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The ADVANCE, January 17, 2024/Page 11A
Tillery: Week One
Under the Gold Dome
By Sen. Blake Tillery
(R-Vidalia)
Last week
marked the start of
the 2024 Legislative
Session. Each year
brings new exciting
challenges and
opportunities, but
one thing remains
the same: the 19th
Senate District will
always be my first
priority and at the
forefront of every decision I make this
session.
The Georgia General Assembly
officially gaveled in for the first of the
2024 Legislative Session on Monday
January 8. It was an action-packed week,
during which the Georgia Senate and the
House of Representatives gathered for a
joint session in the House chamber to
hear from Governor Brian P. Kemp on his
annual State of the State Address. The
Governor uses his State of the State
Address to lay out his priorities for the
upcoming session. Throughout his
remarks, Gov. Kemp set the tone for this
session, prioritizing pay raises for law
enforcement officers, funding for the
betterment of Georgia’s university system,
and key updates to the technology of state
agencies. These changes will not only
retain and recruit staff across a number of
state divisions, but will also give much
needed modernization to state facilities
for greater effectiveness across the board. I
look forward to supporting the Governor’s
efforts in ensuring that the needs of
Georgia’s citizens are met.
This week, much of the General
Assembly’s time will be devoted to Joint
Hearings of the Senate and House
Appropriations Committees. “Budget
Week,” as we call it, is a time for the heads
of Georgia’s state agencies and departments
to present their budget requests to the
General Assembly for review. This was
also a time where we were able to address
our constitutional obligation to ensure a
balanced budget. These hearings are often
long, but are critical in ensuring that your
taxpayer dollars are spent as responsibly as
possible. As Chair of the Senate
Appropriations Committee, I take these
budget hearings very seriously as it is my
responsibility to ensure that your tax
dollars are allocated fairly. I look forward
to providing you with a detailed report of
the budget proposals at the end of the
week.
As the legislative session progresses,
please do not hesitate to reach out to my
office if you have questions regarding any
legislative matters.
Sen. Blake Tillery serves as Chairman for
the Senate Committee on Appropriations. He
represents the 19th Senate District, which
includes Appling, Bacon, Jeff Davis, Long,
Montgomery, Telfair, Toombs, Wayne, and
Wheeler counties and a portion of Coffee
County. He can be reached by email at blake.
tillery@senate.ga.gov.
Photo by Latoya Snead
LOCAL HISTORY - A group of Mount Vernon community leaders and Brewton-Parker
College students walked around the city on Monday, January 15, as they discussed
the significance of the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Dr. F, Lee Carter also shared his
memories of Dr, King with attendees, as he marched with King during Carter's child
hood. L to R: Pastor Craig Snead, Dr. F. Lee Carter, Patrick Peeples, Billy Puckett.
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Grant
continued from page 1A
nity Affairs that we re
ceived the grant from the
Rural Workforce Housing
Initiative,” Vidalia Mayor
Doug Roper reacted. “We
are grateful for Governor
Kemp's focus on address
ing the housing issue fac
ing so many communities
and believe this will help us
significantly provide more
housing for those that ei
ther call Vidalia home or
desire to relocate here. This
project has several phases
and could provide up to
210 homes, which is huge
for us. Our area stands to
see substantial growth in
the coming years and this
grant provides us with the
means to have immediate
impact around the issue of
housing."
This grant also comes
after a recent study on
housing within Toombs
County, according to
Toombs County Develop
ment Authority Executive
Director Michele Johnson,
who said the new housing
will address a deficiency
within the area.
“Workforce housing is
a critical need for our com
munity’s economic stabil
ity and growth,” Johnson
commented. “Availability
is vital for successful busi
ness and industry retention
and recruitment efforts
needed to grow economic
opportunities. A need for
local workforce housing
was recently highlighted
in the “Housing Study for
Toombs County, Lyons,
and Vidalia” performed by
the Georgia Conservancy
and MicroLife Institute
as jointly initiated by the
Board of Commissioners
of Toombs County, City
of Lyons, City of Vidalia,
Georgia Power, Greater
Vidalia® Chamber, and
Toombs County Devel
opment Authority. Local
employment opportunities
have outgrown our housing
market, so attracting talent
to meet the needs of cur
rent/ prospective business
and industry has become
increasingly challenging.
The Authority fully sup
ports the City of Vidalia’s
project as a step in the right
direction to address this is
sue.”
State Senator Blake
Tillery serves on the One-
Georgia Authority Over
view Committee and also
commented on this grant
award, stating, “I want to
thank Gov. Kemp and the
OneGeorgia Authority for
their support of the City of
Vidalia. The grants will sig
nificantly impact our com
munity, the infrastructure,
and allow its residents to
build and enjoy modern,
cost-efficient housing. In
order to grow the work
force of Vidalia, we have to
have places for young fami
lies to live.”
Both the City of Vida
lia and Stanley Farms are
contributing to the total
project costs of$2,985,891.
The exact date of comple
tion has not been yet been
disclosed.
The grant comes as
a second round of giving
to communities. Total
ing more than $9 million
in infrastructure develop
ment, this new round of
grants will ultimately sup
port more than 400 units
of housing across Vidalia
and three other communi
ties. In addition to meeting
the grant and OneGeorgia
Authority requirements,
award recipients demon
strated strong collabora
tion between the affected
communities and real es
tate developers.
"Last year, I made a
commitment to promot
ing the growth of work
force housing in areas
across our state experienc
ing record-breaking eco
nomic development," said
Governor Brian Kemp.
"This latest round of grants
will help four more com
munities provide the need
ed infrastructure to meet
demand as even more op
portunity comes to rural
parts of our state. Geor
gians deserve to be able to
live in the same communi
ties where they work, and
this program is helping to
make sure they can."
Announced in the
governor’s 2023 State of
the State Address, the Ru
ral Workforce Housing Ini
tiative is helping to spur the
development of critically
needed workforce hous
ing in communities across
the state. The Georgia Gen
eral Assembly approved
$35.7 million to start the
initiative in the Amended
Fiscal Year 2023 budget
signed into law in March
2023. This second round
of successful grantees
demonstrates meaningful
change in workforce hous
ing for these four commu
nities and the benefits of
the overall program.
"The OneGeorgia
Authority is pleased to
support these local com
munities in attaining
their housing goals," said
Department of Commu
nity Affairs Commissioner
Christopher Nunn. 'At
the department, we strive
to build strong, vibrant
communities in Georgia.
This Initiative allows us to
help communities that are
pursuing deliberate work
force housing strategies."
In addition to meet
ing OneGeorgia Authority
requirements, applicants
leveraged other funding
sources to demonstrate
community commitment
to increasing access to af
fordable housing for work
ers. Use of funds is subject
to all applicable state laws
and regulations, as well as
to the policies and require
ments of the OneGeorgia
Authority and the Depart
ment of Community Af
fairs. OneGeorgia funds
must be expended within
the timeframe specified
in the grant or loan award
documentation, which is
generally two years from
the date of the award.
Luncheon
continued from page 9A
one of the biggest chal
lenges within the state
— and specifically, the lo
cal area - is the creation
of 16,000 jobs in Bryan
County with the new
Hyundai plant. “Local in
dustries are a little bit con
cerned. When [this plant]
comes in and pays people
around $35 per hour,
they wonder can custom
ers handle the increase in
prices that you will have
to charge to compete with
that. It’s scary,’ he told the
audience.
He also shared that
the traffic caused by this
growth in industry along
1-16 is also presenting
changes that could be
frightening to the area.
“The DOT traffic analysis
for all the new investment
from Bulloch County to
the port says that by 2030
or 2040, it is projected
to take you 2 hours and
20 minutes to get from
Statesboro to the ports.
That means that I could
leave my home in Vidalia
and be at Hartsfield-Jack-
son International Airport
in Atlanta before I could
leave my home in Vidalia
and be in Savannah,” he
explained.
“I would much rather
see these problems of a
state of growth than some
other states are seeing be
cause of negative growth,
but they are problems, and
we do not face them head
on, they will be issues that
keep our community from
continuing to grow,” he
summarized.
Another issue which
Tillery expects to be dis
cussed during the session
is literacy, which he argues
is the scariest issue cur
rently in the state. “Our
schools’ numbers state
wide show that only 1 in
3 children read on grade
level,” he said.
Tillery added his own
experience with this issue,
sharing how his 9-year-old
foster child could not read
upon arrival at his home;
yet, after learning, the skill
changed the time taken to
do homework daily from 4
hours to 2 hours. “If that
kind of growth can hap
pen for a 9 year old, what
if we could replicate that
across the 2/3 of children
within in our state that
are not reading on grade
level? Imagine then what
we are able to accomplish.
Imagine then what a dent
we will place on the work
force,” he told the audi
ence.
The Senator also said
that he expects issues to
“trickle down” from the
current federal gridlock,
as he said that issues that
are not handled at the
federal level - such as im
migration, workforce, and
foreign ownership of local
property - will need to be
handled by the state.
“Local officials are
nervous about things they
have seen in our communi
ty - our public safety folks
should be nervous,” Til
lery shared. “I don’t think
that I 1 m someone that’s
ethnocentric - I’m not
going to be nervous that
someone doesn’t speak
the same language that I
do, but I do want to know
what’s actually going on. It
makes you nervous when
some of these areas need 3
inch wells to make sure it
cools in time. It makes you
nervous when the amount
of electricity used has
your local fire department
knowing that if that place
catches on fire, the best
they can do is get a quar
ter of a mile away and keep
other things from burning.
That’s scary - it’s nerve
wracking, and its things
the federal government
has not addressed.”
Tillery spoke on the
budget, saying he expect
ed that the budget would
be increased to $35 billion
because of inflation and
other issues. He said that
53% of that funding will
go to education, and 23%
will go to healthcare.
He concluded, shar
ing that he planned on
working on bills regard
ing the foster child system,
robo-calls, and lawyer ad
vertisement.
Overall, the Luncheon
serviced to allow the pub
lic an insight into the up
coming legislative session,
and to speak directly to
their leaders about the is
sues which the state is fac
ing.