Tax commissioner’s office to be closed multiple days in both April and May

Grady County Tax Commissioner Barbara Darus previously announced upcoming dates of when her office would be closed to the public, but on Tuesday morning she said there are additional dates the public should take note of.

The tax commissioner announced the upcoming closure to the Grady County Board of Commissioners this week.

In addition to being closed in May, Commissioner Darus said her office would be closed Wednesday and Thursday, April 17 and 18, so that her staff could travel to Valdosta for training on the state Department of Motor Vehicle’s new software that will go live next month.

She said it was easier just to close the office and all of the staff go for training than to split up and go to training classes offered elsewhere and incur the expense of overnight hotel stays.

At the March 19 county commission meeting, the tax commissioner had announced that her office would close at noon on Thursday, May 23 and would remain closed until 8 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28.

The state will be transitioning to the new software program statewide over the Memorial Day weekend, according to Darus.

“I’m trying to get the message out and I apologize in advance for any inconvenience it may cause,” the tax commissioner said.

While the tax commissioner’s office will be closed on those dates, the Board of Assessors office will be open for business, according to Grady County Administrator J.C. (Buddy) Johnson III.

The county administrator said that during the dates the tax commissioner’s office is closed, there will be a note placed on the front door of the courthouse annex notifying the public that if they need to conduct business with the tax assessors, they may call their office and a member of the assessor staff will open the door and allow citizens access to the assessors office.

In other business Tuesday morning, the board:

Received the revised pre-hazard mitigation plan. The plan, which has been tweaked by the South Georgia Regional Commission in conjunction with local input, will formally be adopted by the county commission and the city councils of both Cairo and Whigham in May. The updated plan must be adopted and approved by the Georgia Emergency Management Agency in order for the county to be eligible for federal disaster assistance in the event of a presidential disaster declaration.

Accepted the low bid of $3,750 from Georgia Sealcoating Maintenance of Moultrie to restripe parking lots at Barber Park as well as the tennis courts. The only other bid received for the project was $6,103 submitted by Gaines and Sons Striping of Tallahassee.

Heard comments from Commissioner June Knight, who noted that Grady County Sheriff Harry Young has said he instructed his deputies to aggressively enforce laws preventing illegal dumping or dumpster diving. “Maybe some tickets will be issued finally,” Commissioner Knight said. Commissioner Ray Prince commented, “If they will follow through, it will be good.”

Heard a report from the county administrator about vandals hacking into electronic road signs placed on Old 179 North by the contractor on the full depth reclamation project over the weekend. According to Johnson, the signs were reprogrammed to display lewd and lascivious remarks. “We just shut them down. We’re doing the best we can do with it,” Johnson said. The county administrator also said that some of the batteries powering the signs had been stolen.

Heard a report that vandals cut the chain to gain entry to State Park Road near Tired Creek Lake where the county had installed a gate to keep people out. The road is closed to thru traffic, but the county administrator says that people are ignoring the road closure signs.