Commissioners hit the road for Tired Creek
A local delegation led by the Grady County Commission hit the road early today for a series of meetings concerning the provisional permit for the proposed 960-acre Tired Creek lake issued last week by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Chairman Al Ball, Vice Chairman Charles Renaud, District 1 Commissioner, Elwyn Childs, District 3 Commissioner Charles Norton, Administrator Rusty Moye and County Attorney Kevin S. Cauley departed Cairo at 8 a.m. Wednesday traveling to Covington for a meeting with Tired Creek consultant and project manager Wm. Thomas Craig.
The Grady County delegation will stay overnight in Covington and on Thursday will travel to Social Circle, Ga. for a 9 a.m. meeting with officials from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Following the meeting with DNR the group will travel to Savannah, where they will spend Thursday night.
On Friday, the party along with Craig will meet at 1:30 p.m. with officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Immediately following the meeting with the Corps, the group will begin the return trip to Cairo.
Chairman Ball says the commissioners are anxious to meet with Craig to better understand the conditions set forth in the provisional permit.
“Our goal will be to negotiate what will be in the best interest of the county in regards to this project. We will be looking for answers with regards to the project costs, if it is doable and the overall feasibility of it,” Chairman Ball said.
Ball said the county delegation will meet with DNR officials to discuss the agency’s participation in the management of the lake and other support.
Then on Friday Ball says the consultant and commissioners will seek to determine which of the conditions included in the provisional permit are negotiable and determine what the county and Corps can agree to before moving forward.
“One of the big things we want to know is what the cost of the mitigation will be and if all of it must be done before work on the dam begins,” County Administrator Moye said.
