Dougherty board gets ag hurricane impact update

Nov. 19--ALBANY -- The Dougherty County Commission heard an agricultural impact update outlining the damages from Hurricane Michael, and also made the decision to table a five-year contract proposal with Tetra Tech and consider some possible changes regarding the debris monitoring and financial recovery proposal.

Extension Coordinator James Morgan said Dougherty County suffered a 40-100 percent loss of certain agricultural products. That was part of a statewide report from University of Georgia Extension he presented to the commission on Monday. Morgan said that Georgia's agricultural industry suffered more than $2.5 billion in losses overall on Oct. 10.

The extension coordinator said that farmers who produce pecans -- which took a statewide hit of $100 million in direct losses and $260 million in direct losses from trees -- and cotton in the county are trying to harvest their crops. The equipment used to shake pecans from the trees were ready to be used the week after the storm.

The cotton got dirty due to the hurricane, which may cause some issues later on.

"(The cotton) is manageable to harvest, but we will have to issue a settlement," he said.

Morgan said there was not much of an impact in Dougherty County on peanuts, which he said saw $10 million-$20 million in direct losses statewide. He said a lot of timber, which saw $763 million in direct losses throughout Georgia, went down. All four poultry houses owned by the single producer in Dougherty were severely compromised, and the birds suffering damage to their feet and wings had to be destroyed.

The statewide report said there were $550-600 million in direct losses in cotton, $13 million in direct losses in the green industry, $480 million in direct losses in vegetables and $10 million in direct losses in soybeans. In poultry, there were $20 million in direct losses to houses and $8 million in direct losses to birds throughout Georgia.

During Morgan's report, Commission Chairman Chris Cohilas made reference to the meeting he had with President Trump while the president was in Georgia the week after the hurricane hit.

"It was made very clear in the briefing that President Trump understood the breadth of the agricultural loss. Whether that leads to action, I don't know," Cohilas said.

Morgan said there are loans coming in to help farmers replant, but he indicated the impact of the loans would not be significant given the amount of sustained losses.

The resolution involving Tetra Tech as initially presented, which provides for the acceptance of a proposal for debris monitoring and financial recovery services for an estimated expenditure to not exceed $1 million per year subject to the execution of the contract by interim County Administrator Mike McCoy, is expected to be discussed again at the commission's work session that is scheduled for Monday.

In this discussion, it is anticipated -- per a suggestion from District 5 Commissioner Gloria Gaines that was supported by McCoy -- that the board will talk over the removal of the $1 million cap so the contract can act as a procurement operation rather than a cost operation.

The scope of service outlined on the contract includes disaster debris monitoring, grant management consulting, emergency management planning, training and staff/equipment augmentation.

McCoy emphasized, following questions from community about the contract, that the county does not pay Tetra Tech if there is no storm. He said it positions officials to respond faster if there is a federally declared disaster.

The commission also approved unanimously:

-- Purchase of five 2019 Ford Police Interceptor sedans for the Dougherty County Police Department from state contract vendor Wade Ford in Smyrna in the amount of $28,295 each for a total expenditure of $141,475;

-- Purchase of one 2019 Ford Police Interceptor SUV for the Dougherty County police from Wade Ford in the amount of $28,263;

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