Baldwin County commissioners on Jan. 2 agreed to delay ratifying a concessions contract for a county recreation facility until staff can confirm the vendor's registered-agent information with the Georgia Secretary of State. Commissioners voted to add concession issues to the next (Tuesday) agenda so the board can consider a finalized contract.

Carlos (staff) told commissioners that about two hours earlier the county had received a receipt from the Georgia Secretary of State showing the vendor had filed paperwork to do business in Georgia, but that staff had not received the vendor's registered-agent address. County Attorney Palmer explained the legal concern: the contract requires a registered agent in the state so the county has a proper notice address and service-of-process contact. Palmer said the county clerk and county attorney could not recommend ratification until that provision was added to the contract and the contract was included in the meeting packet, noting, "Georgia law does require that you all have the contract when you award it to be a part of the minutes entered in the minutes, and that's not gonna be possible at this point today."

Commissioner Strickland moved to amend the agenda to discuss the concessions matter; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. Commissioners debated whether to allow the vendor to operate on Saturday without the contract in place. Palmer and staff recommended waiting for the registered-agent information and completing the contract so it could be reviewed and placed on Tuesday's agenda. Staff told commissioners they could prepare an alternate contract to award to the second bidder if the board chose to reject the current award.

The vendor named in staff comments appears in meeting materials as a catering/concessions entity associated with an applicant named "Nicole Nicolasa." County staff referred to the entity variously in the record as "Nicolasos Catering and Concessions LLC" and "Nicolas's Catering and Concessions LLC." County staff said the board previously voted to award the bid to that entity subject to negotiation and ratification of a contract; that award remains subject to contract execution.

Commissioners raised operational and contractual concerns including whether the vendor had visited the site before bidding, whether a 30% concession fee was realistic, and whether contract language should address survival of contracts on sale of a business. Commissioner Hall said, "I don't think we should and this board be getting into the business of how people run their business when we get awarding them a contract because then we're going to be telling Dara Fordham, Hey, you don't need to do this, you don't need to do that." Multiple commissioners said they were willing to give the vendor an opportunity but wanted the contract finalized and in the packet before ratification.

The board also approved a motion to enter executive session to discuss personnel matters later in the meeting.