Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 2A
BARROW JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2010
Winder continued from 1A
LARGE TURNOUT
Numerous residents and business leaders were at
Tuesday’s council meeting. Photo by Susan Norman
With Maynard at the three-
hour meeting were: Bob
and Gwen Hill of Hill’s Ace
Hardware; Brad Akins of
Akins Ford; Wayne Bartlett
of Maynard & Bartlett Realty
Group LLP; Larry Jones
of Larry's Easy Pay; Greg
Lanthier of Lanthier's Heating
& Air; and Jon Greeson, a
major commercial property
owner.
Those who addressed the
council said their compa
nies could not afford to take
on thousands of dollars in
additional taxes that would
be imposed under the pro
posed storm water ordinance.
They asked that the coun
cil’s approval be delayed and
that the city instead continue
absorbing the costs through
its operating funds.
Akins said based on his cal
culations of the square foot
age of “impervious surfaces’’
at his car dealership, he could
face under the proposed rate
of 8.5 cents per 100 square
feet an annual storm water
tax of $20,000 the first year
and $40,000 annually in 2015
when the rate would double
under the proposed ordi
nance.
With his own budget
already complete, Akins said
he doesn’t have $20,000 to
spend on a new tax.
A city handout showed that
Hill’s Ace Hardware, would
face an initial levy of about
$2,400 in 2011 and $4,800
by 2015.
Bob Hill asked the council
how it could consider taking
on the public works project
debt, which would be repaid
from operating funds, while
turning to property owners
for the separate new tax. He
called on the council to reject
both.
SCHOOLS
AFFECTED
Also in the audience
Monday night was a repre
sentative of the school sys
tem, which could be assessed
thousands of dollars in storm
water taxes on school proper
ties within the city limits.
Properties that are owned
by tax-exempt entities, such
as schools and churches,
would not be exempted from
the storm water tax, because
it is classified technically as
a “fee.”
School Superintendent
Wanda Creel told the Barrow
Journal this week that city
officials did not inform her of
the proposed tax. but she dis
patched Jake Grant, assistant
superintendent of facilities
and operations, to the council
meeting after reading about
the planned vote in the local
media.
The lack of public notice
about the proposed ordinance
apparently is one of the rea
sons why the council voted
unanimously to postpone its
adoption until next year and
to cover the ongoing costs of
storm water repairs and main
tenance with operating funds
until then.
There has been no public
hearing on the issue, though
comments were allowed at
this week’s council meetings.
DIDN’T FOLLOW
PROCEDURE
In addition to the lack of
public input, the city admin
istration also did not follow
the Code of Ordinance’s pro
cedure for the adoption of the
proposed city ordinance.
Section 2-28 of the city
charter states that “the mayor
and council shall not take
final action upon any ordi
nance’’ without following the
procedure:
•“Any matter necessary to
be acted upon as an ordinance
shall be referred to the ordi
nance committee;
•’’the committee shall
consider the matter and be
advised thereon by the city
attorney;
•’’the committee shall report
its action to the next meeting
of the mayor and council, and
if same has been approved,
the matter shall have been
reduced to writing in proper
ordinance form, for the final
action of the mayor and coun
cil...”
The Barrow Journal on
Tuesday morning sent an
e-mail to city officials ask
ing about the existence of
an “ordinance committee”
and questioning the city’s
apparent failure to follow the
code. There is no Ordinance
Committee listed on the city's
website.
The newspaper did not
receive a response from the
city, but in the council motion
that passed unanimously
Tuesday night, the proposed
ordinance was referred to the
council’s Water Committee
chaired by Ridley Parrish.
The other two members of
the committee are Charlie
Eberhart and Sonny Morris.
Parrish said any other coun
cilman who wants to partici
pate in committee meetings
would be welcome. According
to the Georgia Open Meetings
Act, all committee meetings
are open to the public.
Morris said after Tuesday's
vote that he would make sure
representatives of the busi
ness community, churches
and schools are asked for
input.
The newspaper also learned
Tuesday morning that a two-
week county deadline out
lined by the mayor Monday
night wasn’t accurate.
The mayor told the council
it needed to take action on
the new storm water tax this
week, because the city had
to provide the information to
the county by Aug. 15 to be
included on tax bills.
However, Tax
Commissioner Melinda
Williams said in an interview
that she didn’t remember giv
ing that deadline to city offi
cials. She said she remem
bered asking for the informa
tion by the end of August.
She said she actually could
accept that fee information
for individual property own
ers as late as the middle of
September, when she would
compile tax bills.
SURPRISE
OUTCOME
The council’s unanimous
vote to table the proposed
storm water ordinance was
not a surprise in light of the
strong opposition from the
business community. But the
vote to reject the new engi
neering contract with Keck &
Wood Inc. for services related
to the USDA loan and pub
lic works project was unex
pected.
Following Monday's work
session, many were convinced
that the vote would split down
the middle 3-3 and the mayor
would cast the deciding vote
in favor of the contract.
But after some apparently
intense lobbying and phone
calling, the mayor and his
three council supporters
changed direction and went
along with the three council-
men — David Maynard, Bob
Dixon and Morris — who
have been outspoken in their
criticism of the loan and proj
ect.
ADMINISTRATOR
PAY
The only split vote came
on the salary scale for the
new city administrator who
will be hired soon to fill the
vacancy left by the death of
Bob Beck.
Dixon, who had asked for
the matter to come before
the council for a vote, was
upended by a strategy that
worked.
When the matter came up,
the administration already
had a motion prepared and
that was for the pay scale
to be the one earlier recom
mended by the Carl Vinson
Institute from about $87,000
to $132,000.
Dixon complained about the
trick and asked Councilman
Frank Dunagan if he would
consider dropping the range
down a bit.
But Dunagan said he want
ed the range that was pre
sented.
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Barrow students back in class
PREPARING FOR CLASS
Winder-Barrow High School student Christelle Meeks
gets her schedule for the start of the new year.
Photo by Jessica Brown
BY SUSAN NORMAN
Barrow County Schools
began the new school year
Monday with a trimmed bud
get, fewer bus routes, and a
new energy policy.
But its Superintendent
Wanda Creel said the 12,152
students got to school, the
transportation changes went
smoothly, and the day went
great.
“The new routes went
very well for the first day of
school,” she said. “All of our
schools and the Transportation
Department worked very well
and quickly to solve issues
that arose with students.
“We did several double
backs to pick up students, but
only one of them was a rout
ing issue.”
Though Aug. 2 was an ear
lier start to the school year
than many of other nearby
systems, it was not the earliest
in recent history.
Both the 2003 and 2005
school years started Aug. 1.
While some might ques
tion starting the school year
so early in what is typically
the hottest month of the year,
Creel said energy cost-sav
ing measures implemented
over the summer break likely
would cover any excessive
cooling costs this month.
The school system over the
eight weeks of the summer
operated on a four-day work
week, shutting down all build
ings every Friday and unplug
ging every appliance includ
ing vending machines.
“When we would leave on
Thursday, we unplugged the
Coke machines until Monday
morning at 5:30,” Creel said.
Year-round employees who
normally work 236 days annu
ally also were required to take
two annual leave days along
with some scheduled furlough
days so that the entire system
could be shut down for nine
days from July 2-12.
“We saved $40,000 in utili
ties by shutting down all our
buildings for the week of July
5 and the eight Fridays,” Creel
said.
She said she also imple
mented another energy saver:
no personal items running off
electricity allowed.
“That was $74,538 in sav
ings from eliminating person
al items that used electricity
from classrooms and offices,”
Creel said.
The banned items include
personal lamps, microwave
ovens, small refrigerators,
coffee pots, toaster ovens and
even radios.
“Trust me, that’s not real
popular,” she said. “But our
teachers have come on board
with it.”
In addition to establishing
common areas in the schools
where staff can share a refrig
erator or other appliances, the
teachers understood the math.
“What I told the teachers
is that $74,000 would pay
for 2 Vi salaries for begin
ning teachers, and what we’ve
done is instead of increasing
class sizes, we were able to
keep 2 { A teachers in place.”
The projected savings from
all of the cost cuts this year
will be about $5.1 million,
she said.
One cut that should go over
well for students is a three-
day reduction in the number
of school days - from 180
down to 177.
But Creel said Barrow
County students are not being
shortchanged in terms of
instructional time.
“When reducing three
days, we still will be provid
ing more than the required
instructional minutes,” Creel
said in response to the Barrow
Journal's questions this week.
“This equates to approximate
ly 22 extra days above the
required minutes.”
Auburn continued from 1A
City administrator Ron
Griffith was on hand at the
called meeting to explain
some of the changes.
“We don’t have any funds
appropriated for (Capital
Improvements) for this year,
except for SPLOST,” Griffith
said. “When I say capital fund
— capital projects — this
is coming from our general
fund operations and our water
operations. It’s not coming
from SPLOST.”
Griffith said that the city
does not budget SPLOST
except when it does the
SPLOST negotiations.
Seeing a reduction of
$22,051 from last year is
the police department. There
will be the addition of two
patrol cars, however, the extra
money for one will be paid for
with seized drug money.
Down $33,411 from last
year is legislative council.
“We really dropped (legis
lative council),” Griffith said.
“One thing is we’ve been pay
ing all the boards out of that -
the Parks and Leisure Board,
the Planning and Zoning
Board, the DDA Board —
everything out of that account.
So we’ve moved it into other
categories, so we’ve put it
into the category it should go
or the department it should
go, so that’s the reason it’s
lower.”
In addition, the city is offer
ing no across the board raises
for staff and has eliminated
one part-time position.
The majority of city funds
come from Local Option Sales
Tax, at 35 percent, however,
it’s down from 2010.
“That is a decrease from
last year,” Griffith said. “Our
Local Option Sales Tax has
gone the other way, and last
year it was around 40 percent,
so it’s dropped about five per
cent.”
Most of the city’s money —
50 percent — goes to public
safety and court costs, while
public works and roads takes
up 19 percent.
Griffith told city leaders that
he’s confident in the proposed
budget for 2011.
“We feel comfortable in
those accounts that we will
meet those projections for
next year,” he said.
It was a point that mayor
Linda Blechinger concurred
with.
“I’m just really honored
and amazed in all that we
can accomplish and yet every
body is still cutting back and
just doing a fantastic job,” she
said. “I really, really appreci
ate it and so does our citizens
and so does our council.”
The next step in the budget
process will be Aug. 19 when
the council holds a public
hearing for citizen input on
the budget. The council will
be presented an ordinance to
approve the FY2011 budget
on Sept. 2.
GED orientation schedule announced
The Winder campus of Lanier Tech will host
GED orientation on the following dates. Those
attending are asked to bring a picture ID, pen
cil and paper and to arrive 15 minutes early.
•July 23, Winder Library 9 a.m.-l:30 p.m.
•July 28-29, Lanier Tech 6-9p.m.
•August 6, Winder Library 9 a.m.-l:30 p.m.
•August 11-12, Lanier Tech 6-9p.m.
•August 20, Winder Library 9a.m.-l:30
p.m.
•Sept 10, Winder Library 9 a.m.-l:30 p.m.
•Sept. 15-16, Lanier Tech 6-9 p.m.
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