By Cindy Jackson
January 13, 2022
The first meeting of the new year for the Board of County Commissioners took place on January 10, 2022, with Commissioner Aaron Bell (District 2) in the position of Chairman and Commissioner Jeff Gray (District 3) serving as Vice-Chairman.
While the agenda was long, most of the items contained on it might be described as “housekeeping” items – requiring the Commissioners’ seal of approval on matters County staff had already recommended approval.
One such item approved was a resolution to prohibit thru trucks on:
- Thomas Creek Road
- Acree Road; and
- Ratliff Road
Over the past few years, the Department of Engineering Services has received multiple requests from County residents to post signs such as “No Thru Trucks” and/or “Local Traffic Only” in an attempt to reduce both speed and traffic.
County Engineer, Robert Companion, had this to say about the three roads. “We’ve seen a lot of cut-through traffic through that residential area . . . and did what we thought was appropriate for safety’s sake.”
Added County Manager Taco Pope, “community input has resulted in neighborhood satisfaction on many roads all across the County. “
In that vein, Commissioner Aaron Bell (District 2) later gave a shout-out to the Road Department saying, “Those guys are doing a bang-up job.” Bell was referring to numerous complaints he had received about excessive speeding on Scott Road. He submitted a request to Companion on December 15th and after studying the issue, speed humps were determined to be the best way to manage that issue and were installed on December 23.
One item that engendered a bit more discussion among the Commissioners was the approval of a funding agreement with the Nassau County Economic Development Board in the amount of $150,000.
Said Commissioner John Martin (District 1), “I’m going to support this tonight but going forward, I think we need to know about the deliverables before we allocate $150,000 to the Economic Development Board (EDB).
Echoing the sentiments expressed by Commissioner Jeff Gray (District 3), Commissioner Bell stated, “I’m going to support this too . . . we can’t keep relying on the residential tax base to keep funding county government. We’ve got to have jobs where people don’t have to leave Nassau County to go to work.”
The motion to provide $150,000 to the EDC passed by a vote of 4-0. Commissioner Thomas Ford was not in attendance.
The next meeting of the Board of County Commissioners is scheduled for Wednesday, January 19, 2022 at 9am.