The Greene County Board of Commissioners has announced that it will hold special meetings on Friday, July 26, and Monday, July 29, both at 8 a.m.
The meetings are open to the public and will be held at the BOC Conference Room (Suite 201) at 1034 Silver Dr. in Greensboro.
Called meetings are generally less formal, held in a conference room, and allow commissioners and staff to have casual discussions about important topics. However, as with regular meetings, votes on county issues can be taken. Usually, Greene County commissioners have little or no discussion before votes at regularly scheduled meetings, which rarely last more than a half hour.
As of press time, the agenda for the July 26 had not been set, but according to Chris Edward, special assistant to County Manager Byron Lombard, most of the session will be a budget discussion.
At the July 9 regular meeting, Commissioners Angela Deering, Jeffery Smith, and Dee Lindsey held up a vote on another county project, insisting that there needed to be a discussion about the status of the courthouse. Chairman Gary Usry relented, saying it “could be added to the called meeting in July.”
A source said Wednesday that a call meeting will be held on July 29 to discuss the courthouse issue, leaving the budget as the focus of the July 26 meeting.
For a number of years, the board has been studying and considering a plan to move all court and judicial business from the courthouse to a new judicial building at the county’s C. Weldon Smith campus.
This has been a hot topic for many county residents and Greensboro businesses, who worry such action would negatively impact downtown growth in the county’s largest city.
Budget discussions can be wide-ranging, and items can be added to the agenda anytime. Agendas for the special called meetings should be posted on the county website — www.greenecountyga.gov/AgendaCenter — when they become available.