Macon-Bibb outsources homeless encampment cleanup to private company

Macon-Bibb County will now pay a private company to clear and clean homeless encampments on public property, a job previously done by county employees.

Commissioners on Tuesday voted to approve contracting with Massachusetts-based New England Trauma Services LLC to handle the clearing of homeless encampments on an “as-needed” basis.

Mayor Lester Miller said the county issued a request for proposals in January upon hearing concerns raised by the Parks and Beautification Director Michael Glisson.

“Sometimes they leave very harmful materials behind,” Miller said of homeless individuals who were removed from encampments on public property. “I’m not going to place our employees in dangers’ way of having to go out there and remove dangerous needles, dangerous intoxicants … and sometimes buckets of feces and other things.”

Miller said the county does not routinely encounter encampments with such biohazards and “we’ve only had to do it one time in the last three or four years.” The cost to clean up one of the encampments last year was “tens of thousands,” he said, adding that the company has the necessary qualifications to do the work safely.

The company’s cost proposal included $6 per 55-gallon trash bag disposal, $195 per site plus hourly rates of $95 per technician and $115 per biohazard technician. The contract says the county anticipates it will need to clear about eight homeless encampments yearly. The annual contract may be renewed yearly until June 30, 2030.

Police or code enforcement officers will be paid to be on site while the contractors work, according to meeting documents.

Miller said he had seen “a lot of misinformation out there” about how the county clears such encampments. He asked Assistant County Attorney Adrianna Beavers to explain the process.

“Our social services partners will go out a few times beforehand, letting people who are on these public sites unlawfully [know] that they can’t stay here, these are the services we have available, offering them assistance to get them connected with services, rapid rehousing, transported to Brookdale, whatever they may need,” Beavers said, adding many of those homeless individuals accept those offers. “Others who may choose not to are advised that they need to leave the site by [this time and date], at which point …There’s a final walk through that says, ‘Hey, you have to vacate this site.’”

Miller mentioned a program that reunites some of those individuals with their families via bus tickets out of town. He also said the county offers those who are evacuated from the encampment a safe place to store their personal items.“We always protect, too, the people’s belongings,” he said. “We offer something to put all their belongings in, make sure we keep those if they can’t take those with them. We store those in a safe place.”

Jail money and roadwork

Commissioners also earmarked $34 million to pay for the expansion of the Bibb County Jail. The money will come from the 2025 Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax voters approved last March. The county has so far spent about $1,244,040 for preconstruction work.

Miller said the estimated price for the jail has “gone up a little bit” because the sheriff added features he wanted, including office space and additional beds. Renderings of the rehabilitated jail are expected later this month. The work is expected to start in June and take 14-18 months to complete.

County roads, too, will continue getting upgrades. Commissioners approved a new $3.2 million contract with Professional Paving Services Inc., which will cover more than 16 miles of roadway. A mix of state road maintenance money and 2018 SPLOST collections will pay for the work.

Professional Paving Services Inc. has received nearly $10 million in county paving contracts over the past year. The company was established a decade ago and is registered to a financial company on Forsyth Road.

Lake Tobo enhancement plan

Commissioners met behind closed doors for nearly an hour before reemerging to vote on an interim agreement with Lovejoy Capital LLC, an outdoor hospitality company owned by the grandson of late Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge Sr.

The agreement proposes a yearlong period to plan, develop, design and engineer plans to enhance the Lake Tobesofkee Recreation Area.

The public-private partnership proposal could yield upscale outdoor lodging, commonly known as glamping, along with a new walking trail and a new life for Sandy Beach Water Park, which would be transformed “into a world-class maze attraction that can operate year-round,” the company wrote in an unsolicited proposal to the county.

One resident who spoke during public comments said folks who live on the lake had not heard anything about the public-private partnership from the county in at least 12 months and could not make it to the meeting because of the short notice.

“There is a great concern about some of the changes being proposed,” she said. 

Residents “just want to have more transparency. … There’s a lot of anxiety about it,” she added.

Miller assured her no agreements had been finalized and “it’s just preliminary.” He added the county is planning two more public information sessions during which “there will be lots of things for you to see and ask questions” about.

In other business, commissioners on Tuesday approved:

• Abandonment of an alleyway at 855 and 847 Northern Street and subsequent sale of it to Nevada-based Daniwin Associates LLC for $565.
• A contract with the Macon Area Habitat for Humanity for $345,767 to build two new, single-family homes on Duncan Avenue.
• A grant application for $8 million in state funds “for the purpose of reducing unsheltered homelessness” in the county.
• Acceptance of a Federal Aviation Administration grant of $2.6 million with a local match of $137,817 for funding the second phase of a runway extension project at the Middle Georgia Regional Airport.
• An agreement with SAFEbuilt Georgia LLC for building department administrative services to be paid on a percent-of-fees basis by the fire department.