The Henry County Board of Commissioners voted at its January 17 regular meeting to approve a $2,951,502.11 contract for inspections to comply with federal stormwater regulations during the five-year permit cycle form 2023 to 2027.

According to a county staff report, Henry County is required by law to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Stormwater NPDES Permit Program, limiting the length of the permit to five years. The county is required to inspect all stormwater structures (about 30,000) in a five-year cycle to comply with the permit.

In other business, the board approved a resolution requesting state grants for road projects in response to a solicitation from the Georgia Transportation Infrastructure Bank. County officials specifically identified three projects for possible funding:

Mill Road widening, preliminary engineering, Jonesboro Road to Hwy. 81.

Willow Lane widening, preliminary engineering, Jonesboro Road to Hwy. 20.

East Atlanta Road resurfacing from Old Conyers Road to Fairview Road.

The total amount of the request is $4.8 million, which is 80 percent of the overall cost with a local match of $1.2 million.

The board approved the $55,213 purchase of heavy apparatus lifts from Mohawk Lifts as well as two requests for new streetlight districts from Edinburgh subdivision on Hampton Locust Grove Road and Rowland Place (Phase 2) subdivision on Elliott Road.

A resolution was approved requesting American Rescue Plan Act funds for the purchase and installation of surveillance camera systems for the Superior Court, State Court Judicial Center, and Henry County Jail at a cost of $871,541.33. The stated purpose of the acquisition is to provide COVID detection abilities.

According to officials, the upgrade of the surveillance security cameras is a necessity for supporting operations and is supportive of COVID-19 contact tracing and other prevention strategies such as elevated temperature detection, distancing protocol, etc. Current systems are inadequate, some areas are not covered or are inoperable and disparate systems increase cost and decrease effectiveness.

“The installation of the advanced equipment will help our public safety and court officials in the mitigation efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which benefits the public health, court officials, and the safety of our HCSO staff,” according to a county staff report.