Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
The Braselton News
Page 5A
Winder
Winder will not meet 10% water reduction
BY KRISTI REED
The City of Winder will not meet the state mandated
ten percent reduction in water usage, utilities director
Wesley Skinner told council members at Monday night’s
work session.
The mandatory 10 percent reduction is calculated
based on last year’s usage. The withdrawal permit for
this summer will be based on water usage from April
through September of 2007.
While the state of Georgia did not impose level four
drought restrictions until October 1 of 2007, Winder
implemented the stricter water usage guidelines on
August 13 of last year. The city had been at level three
drought restrictions since June. The restrictions were
deemed necessary to protect the city’s water supply and,
as a result, consumption was drastically reduced last
summer compared to state wide usage.
“We’re being penalized because we were proactive,”
Skinner said. “We cannot meet the ten percent reduc
tion.”
Skinner explained that since Winder had already
reduced usage by 10 percent during the summer, the
state is effectively asking them to reduce usage by 20
percent from normal usage rates.
Further complicating matters is the addition of 700
new customers. The additional usage has caused Winder
to miss the 10 percent target for the winter months as
well.
“We were 300,000 gallons per day under our January
average of 2007, but that still did not meet the ten per
cent reduction, “ Skinner said. February usage was also
below last year’s level.
Skinner said the city will apply to the Environmental
Protection Division (EPD) of the Department of Natural
Resources for a variance to the mandate.
“They are aware of this situation,” he said. “In order
to protect our water source, we had to go to the restric
tions earlier.”
Skinner also told the council that state legislation is
pending which would affect the city’s ability to imple
ment any future water restrictions.
House Bill 1281 would require EPD approval before
any local government could tighten water restrictions
beyond those imposed by the state.
Skinner said he and other water professionals oppose
the legislation.
“It should be up to this council to decide what is best
for the city of Winder,” he said.
Dr. C.B. Skelton named official poet of Winder
BY KRISTI REED
The Winder City Council has again
named Dr. C. B. Skelton as the offi
cial poet of Winder. Skelton’s selec
tion comes as Winder celebrates its
poetry month.
At Tuesday night’s city council
meeting, City Administrator Bob
Beck announced the start of the
city’s annual poetry contest. The
city will accept poetry submissions
from citizens through April 1. The
top poets in each age group will be
recognized. Entries may be sent to
City Clerk Sabrina Wall at Sabrina,
wall @ cityofwinder.com.
In other business, the council:
• approved the 2008 lease between
the city and the Barrow County
Chamber of Commerce. The city
will collect the lesser of $4,500 per
quarter or 28.5 percent of quarterly
hotel-motel tax collections within
the city.
• approved the discontinuation
of separate disconnect notices for
utility customers. Effective May 1,
disconnect notices will be incorpo
rated into the utility bills eliminating
the cost of mailing 3,000 additional
notices each month.
• approved a variance to remove
the side setbacks, minimum square
footage requirements, minimum
road frontage requirements and
garage requirements for the property
located at 98 Elm Street. The change
in conditions was requested to allow
a Habitat for Humanity house to be
moved from 49 Center Street to the
property.
• approved a parade permit for the
March of Dimes parade to be held
April 18 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. The
parade will begin at Russell Middle
School.
• approved an event permit for an
antique festival pending approval
from the police and fire chiefs. The
festival will be held April 19-20,
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 171 North
Broad Street.
• recognized Winder Cultural
Arts Center ballroom dance teacher
Natalie Cox and her partner Dr. Kip
Hicks for their second place finish
in the first annual “Dancing with the
Athens Stars” event. The competi
tion was held March 2 at the Classic
Center in Athens.
IMPROVE — continued from page 3A
county needs to pick the top weighted projects and
allocate appropriate funding. Each project would be
assigned to a project manager to oversee completion.
• Safety and security — In order to insure the safety
of citizens and employees, increased security is needed
at the county administrative building the group said.
Several options to improve security were discussed.
• Commission meetings — department heads have
asked that a work session be added to the BOC’s regu
lar meeting schedule. The first meeting of each month
would become the work session while the second
would be the regular voting session. The work session
would provide department heads with the opportunity
to interact with the board. Commission Chairman Doug
Garrison said he liked the idea of adding a work session,
as long as any required votes would be held in either a
called meeting or the regular meeting so citizens would
have the opportunity to be present and have their con
cerns heard. District 2 commissioner Bill Brown agreed,
adding that the work session should be held at the cur
rent 7 p.m. meeting time to allow citizens the opportu
nity to be present.
Barrow County Board of Education
School meal prices may be increased next year
BY KRISTI REED
Breakfast and lunch may cost
more in Barrow County Schools next
year.
After eight years without a price
increase, rising food and labor costs
have forced the Barrow County Board
of Education to consider charging
students more for cafeteria food.
If the Board approves the proposed
increase, school breakfast prices will
rise from $0.75 to $1.00. School
lunch will cost $1.25 compared to
this year’s $1.00.
The board has placed the pro
posed increase on the table until next
month’s meeting in order to offer
the public a chance to provide com
ments.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the Board:
• placed a new abstinence educa
tion program on the table for review
and consideration for adoption.
The Sex Education Committee has
recommended that the “Choosing
the Best Journey” abstinence edu
cation program be implemented in
ninth grade health classes. Other
“Choosing the Best” programs will
be shifted down one grade level so
that the educational series will begin
in the sixth grade.
• awarded a bid for web filtering
software, maintenance and licensing
to Southern Computer Warehouse.
The bid amount of $36,300 will
cover maintenance and updates for a
three year period. Maintenance and
update renewals after the three year
period are expected to cost $10,000
per year.
• selected Lindsay, Pope, Brayfield
and Associates of Lawrenceville as
the architect for modifications to the
Transportation Facility located on
Hal Jackson Road.
• announced the retirement of
Assistant School Superintendant Roy
Morgan.
• placed several new textbooks on
the table for review. The textbooks
will be used in sciences, math, statis
tics and calculus classes.
• approved a contract for $ 13,200 to
provide the web based Teacherlnsight
program in Barrow County Schools.
• recognized Kennedy Elementary
students Ana Guillen, Brittany Vang,
Edwardo Castillo, Gavin Sanders and
Lexi Hardy for their poetry. The stu
dents’ work was recently published
in a national book.
• honored Apalachee High School’s
literary magazine achieving a supe
rior rating from the National Council
of English Teachers.
• honored the Apalachee High
School Academic Team for their sec
ond place region competition finish
and for advancing to the state com
petition.
• recognized Ms. Goldsmith’s
Russell Middle School science class
for their work on a milk jug recycling
project.
• recognized County Line
Elementary teacher Rebeccah
Williams for her selection as a grant
recipient. The $4,000 grant will fund
the school’s summer language part
nership program.
• honored Draven Lehman, William
Aliff, Jetaine Vang, Jose Cabrita and
Jarrett Bennett as Auburn Elementary
School science fair winners. The
students advanced to the Regional
Intermediate Science Fair at Athens
Tech.
• announced that Apalachee High
School, Yargo Elementary School,
Haymon-Morris Middle School and
Russell Middle School have been
certified as Project S.A.V.E. Heart
Safe Schools for installing AEDs and
training school personnel in the use
of the devices.
• listened as Russell Middle School
sixth grader Jack Ryan read a procla
mation naming March 17 through
March 21 as school board apprecia
tion week.
CLERK — continued from page 1A
her duties. Even with the temporary
wage increase for the two clerks, the
city is saving money because it isn’t
paying Edge’s salary, he added.
A search committee that includes
three council members is seeking
applicants for the city clerk’s posi
tion. The city posted an advertise
ment for the job on its website this
week.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the Hoschton
City Council:
• met in a closed-door meeting
for 12 minutes to discuss “pending
or potential litigation.” The council
took no action when the meeting
was opened to the public.
• tabled a request by Shannon Sell
to rezone lot 7 on Oak Street from
R1 to C2. Sell asked the council
to table the request until he can
provide new plans for the property.
The council also tabled the request
in February.
• approved the code of ordinances
update, which will be available on
the city’s website and at city hall.
The update includes all amendments
to ordinances since February.
• approved Section 18 of the home
rule charter amendments, which is
related to a quorum of the city
council. The amendment states that
the affirmative vote of three council
members is required for the adop
tion of an ordinance, resolution or
motion.
• held the first reading of Section
6.C of the home rule charter amend
ments, which is related to approv
ing the termination of city offi
cers, department heads and other
employees.
• approved a traffic sign replace
ment project, which will provide
almost 100 new signs and posts for
traffic signs throughout the city. The
council agreed to fund an amount
not to exceed $12,000 for sales tax
funds earmarked for street projects.
• approved a contract with
Russell-Hatcher for $8,600 to pro
vide auxiliary power to the Towne
Park pump station. In the event of
a power failure, the city’s wastewa
ter treatment plant would automati
cally provide power to the plant and
station. Council member Richard
Green said there was a power fail
ure at the pump station last year
and it almost caused a spill of
wastewater.
• approved the sale of surplus
equipment for the police depart
ment.
• approved a measure that would
require separate water meters for
buildings with multiple tenants.
• approved the advertisement of
bids for paving Deer Creek Trail.
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• The Jackson Herald • The Commerce News • The Braselton News
• The Banks County News • The Madison County Journal
JEFFERSON
ISP AMERICAN LEGION
Albert Gordon Post 56
Each 3rd Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.
Harvie Lance, Commander
Phone (706) 654-1274 310
White Plains Baptist Church
Faith Bible Class meets every Sunday morning
at 10:00 a.m. It is a place where strangers
become friends and friends become family.
706-367-5650
White Plains Baptist Church
3650 Hwy. 124 West, Jefferson, GA 30549
The Jackson Co. Republican Party
Would like you to meet us for
breakfast the second Sat. of each
month, 8:00 at The Jefferson
House. For more information, call
706-652-2967 or email
fishyglass@yahoo.com Pd.os/os
BANKS COUNTY
i|I AMERICAN LEGION
Post 215
Meets each 3rd Thursday, 7 p.m.
In Homer, GA at the
American Legion Building on
Historic Highway 441 Pd.o6/os
Kpfe VETERANS OF
FOREIGN WARS
Post 4872, Hurricane Shoals Convention Ctr.
Each 4th Monday, 7:00 p.m.
Mike Buffington, Commander
Phone 706-335-6532 263
JEFFERSON FIONS CLUB
Meets 2nd & 4th Monday
Jefferson City Clubhouse
6:30 p.m. •(706) 367-1400
Mark Bradley, President
260
UNITY LODGE
F& A.M.
No. 36, Jefferson, GA
1st Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m.
A. Ben Wurtz • 706-367-1400
Borders St. behind Tabo’s 260
JEFFERSON ROTARY CLUB
Meets Tuesdays
Jefferson City Clubhouse
12:30 p.m. *(706)654-2237
Clay Eubanks, President
260
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Commerce Rec. Dept. Post 93
Carson Street - 1st Mon. night
Each Month, 7:30 p.m.
335-6400
BANKS COUNTY
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.
meets first Monday each month
7:00 p.m. in the Banks Co. Historial
Courthouse at 105 U.S. Hwy. 441
North in Homer pd.-2/20os
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