR. FRANK LUNDY: And Bass Pro.

MR. CAL MARKERT: -- and Bass Pro and Cypress Equities.

MR. KYLE BAGGETT: Who -- who's managing the escrow? If it goes in the escrow account, maybe just bill the lawyer to where you send a, you know, a detailed invoice to the escrow account.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: That's what we wanted them to do, but I don't know.

MR. CAL MARKERT: It is an escrow account for Cypress Equities and Timber Creek. Daphne, they just said they'll just send us the money.

MR. KYLE BAGGETT: Or we --

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: If they change mayors, they might. But if they don't change mayors, that other one kind of holds off on his payments on debt, don't they?

MR. CAL MARKERT: Have before.

COMMISSIONER FRANK BURT: Got a reputation with us.

MR. MICHAEL THOMPSON: Commissioner, can we take a break?

FINANCE CHAIRMAN CHARLES "SKIP" GRUBER: Yeah. Sure can.

MR. MICHAEL THOMPSON: Five minutes or so.

FINANCE CHAIRMAN CHARLES "SKIP" GRUBER: Sure can.

[A recess was taken at 10:40 a.m.  When they resumed at 11:00 am there was no further discussion on related issues]