Newspaper Page Text
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2008
County approves electronic queing
system for tax commissioner
By DON MONCRIEF
Journal Managing Editor
What good did it do to have a renovated cus
tomer service area - that occurring recently -
where visitors could be “comfortably seated”
while waiting to be served, only they couldn’t
take advantage of it because they had to still
stand in line?
That was part of the justification Tax
Commissioner Mark Kushinka used to help
convince the Houston County Board of
Commissioners to approve $16,063 - $14,963
for the equipment and $l,lOO for mainte
nance (which doesn’t come into play until six
months down the road) - for an electronic
queing system that the tax clerks could use
to call customers to their particular worksta
tion.
Now, they can take advantage of the new
seating.
And the county it was argued could reap
savings on its energy bill - as pointed out
by Commissioner Tom McMichael, who pre
sented the case on behalf of Kushinka during
Tuesday’s meeting at the County Annex in
Warner Robins. Kushinka was slated to be
there himself, Commission Chairman Ned f
Sanders said, but had “something come up.”
Instead, he received McMichael’s help and
provided a nine-point, bullet paper to him to
help make his case.
The bullets included the aforementioned
seating area and the energy bill savings per
tained, McMichael said, to the fact in the past
the doors to the area have always had to stay
INDICTED
From page iA
McDuffie, Tibbs, Richard
Rubinski, Kaylie Hundley,
Chad Hamilton, Trey.
Hilderbrand and Justin
Sigmon were all charged with
furnishing alcohol to Brock.
Warrants were issued for
all of the above, Wagner said,
with them being allowed to
turn themselves in by the end
of the week. Bond amounts
and conditions, Burke said,
would be determined on a
case by case basis.
He said he expected
arraignment in January with
an early spring trial date. “If
in fact it goes to trial,” he
said.
The case itself was inves
tigated by Lt. Todd Edwards
of the Warner Robins Police
Department. He described it
HIRING
From page iA
on Gilmour’s recommendation at its next
meeting. The council also discussed the prob
lem of overgrown lots, which in some cases it
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open. With the new system, apparently they
will not. (Note: Tommy Stalnaker, director
of operations, added they were soon going to
install electronic doors in that area.)
In addition to those two, McMichael said
the system provides “real-time monitoring
tools, with real-time savings data such as
waiting time, employee service time, number
of customers (etc).”
He added the new system would allow
customers to fill out electronic surveys, push
a button to annotate what they want to pay
- ‘‘lf they want to pay for a tag or pay ad
valorem tax,” he said, “as it is two separate
individuals who does each” - make appoint
ments.
There was one opposed to the purchase,
Walton Wood, who argued that Sanders had
said when the budget had been first approved,
that Sanders had said that it was so tight
only “emergency purchases” could be added.
And, he argued: “This is not an emergency
purchase.”
Sanders, in short, did not agree with Wood’s
assessment of his - Sanders’ - intent regard
ing the budget, nor on the need to purchase
it. “I’m more concerned for the customers,”
Sanders said. Earlier McMichael had added
that it wasn’t uncommon to see people with
canes, etc having to stand in line.
In the end, McMichael did add a caveat
to his motion: That Kushinka “monitor his
budget in such a way in his position so that
at least that amount will be left and returned
(it was also noted Kushinka did just that
- returned money - last year) later.”
as follows: “This particu
lar night (Oct. 9) somewhere
between 2 and 2:30 (a.m.)
Brock, accompanied by
Tibbs, left the residence at
Pebblebrook East.”
They travelled, Edwards
said, to Sandy Run to Moody
Road to Russell to Kimberly,
“where they began driving
erratically,” he said. “They
then turned onto Todd driv
ing more erratically. At that
point Brock turned his head
lights off.
“They continued to drive
until at one point they did
pass a police officer who was
in the neighborhood of Tracy
Terrace. So that police offi
cer was able to observe the
vehicle going at a high rate
of speed with its headlights
disengaged. And that’ when
we became aware.
“The officer had no idea
what was going on. He
was noted have vegetation so high that the
fire hydrants cannot be seen.
In its regular meeting the Council voted
to approve the annexation and rezoning of
a 2.394 acre site on Highway 41 South to be
used by Perry Volunteer Outreach as part of
the Grace Village project.
attempted to initiate contact
but he was well in excess of
the speed limit. The officer
lost contact but was close
enough and had his windows
down so that he heard the
collision with the house (at
709 Arrowhead Trail).”
With him being under 21,
Edwards said they initiat
ed a search warrant on the
vehicle. He said through that
search warrant they were
able to identify two locations
that either sold to Brock or
had someone with him and
sold to them. (He said he was
able to confirm about a case
and a half of beer at both
locations.)
Further investigation, he
said, led to 237 Hunt Road
where he said they were able
to confirm underage drink
ing - including that of Brock
and Tibbs - had occurred.
Drive-through flu shots
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Journal/Charlotte Perkins
Houston County Health Department nurses were giving "drive-through” service at
Rozar Park on Tuesday and Wednesday. With their equipment set up outside, they
were prepared to take the flu vaccine straight to cars and vans. Here they give
shots to clients from the Happy Hour program.
Hospital sees slight decrease in admissions
Special to the Journal
Houston Healthcare inpa
tient admissions during
the month of September
decreased by less than one
percent at Houston Medical
Center and increased by 17
percent at Perry Hospital
when compared to budget.
Surgery and endoscopy
volumes were above bud
get by nearly three percent
at Houston Medical Center
and forty percent at Perry
Hospital.
Births at Houston Medical
Center were 11 percent
below budget for the month.
Many of Houston
Healthcare’s outpatient
service areas experienced
increases in patient volumes
when comparing September
2008 to budgeted volumes,
according to a report released
by the hospital.
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For the month of September,
Operating Income was $3.8
million compared to the bud
geted amount of $772,348.
For the first seven months
of FYE 09, Net Patient
Revenues for Houston
Healthcare were sl2l mil
lion, $6 million above the
budgeted amount of slls
million.
Operating Income for the
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McDonald House provided care and support for Nickolas
and the Massengale family.
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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
seven month period was
$14.2 million compared to a
budget of $6.6 million.
For the seven months
ended September, Houston
Healthcare incurred more
than $20.8 million in bad
debt, indigent and charity
care deductions, reflecting
an increase in comparison
to a prior year of $19.3 mil
lion.
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