Bulloch Co. officials tight-lipped while under investigation by the GBI

BULLOCH COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) – Bulloch County officials are tight-lipped as the GBI looks into how the county’s Public Works Department is spending taxpayer money.

WTOC attended one of the county’s public meetings Tuesday to try to get answers about what’s going on.

Tuesday, the Bulloch County Commissioners held both the commissioners meeting and the annual budget retreat.

At the budget retreat each county department presented their progress and needed funds to continue their projects.

For example, the county fire department presented the progress of hiring several firefighters for the soon-to-be new stations on the county.

“It’s a chance for them to hear from the department heads. Kind of sell our department to them. Let them know who we are, where we came from, where we are now, and then what we are going to need in the future from them,” said Bulloch County Fire, Ben Tapley.

However, even with a public meeting based on the topic of county funds, county officials told us they would not comment on the current investigation by the GBI regarding financial discrepancies within the Public Works Department while it is still an ongoing investigation.

The Ogeechee Circuit District Attorney requested this investigation on February 28th.

Now with it being mid-March, we have no word on where this leaves the department with still so much storm repair work to be done.

Officials say that the county has spent over $30 million on storm repair projects with road repairs and debris removal from Hurricane Idalia to Helene.

The county says they are about 85% completed with debris removal and still have a long way to go with road repair.

According to the GBI, they are currently investigating the department’s invoices and bidding procedures with contractors they used to make these repairs happen.

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