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Barrow Journal www.BarrowJournal.com •r Read all over... Wednesday, January 7,2009 Vol. 1 No. 11 18 PAGES 2 SECTIONS A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. WINDER, BARROW COUNTY GEORGIA 30680 250COPY — Inside — Area news: •Terry England pre views upcoming 2009 legislative session page 2A •Deadline for hospital appeal approaching page 2A •County water suit wages on page 2A Opinions: •Time to tighten the money belt page 4A •County cuts the right first move page 4A Sports: •WBHS, AHS wrestling teams prepare for team duals , D page 1B •Doggs, Cats prepare for next chapter in ath letic rivalry , D J .... page 1B •Gridiron Bulldogs already working toward 2009 campaign page , 6 Other News: •Birth Notices page 6B •Church News page 9A •Person column page 5A •Public Safety pages 6-8A •Obituaries page 7B •School News pages 5-6B Yearwood: Cut county hours to 37.5 BY SUSAN NORMAN Barrow County's new commission chairman Danny Yearwood will pro pose cutting county employee hours to 37.5 per week and one unpaid furlough day per month in an effort to cut county spending during the economic downturn. The proposed cuts would reduce salaries across the board by 9.8 percent, Yearwood said. He said the cutbacks will be across-the-board and will affect everyone from “top to bottom.” Yearwood announced his cost-cut- ting proposal to county employees at a meeting Wednesday mor ning. He said he plans to for mally take the proposal to the full board of commissioners at the Jan. 13 BOC meeting. Commissioners Larry Joe Wilburn and Eva Elder also attended Wednesday's mee ting. The BOC will also be asked to whether to open county offices a half-hour later at 8:30 a.m., he said. Yearwood appealed to county employees to approach this tough economic time as a team and to offer suggestions they have for how to cut costs or increase income. He explained to the 150 employees gathered for the first of three staff meetings on Wednesday how the down turn in the nation's economy is affecting the county's financial picture. He said the county has $13.6 million in cash for operating expenses, but the total weekly expenses amount to $1.5 million. More than half of that cost is for salaries and benefits. The total reserves, including unde signated cash and account payables, is about $6.7 million. The majority of the liquid reserves are in a $2.7 million certificate of deposit. “What I don't want to do is to go into that reserve,” Yearwood said. “If we go into it, we can’t put il back. We’ve got to make sure Barrow County is protected. That's our job. That’s the reason we have a job - because of Barrow County.” Yearwood also read a two-page lisl of financial challenges the county is facing. He said the county has $118 million in debt and is facing shortfalls in several revenue streams: continued on page 2A YEARWOOD Housing bust slams sales Real estate sales down 87% during month of Nov. T he change has been dramatic. From one of the fastest growing counties in the nation just two years ago, Barrow’s housing and construction market has vir tually collapsed. How bad is it? In November 2006, Barrow recorded 319 resi dential property sales and a total sales number of $43.7 million. Compare that to two months ago, Barrow County recorded just 42 residen tial property sales and total countywide property sales of just $5.4 million, an 87 percent decline. Housing and construc tion was the economic engine that fueled several years of dynamic growth in Northeast Georgia. Starting in 2004, Barrow County saw a dramatic rise in home sales and new construction. That housing boom created a lot of employment oppor tunities for construction workers, real estate agents, landscapers and financial officials. At one point, con struction work made up the dominant work of adult males in Barrow County at 22 percent of total employ ment. Indirectly, the housing boom also created new gov ernment jobs for planners, administrators, utility work ers and school teachers. The massive housing growth also sparked a sec ondary rush of commercial real estate projects: Stores, restaurants and other ser vices that catered to the booming population rushed in. Construction permits peaked in 2005 in Barrow County with 1,416. That followed two years in which building permits in the county were over 1,300 each year. That housing boom peaked in the second and BANK OWNED This home in the Lake Rockwell subdivision was foreclosed. third quarters of 2006 when around 1,000 home sales were recorded each quar ter. In addition, new build ing permits began to slip in 2006 to back under 2002 levels. But from that 2006 peak, housing sales began a steady decline in Barrow County. By the fourth quarter of last year, housing sales had fall en to half the peak rate, to Photo by Jessica Brown around 500, and remained there for the first two quar ters of 2008. Then the bottom fell out. In the third quarter of 2008, fewer than 200 home sales were recorded and the fourth quarter is likely to be much, much worse. For October and November, only 89 home sales were recorded. continued on page 5A UNDER CONSTRUCTION Federal funds will allow sewer services for the new Southern regional office of Olympic Steel, Inc. Photo by Susan Norman Funds to extend sewer for business Journal now a paid publication After a 10-week free trial period, only paid subscribers will now receive a copy of the Barrow Journal in their mail. Launched Oct. 29, the Barrow Journal was mailed free to every home in Barrow County through last week. Beginning with this first edi tion of 2009, only paid subscrib ers will get a weekly issue by mail. Copies of the Journal will continue to be available at news stands and in stores around Barrow County for 25 cents. The paper will be available on news stands Wednesday night and by mail on Thursdays. The Journal will continue to honor the introductory rate of $5 per year for subscriptions for those who use a coupon with the $5 special. Coupons were distributed in past editions of the newspaper. "The subscription response has been overwhelming,” said co-publisher Mike Buffington. "We’re still processing a large stack of last-minute subscribers, so if you didn’t receive your newspaper in the mail this week, we will add an additional week to your subscription.” The Barrow Journal is pub lished by MainstreetNewspapers, Inc. a family-owned publishing firm in Jefferson. The firm also publishes The Braselton News and The Jackson Herald among its six weekly newspapers. By SUSAN NORMAN The Georgia Department of Community Affairs has awarded $401,800 in federal funds for the extension of sewer service to the new Southern regional office of Ohio-based Olympic Steel, Inc. Linda Moore, vice president of eco nomic development for the Barrow County Chamber of Commerce, announced the award in a press release. Moore said a key factor in the compa ny’s 2008 decision to locate its regional office in Georgia was the commitment by Winder and Barrow County officials to provide sewer. The local governments applied for the grant and also committed a combined total of $112,650 in additional local funding for the project. The grant to the local governments is through the state's Employment Incentive Program, which directs fed eral funds for infrastructure or other improvements to local governments attempting to attract business initiatives that create or retain jobs for low- and moderate-income workers. When Winder and Barrow County governments jointly applied for the grant last year, Olympic Steel expected to locate 50 employees, many of them new, in its new 9,600-square-foot build ing on Barrow Park Drive. However, when the building opens in March, no new employees initially will work there. “Immediately, the only workforce at the new expansion will be those current ly employed in Winder,” stated Tracey Dowell Nursey in an e-mail. “We cur rently have 25 office employees, and the new building has enough space to house 50 comfortably.” continued on page 5A Auburn to meet Thursday BY CHRIS BRIDGES The Auburn City Council will hold its first meeting of 2009 Thursday and it's scheduled to vote on several items, includ ing the appointment of a mayor pro tem and the awarding of a contract for the collection of the city's garbage and recycling pickup. The meeting, set for 7 p.m. in the council chambers, will include a year-in-review address from mayor Linda Blechinger. Also on the agenda for vote by the council will be a proposal from police chief Larry Brown for the addition of a K-9 officer. Brown made a presentation to the council during a December work session. The council will also vote on a recommendation from city clerk Rafael Avalos to use Robertson’s United as the exclusive residen tial solid waste company for the city. The city received bids from Robertson’s United as well as Advanced and Waste Pro. Robertson’s United offered the lowest rate which Avalos pre sented at the December work session. Also scheduled for Thursday’s council meeting are: •vote on franchise agreement with Comcast. •resolution to adopt the 1999 Service Delivery Strategy with Gwinnett County. •accessory building ordinance. No fieldhouse repairs made BY CHRIS BRIDGES Barrow County Assistant Superintendent for Facilities Jake Grant was asked about the progress on repairs for the Winder-Barrow High School athletic complex during Monday night’s Barrow County Board of Education meeting. Grant’s answer: “We are no where on repairs.” That reply came in response to school board member Lynn Steven’s question regarding a status report on repairs to the new field house, which was con structed within the last two years but now is in need of reported repairs. continued on page 2A MLK parade set for Jan. 19 The Winder City Council approved a permit Tuesday night for the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee's parade honoring the late Civil Rights leader from 10:30 a.m. to noon Jan. 19. The parade route will began at Quality Foods on North Broad Street, turn left onto East Athens Street, and then left onto King Street. It will end at White Oak Springs Baptist Church.