Macon-Bibb Board of Health
The Macon-Bibb County Board of Health will soon see new programs to combat drug abuse through nearly a half-million dollars from opioid legal settlements.
In the board’s April meeting, North Central Health District Overdose Surveillance and Planning Specialist Marissa Cooling said the funds will expand harm reduction efforts in substance abuse hotspots in Bibb and Houston counties.
The effort includes vending machines with testing kits for fentanyl and xylazine, or tranq, and narcan and safe hygiene supplies.
Cooling said she also plans to pilot a jail-based Overdose Education & Naloxone Distribution , or OEND program.
“We’re connecting with a lot of our partners in Bibb and Houston,” Cooling said. “We’re seeing overdose numbers leveling off a bit.”
Fentanyl use is down and heroin is making a comeback, but methamphetamine is the main drug being used in rural Georgia.
“It’s also being laced with opioids,” Cooling said. “We’re doing everything we can.”
The North Central Health District also is closer to having a new director after nearly a six-month search. Interim District Health Director Dr Thomas Craft expects the job finalist to accept the state’s offer and begin his tenure on July 1.
Board of Elections
The supervisor of the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections is appealing l to the county manager for funding to make the Macon Mall office more handicapped accessible.
During its April meeting, Tom Gillon told the elections board he wasn’t sure whether the Americans with Disabilities Act requires automatic doors on the interior of a building, but he wants them installed on the office doors inside the mall.
“To be on the safe side and for the benefit of our voters, having them ADA compliant with automatic openings would be a good thing,” Gillon said.
The Macon Mall location continues to be the most popular site for early voting, although the Elaine Lucas Senior Center has easier access.
Improvements are also needed at the loading dock where persistent flooding has been a problem since before the elections office opened at the mall, Gillon said.
He also prepared the board for the possibility of holding an E-SPLOST election for the Bibb County School District in the fall. A statewide Georgia Public Service election is already set for the first Tuesday in November, so there would be no additional expense, he said.
Due to the unexpected absence of Democratic representative Tom Ellington from the meeting, the board agreed to postpone selection of a fifth member until next Month.
Judge Sarah Harris administered the oath of office to the three other members who were recently selected or reappointed by the local political parties: Barbara Boyer, the new Republican representative replacing Joel Hazard, the GOP’s Robert Abbott and Democrat Karen Evans.
SPLOST Advisory Committee
As the 2018 SPLOST collection draws to a close in the coming months, the most expensive project on the list has yet to be completed.
When voters approved the campaign in 2016, about $40 million was earmarked for a new courthouse and parking deck.
So far, the courthouse SPLOST funds paid for construction of two new courtrooms at the annex at Macon Mall, a new third courtroom for State Court of Bibb County, and the purchase of the old IBM building at 688 Walnut St. and the adjacent parking lot at 236 First St.
Nearly $29 million remains for that project, which now involves renovating the existing courthouse instead.
Macon-Bibb County hired the architectural firm Wakefield Beasley, now Nelson Worldwide, to study the building and design the renovation.
During the April meeting of the SPLOST Advisory Committee, project manager Clay Murphey said Mayor Lester Miller has hired local firm BTBB Architects to study Nelson Worldwide’s recommendations and determine what is feasible with the remaining funds.
For many years, judges have pushed for safer access to the building for them and staff, secure and private passage ways for people in custody, and a new ground-floor public entrance.
Proposals include a new sally port entrance/exit with locking doors to help prevent prisoner escapes and a private elevator from the alley for the incarcerated.
“That’s what we’re charged to figure out,” BTBB’s Bob Brown told The Macon Newsroom.
His firm also will determine the feasibility of a new public entrance next to the Grand Opera House.
— Civic Journalism Senior Fellow Liz Fabian covers Macon-Bibb County government entities for The Macon Newsroom and can be reached at fabian_lj@mercer.edu or 478-301-2976.
