The Decatur County Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday to contract with Conyers Grading & Landscaping, of Dawson, Ga., to crush 18,000 tons of concrete into graded-aggregate base (GAB), which can be used to help improve the county’s dirt roads.

The county’s contract will pay the company $90,000 to crush the material. The other two options were to have the county rent equipment and do it in-house (at a cost of $81,475) or to pay Oxford Construction Co. for already-produced GAB (at a cost of $360,000).

Public Works Director Dennis Medley said he understood that the Conyers option was slightly more expensive, but he believed the cost was worth it. He noted that completing the work in-house would have required extra time and labor that can now be devoted to other public works-related business. He also noted that Conyers “does this for a living” and would be able to quickly troubleshoot any problems.

GAB can be placed on top of a dirt road, rolling it out and packing it tight to create a surface that feels like it is paved. It allows a dirt road to stay in good condition for longer, even in harsh weather.

In other business, the county:

• Approved bids for interior items at the new Agriculture Building off Vada Road. The board approved a low bid of Stones for tiled floors, at $7,597.66. The board also approved the low bids of Home Depot for carpeted floors ($6,308.56), cove base floors ($2,048.50) and main bathroom tile floors ($988.53).

• Approved several purchases, totalling approximately $132,900, to upgrade the county’s WiMax Internet tower sites, to improve internet connectivity in the county’s more rural areas. This funding will come from SPLOST proceeds.

• Approved a request from First Baptist Church to host an Easter sunrise service on April 8, from 7 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., at the Decatur County Air Industrial Park. The event will be open to all citizens and utilize the tarmac area at the northwest end of the field, adjacent to the old FBO.

The rental request includes a $200 cleaning deposit, which will be returned to the church if the facility is left in good condition. Commissioners and County Staff Attorney Brown Moseley also discussed whether a small “user fee” should be imposed, such as $50. This user fee would not be returned.

After some discussion, the commissioners agreed not to assess a user fee for the church’s request, because there was not already a policy in place. However, they agreed to consider developing a policy and possibly assessing such a fee on all future requests.

• Approved a set of facility use and charge guidelines for rental of the Cloud Livestock Facility. Under these guidelines, government use and agricultural non-profit use of the facility would be free.

Fees would be assessed if the facility is used by agriculture private — limited use, for profit — charge events and other non-agricultural authorized events. Those fees would be as follows: half day for entire facility, $250; full day for entire facility, $500; half day for classroom only, $75; full day for classroom only, $150. In addition to that non-refundable fee, organizations would also have to pay a $200 damage deposit that would be returned if the facility is left in good condition.

• Approved R Squared Solutions, Inc.’s loan application for $100,000 from the Decatur County Revolving Loan Fund. This loan will be used to help the company, located in the Commodore Industrial Park, create and/or retain 10 full-time permanent jobs. The loan will be repaid in full.

• Approved a beer license for this year’s Bainbridge Bikefest activities at 1754 Pond Town Road, in the name of Bikefest chairperson Leslie Bernier.

• Went into executive session to discuss personnel. No action was taken following the executive session.