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Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Vol. 15 No. 18 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages
Population statistics
Jackson Co. Schools
Jackson Co. is
state’s fastest
growing county
Jackson County is the fastest
growing in the state, according
to Mark Kooyman, CEO of
Experience Insight Group.
Kooyman recently spoke
to the Jackson County Area
Chamber of Commerce about
the county's growth and where
it was coming from.
The population of Jackson
County exploded during the
pandemic years 2019-2022
by growing 14.1%. Kooyman
said and currently stands at
79,852 people. He said the
county is projected to grow by
8.2% in the next five years as
well.
Among the datapoint Kooy
man noted were:
• Families with kids and
boomers were the two larg
est groups moving to Jack-
son County, Kooyman said.
Millennials are driving the
county's population expansion
while Boomers are driving
the county’s real estate price
climb.
• The county and surround
ing area is becoming more
diverse as both the Black and
Hispanic populations are in
creasing. He noted that in
neighboring Gwinnett County,
the Black population is now
the largest ethnic group at over
29% of that county’s popula
tion. “That is the population
base coming in.” he said.
See Population, page 3A
Braselton
Braselton to continue
elections agreement
with Jackson Co.
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
The Town of Braselton will
continue to contract with Jack-
son County to run its elections
after exploring an option with
Hall County provide that ser
vice.
The town council renewed an
intergovernmental agreement
(IGA) with the county with a
5-0 vote on Monday ( April 11).
Jackson County charges Bra
selton a fee based on the town’s
registered voters to run elections
— whether it’s an election year
or not — and the county re
portedly more than doubled the
price with this IGA.
Due to that increase, town
manager Jennifer Scott had
reached out to the other three
counties included in Braselton’s
town limits — Gwinnett, Hall
and Barrow — for price inqui
ries. Barrow County and Gwin
nett County officials were not
interested in running the town’s
elections, while a Hall County
official said the county would
charge the town actual cost rath
er than a per-registered-voter
fee. Jackson County will charge
$2.50 per registered voter year
with this IGA.
In addition to Hall County
charging actual cost, it would
charge only during election
years. An agreement with Hall
County, however, would only
run on a per-year basis.
“There’s more of a guarantee
in the IGA with Jackson, but
you’d probably save money by
doing one with Hall County,”
Scott told the council during its
Thursday (April 7) work ses
sion.
Braselton has held an IGA
with Jackson County for the
past seven years because the
town does not own any election
equipment. Scott said election
equipment is “extremely expen
sive.” Jackson County also has
a trained department dedicat
ed solely to running elections.
Scott noted that Jackson County
is raising its election fees not
only for Braselton, but for each
municipality in Jackson County.
“The price increase is hard to
swallow,” councilman Jim Joe-
decke said. “We obviously want
to be good stewards, but our
elections have been run proper
ly for a long time by these folks.
See Braselton, page 3A
MAILING LABEL
New school to be completed in one phase
The new Legacy Knoll
Middle School in West Jack-
son will be completed in
one phase rather than two as
originally planned.
The Jackson County
Board of Education ap
proved amending its contract
with Carroll Daniel Con
struction for the project at its
April 11 meeting. The board
added an additional $4 mil
lion for the project, a move
that will allow the school to
be completely finished for
opening in the fall of 2023.
The new school is project
ed to cost $38.3 million in
total.
Originally, the BOE had
decided to do the project in
two phases by not finish
ing a competition gym, not
completing lab classrooms
and not completing all land
scaping or canopies for the
school, among other items.
The board had said it would
fund those items in a 2024
bond referendu-m.
But the board later in
structed system leaders to
see if completing the project
could be done in one phase.
After reviewing the system's
finances, leaders suggested
that $2 million from the sys
tem’s General Fund and an
additional $2 million from
its SPLOST fund be allocat
ed to complete the work.
The system's finances
have been strong over the
past year as SPLOST dol
lars have come in well above
budget and rising property
values have brought in more
tax dollars to the system.
In other action on April
11, the BOE approved giv
ing a $2,000 bonus to all
staff members.
Braselton
Library expansion bid awarded
Photo by Ben Munro
The Braselton Town Council has approved a near $4.1 million bid to expand
the town’s library.
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
The Town of Braselton
now has a contractor in
place as it moves forward
with a major expansion to
its library.
The town council on
Monday (April 11) award
ed a bid of just under $4.1
million to a local compa
ny, BM&K Construction,
to build an 8,166 square
foot annex to the Braselton
Public Library. Five com
panies bid on the project,
which will add a two-story
children’s wing to the ex
isting structure.
Town manager Jennifer
Scott noted the library’s
high volume of use.
“It's amazing how quick
ly we outgrew our existing
library, and I think that's a
wonderful thing,” she said.
The town will apply
$1.73 million worth of
state funds, approved in
2021 by the state legisla
ture, to the expansion proj
ect.
Scott said she expects
construction to begin in
an estimated 90 days, “al
though it's a little bit hard
to get materials right now,”
she added.
The extension comes
after the library received
4,896 attendees for chil
dren’s programs in 2019 —
the last conventional year
of programming before the
start of the pandemic.
The new wing will house
all young adult and chil
dren’s book collections
and materials on the first
floor. The second floor will
feature a room dedicated to
children’s programs, while
a second room will hold
adult classes and meetings.
The library expansion
package includes park
ing lot expansion, a chil
dren’s garden, stormwater
management and minor
alterations to the exist
ing structure. Those im
provements include new
interior room enclosures
for a manager's office and
study rooms.
Community spotlight: Sarina Rowley Roth
Award-winning artist hosts international
photography exhibit in Braselton
Photo by Wesleigh Sagon
Sarina Rowley Roth, award-winning artist and
owner of Never the Rock Photography, present
ed an international photography exhibit at The
1904. Her images featured a variety of media in
cluding canvas, acrylic and metal prints.
By Wesleigh Sagon
arina Row-
ley Roth,
award-win
ning artist
and owner
of Never the
Rock Photography, recently
presented an international
photography exhibit at The
1904. Her images featured
a variety of media including
canvas, acrylic and metal
prints with scenes from
Africa Italy, the Galapagos
Islands and more. The exhibit
was open March 23-30. The
showing and meet and greet
with the artist was open free
of charge to the public and
private small groups were also
welcomed.
Roth grew up in a small
town in South Carolina and
moved to Atlanta at the age of
18 where she began her career
in marketing and advertising.
After 13 years she retired
from advertising beginning
her new career as a master
gardener. As a fun job she en
joyed working as a manager
at Outdoor Environments.
“I love flowers, plants and
the outdoors,” said Roth.
‘This is when I got a good
camera and got serious about
capturing all the diverse
flowers and plants and seeing
how beautiful they were.
When you do landscaping
you start to notice contrasts
of color and leaf shapes and
size. You start to look at nature
a little bit differently. As with
photography landscaping is
also an art form.”
Although her love of the
beauty of nature and watching
her landscaping arrangements
come together inspired her
next career as a professional
photographer, she believes
photography was imprinted
on her at a much earlier time
in her life.
“While growing up my
family and I would take annu
al trips to Marlton, New Jer
sey to visit my grandparents.
After my grandfather retired
from the Marine Corps, he
traveled to many parts of the
world with my grandmother.
He would share on slide-show
presentations his photographs
of their travels after each of
their epic trips,” she said. “I
believe this contributed to
my love of photography as I
See Roth, page 5A
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