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Published Friday, August 07, 2009 in Local

Drug court proposed for Coweta judicial circuit

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Times-Herald

The Coweta County Board of Commissioners is supporting plans for a circuit-wide drug court.

Coweta Magistrate Judge Joseph Wyant appeared before the commissioners Tuesday to discuss plans for the drug court.

The Coweta Judicial Circuit, which includes Carroll, Coweta, Troup, Heard and Meriwether counties, has been allocated $428,000 through the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grant Program.

"We could have gone at it a number of different ways. We could have individually put bids in," Wyant said.

Instead, District Attorney Pete Skandalakis called a meeting of "all the individuals interested in receiving the grant, and we determined we would speak with one voice because unified grants are given preference. We decided that what we want is a circuit-wide drug court."

Wyant asked the commissioners for a letter of support to complement the grant application. "I will be hitting Sheriff Yeager up for one of these letters tomorrow," he said.

The drug court will be an alternative to jail for people who are charged with drug possession. "This is not a situation where we would be offering this to traffickers or those arrested for intent to distribute or anything like that. We are talking about addicts, possession," Wyant said. Offenders can go through the program before or after their cases are adjudicated.

Hopes are the drug court will help people get off drugs and stop the "revolving door" at the jail.

Right now, Wyant said, there are approximately 30 people in the Coweta County Jail for drug possession. It's costing approximately $45 a day to house each one.

Offenders will have to report to drug court on a weekly basis and be drug tested, Wyant said.

"We will be coupling our efforts with local education centers to try to get them training or a GED," Wyant said, and offenders will be required to apply for jobs. "If they can't do that, then we will force them to work in other ways."

"We understand there are going to be some stumbling blocks," Wyant added. "If they do well, they will be rewarded. If they don't, well, there will be consequences."

Commissioner Randolph Collins asked what will happen when the three-year grant runs out.

"We are hoping to make it self-sustaining," Wyant said, with fines and the like. Additionally, they hope to be able to do drug testing in-house. "Not only would that save us money," but the testing services could be offered to other agencies and employees, and "we'd be able to charge a fee for that," Wyant said.

In other meeting business:

* The board voted to approve a "no idling" policy for county vehicles.

The county has been working with the Clean Air Campaign, said County Administrator Theron Gay, and "one of their issues is to avoid idling as much as possible."

"We are actually already following the policy, but this is actually putting it in writing," Gay said. There will be exceptions for emergency vehicles, natural gas vehicles, times when temperature needs to be controlled, and diesel engines that need to idle upon startup.

"There is no particular criteria we are trying to meet, other than just a policy that generally states we need to be careful of it," Gay said.

* The board voted to approve erecting a memorial sign on Poplar Road for William F. Crawford, who was killed in the Korean War.

* Approved was a list of eight contractors to bid on the Corinth Road fire station project. Commissioner Rodney Brooks said he would like to expand the list to the top 10, to include two additional local contractors. The top eight only included one local company.

"Number 11 is also a local one, and has the same rating as 10," said Collins. "Where do you stop?"

"With an over 10 percent unemployment rate, I would like to see the taxpayers' money employ local residents," Brooks said. "We'll still look at the best price."

Before Brooks expressed his concerns, Commissioner Tim Lassetter had already made a motion to approve the list. "And I'm not going to amend my motion," he said.

The motion passed 4-1, with Brooks opposed.

* The board voted to reduce the speed limit on Eastside School Road from 55 mph to 45 mph.

* The board approved a proposal from Ross and Associates to do the work needed to amend the county's impact fee ordinance. Ross will create a new methodology report for transportation impact fees, and update the capital improvements element and impact fee ordinance.

The cost will be $11,300. That's substantially cheaper than the original price, Gay said.

The overhaul will take about six months to complete, said Transportation Planner Tavores Edwards.

* The board approved purchasing stream credits needed for the intersection improvement at Ga. Hwy. 154 and Lower Fayetteville Road. The 499 stream credits will cost $32,435.

Brooks said he has looked into the cost of mitigation credits, and "actually, we are getting a good price, believe it or not."

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