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The Braselton News Wednesday, December 30, 2020 Page 5A Clerici named Jackson County BOE chair for 2021 Don Clerici was elected chairman of the Jackson County Board of Education at the board's Dec. 14 meeting. Clerici was elected to the BOE in 2018 and has served since January 2019. He represents a district on the west side of Jackson County where the school system is being slammed with growth and where a new high school will open next fall. The BOE has a tradition of rotating its board chair manships among members every couple of years. Clerici replaces Lynn Wheeler, who was elected vice-chairman of the BOE for 2021. The board also honored outgoing BOE member Mi chael Cronic at its Dec. 14 meeting. Cronic is retiring from the board after 13 years of service. He will be replaced Jan. 1 by Rob Johnson who was elected to the post earlier this year. In the coming years, the system's board districts will likely undergo a significant change as the 2020 census data become available. The board districts will have to be redrawn, a move that will shift the balance of power on the board from the East Jackson area to West Jack- son where the population has exploded since 2010. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at its Dec. 14 meeting, the BOE: • approved a clean-up of its SPLOST resolution, which will now go back before the county’s board of elections to call for a March 16 referendum. The elec tions board tabled action on the resolution due to a typo. One elections board member also voiced opposi tion to the SPLOST vote in general. • reviewed a job description for a system public rela tions officer for final action slated at its January board meeting. • approved technology equipment for the system’s new high school from 1 Accord Technologies. • moved its annual superintendent evaluation to the board's January meeting. NGMC earns three new ‘excellence’ designations Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) Gainesville is the first hospital in Georgia to re ceive accreditation as a Center of Excellence in Colorectal Surgery, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Minimally Invasive Gynecology. Surgical Review Corporation (SRC), an inter nationally recognized patient safety organization, recognized NGMC for “its dedication to delivering safe, effective and evidence-based patient care in these three designated areas through its indepen dent, external process of evaluation.” These new designations are in addition to NG MC’s Robotic Surgery and Hernia Surgery Center of Excellence accreditations, which NGMC was also the first in the state to earn. “These designations speak volumes to the dedi cation and commitment of our surgeons and clin ical staff at Northeast Georgia Medical Center to provide the highest-quality surgical care - close to home - for our community,” says Carol Burrell, president and CEO of Northeast Georgia Health System. Healthcare organizations and surgeons seek ing accreditation by SRC undergo a rigorous site inspection and self-assessment. This process in cludes physicians, nurses and administrators who are actively involved in the accredited program. The inspection is consultative and educational, presenting best practices to help an organization or surgeon improve its care and services. “This designation helps our patients throughout the region and state identify specific providers who have met SRC’s nationally recognized standards for top quality care,” says Andrew Green, MD, medical director of the Robotic Surgical Program at NGMC. “I’m thankful for the leadership of Dr. Fernando Aycinena, our Colorectal Surgery pro gram director, and co-directors of NGMC's Min imally Invasive Gynecology program - Drs. Jason Bailey and Keshma Saujani - all of whom have been instrumental in helping us become the first in the State to earn these accreditations.” Additionally. SRC recognized the following NGMC physicians as Surgeons of Excellence in the following areas: •Colorectal Surgery: Fernando Aycinena, MD, Longstreet Clinic •Minimally Invasive Gynecology: Jason Bailey, MD, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group OB/ GYN; Keshma Saujani, MD, Longstreet Clinic •Minimally Invasive Surgery: Fernando Aycine na, MD, Longstreet Clinic; Jason Bailey, MD, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group OB/GYN; Geary Bush, MD, Longstreet Clinic; Chad Cop per, MD. Longstreet Clinic; Andrew Green, MD, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group Gynecologic Oncology; Ronald Lewis, MD, Northeast Geor gia Physicians Group Surgical Associates; Daniel Mullis, MD. Longstreet Clinic; Alex Nguyen, MD, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group Surgical As sociates; Robert Richard, MD. Longstreet Clinic; and Keshma Saujani, MD. Longstreet Clinic To learn more about surgical options at NGMC, visit nghs.com/surgery. For more information about SRC and the accreditation process, visit sur- gicalreview.org. Jackson County moves to upgrade public safety radio system Jackson County is mov ing to modernize its public safety communications sys tem. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted Monday, Dec. 21, to approve a communications system and services agree ment with Motorola Solu tions, Inc., upgrading the county’s public safety radio system. Those upgrades come with a hefty price tag total ing $21 million with $12.3 million in maintenance and support for years 4-15. The vote Monday also includes an authorization to move forward with issuing up to $21 million in bonds via the Jefferson Public Building Authority. The Project 25 Public Safety Grade Trunked Ra dio System is expected to serve the county for at least 15 years and provide more reliable coverage than the current system. County manager Kev in Poe said it will take two years to get the new system built-out and operational. BACKGROUND The county previous hired TUSA Consulting Services to study the county’s radio system needs. In a presentation to the board last year, TUSA cited a number of problems with the counties current system: • The county’s current system is reaching the end of its life cycle and will soon need to be replaced. The current system is also outdated compared to other systems now available, • The current system has inadequate radio coverage in some areas of the coun ty, including some spots along 1-85 and around the fast-growing Braselton area. That is especially true with the county's portable radios, the report said. • The current system is unable to easily talk with surrounding counties or state emergency agencies because it isn’t compati ble with other area com munities. TUSA said that although Braselton covers four counties, “Commu nicating with neighbors is nearly non-existent.” Gwinnett, Hall, Barrow and Athens-Clarke counties all have modern 800 Mhz P25 systems while Banks and Madison use proprietary systems, all incompatible with Jackson County’s ex isting system. • The current county radi os were designed for com mercial markets, not public safety agencies which need more durable and robust units. • Many of the county’s nine communications link sites are lacking. Most have obsolete cooling and back up power systems and many are too small to expand to house a modem system. Some of the sites had not been well-maintained by the county. “Almost all of the existing buildings, and the compounds they reside in, cannot support the space needed for a modem public safety radio system without substantial cost....” the re port said. PRIORITIES The county’s radio com munications network in cludes all public safety agencies, along with public schools. TUSA consulted with county staff, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, Jackson County Correc tional Institute, city police departments, volunteer fire departments and the school systems, when considering the public's needs. A few priorities were con sidered when picking a pro vider, including: •better coverage to elimi nate dead spots •improved inoperability within the county and sur rounding counties •reliable, high-quality public grade equipment •a system that would last a minimum of 15 years The county will also tie-in with Hall County's master switch. Leaders from both counties will have to work on an agreement to allow Jackson County to tie-in to the Hall County system. FUNDING The $21 million price tag is more than originally esti mated, partly to help create a robust system that elimi nates current dead spots and considers future growth. The county’s share will total a little over $19 mil lion, with the remainder coming from the various other public safety entities and school systems. Poe proposed using rev enues from SPLOST VI (along with a handful of CARES Act funds) to cov er the debt service through 2026. From 2027-2031, funds could come from the General Fund or a future SPLOST. EMPLOYEE POLICY APPROVED In other business, the BOC approved revisions and updates to the county's HR policy book. The move includes a new section on employee use of social media. The move comes follow ing the bring of former EMS employee John Pethel for a post he made on Facebook in June where he said “shoot them all” in reference to protesters in Gainesville. Pethel has appealed his bring, which was recent ly heard before an outside hearing officer. During that hearing, officials were asked about the county's policy on social media. County manager Kevin Poe said the county had not yet adopted a specibc policy regarding employee use of social media. Among other proposed changes in the county’s HR manual, a new section would be created that spe- cihcally addresses the so cial media issue. One of the items appears to address sit uations similar to the Pethel incident: “Users shall not engage in any blogging or social media posting that may harm or tarnish the image, reputation and/or goodwill of the County and /or any of its Users. Users are also prohibited from making any discriminatory, disparaging, defamatory or harassing comments when blogging or otherwise engaging in any conduct prohibited by the Jackson County Non-Dis crimination and Anti-Ha rassment policy.” OTHER BUSINESS Also at its meeting, the BOC approved: •reappointing Joe Holt to the board of adjustment for a four-year term. •reappointing Greg Laughinghouse, Gina McK inney, Cecil Tatum, Susan Russell and Yvette Wise to Keep Jackson County Beau tiful for a three-year term. •reappointing Linda Kirk to the Northeast Georgia Area Agency on Aging for a two-year term. •reappointing Roger Brock to the parks and rec reation advisory board for a one-year term. •appointing Carson Sav- ille to the county's planning commission to bll the unex pired term of Nick Bledsoe. The term expired Dec. 31, 2021. •a speed zone ordinance/ radar list with the Georgia Department of Transporta tion. •a bid for wood grinding at the county transfer sta tion. The bid was award ed to Roll Off Systems of Statham for $96,000. •a resolution of road own ership for the GDOT LMIG program. •accepting roadways in the Briar Rose Subdivision, including Briar Rose Blvd. and Petal Creek Ln. •an amendment to the Northeast Georgia Regional Commission FY21 Trans portation Agreement. The change aligns the agreement with the county’s holiday schedule, operating house and non-core rate. •raising tipping fees by $1.50 at the transfer station. The approved tipping fee changes include: 0-500 tons, $51.50 per ton (up from $50); 501-,1000 tons, $50 per ton (up from $48.50); and over 1,000 tons. $48.50 per ton (up from $47). The move comes after Waste Management, the company that hauls waste from the landhll, announced it will increase the rate-per-ton it charges the county. PSC action could help rural broadband Efforts to expand broad band internet service in underserved areas of rural Georgia got a boost last week when the Georgia Public Service Commission voted to lower the fees on access to some power poles. The PSC lowered the rate the state’s EMCs can charge internet companies to have access to put an internet line on their poles to $1 per pole in underserved areas. The usual rate is over $27 per pole. The savings from that are designed to incentive inter net companies to run broad band into underserved, less populated rural areas. But the move falls short of what internet companies wanted, which was for ac cess to all power poles even in dense areas to be lowered to $1 per pole per year. The PSC vote was to grant the lower price for six years. To be eligible for the lower pole access price, an internet provider will have to offer a minimum of 25/3 Mbps. A lack of access to broad band has long been a com plaint in rural areas. That became even more clear this year as many schools and businesses moved on line due to the Covid pan demic. Many rural families, however, found they didn’t have enough bandwidth to do school work or business work online. And as tele medicine has also grown during the pandemic, some rural citizens find they don't have the speed to support on line visits with their doctors. While the lower price for pole access might help spur greater internet access, there are other barriers in rural areas beyond just stringing lines on poles. The lack of housing and business density in many rural areas means that inter net firms have less financial return per mile than they do in more densely-populated areas. Geography in some areas is also a problem, espe cially in mountains. Some local startups have attempted to fill the gaps in rural service across the coun try and the move to lower the access cost to a pole might help those firms more than Comcast, Windstream and other large firms that domi nate the broadband market. Many rural areas in North east Georgia do have some internet access, but it is of ten slower than the 25 Mbps rate. CONSIGNMENTS . FINE FURNISHINGS Whether you are looking lor the perfect piece of furniture, want to accessorize your home, need to liquidate an entire home or sell a single item, House of Boykin is the perfect place. Give us a call! Caryn McGarity, Owner And her Boykin Spaniels