Newspaper Page Text
40 Pages 3 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County Georgia 50c Copy Wednesday, August 17, 2016
County manager recommends 1.5% pay increase
Barrow BOC still discussing FY17 budget; final vote set for next month
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Reporter
All Barrow County employees could
see at least a 1.5-percent pay increase next
fiscal year.
County manager Mike Renshaw pitched
a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to the
Board of Commissioners last week during
a work session on the county’s proposed
budget for FY2017, which begins Oct. 1.
Renshaw said he plans to present the
final proposed budget to commissioners at
their meeting on Tuesday.
Starting Aug. 24, that document will
be displayed in the clerk of commission’s
office, county libraries and on the county’s
website for public review.
A budget public hearing is scheduled
for Sept. 6. and the board is scheduled to
adopt the final plan Sept. 20.
Renshaw said the raise would be aimed
at keeping up with inflation, which most
recently was measured at 1.2 percent by
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
“What that CPI represents is an erosion
of buying power for the whole communi
ty,” Renshaw said.
If the COLA is approved by the board,
it would alter the findings and recommen
dations of a recent pay classification and
salary study completed by the University
of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of
Government.
The study, which examined all positions
except those with the Sheriff’s Office and
Detention Center, was aimed at making
the county’s pay levels more competitive
with the market rate for each position.
Out of three plan options, the one rec
ommended by Renshaw would put fire,
EMS and 911 center employees above
market rate in an effort to address reten
tion issues those departments have faced
in recent years.
However, the plan, as presented, would
leave 60 of the county’s more than
420 employees without any pay raise,
Renshaw said.
See BOC Budget on Page 3A
Barrow
Briefs
WBHS Class of ’64
holds mini-reunions
The Winder-Barrow High
School graduating class of
1964 will continue to have its
mini-reunion lunches.
The next mini-reunion lun
cheon will be held at 1 p.m. on
Monday. Aug. 22, at Golden
Corral in Winder.
All members of the class are
invited to attend.
Email Dianne Fleeman at
dfleeman@windstream.net or
call her at 678-425-2531 to
submit number of registrations.
Wellness Expo
set for Thursday
The Barrow Health and
Wellness Expo will be Thursday,
Aug. 18, at the Winder YMCA
from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Exhibitors will set up from
9-11 a.m. and the Expo will be
open to the public from 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m.
There will be ticket draw
ings for prizes and a “Taste of
Barrow” will be available with
the purchase of a $5 wristband.
Local restaurants will be offer
ing samples from their menus.
Inside
Today
Church News 12A
Classifieds 13-14A
Legals 4-8B
Obituaries 15A
Pets of the Week 9A
Public Safety 7-8A
Sports 1-3B, 9B.11B
Contact
Us
Phone: 770-867-6397
Mail: 77 E. May Street,
Winder, Ga. 30680
Fax: 706-621-4115
Mailing
Label Below
Return of Friday Night Lights
mm •
■■■■
A NEW SEASON
Football was back in Barrow
County last Friday as the
Winder-Barrow Bulldoggs
hosted Flowery Branch for
a preseason scrimmage
and Bethlehem Christian
Academy played its first
regular season game. Both
the Bulldoggs and Knights
won as did Apalachee High
School in a road scrimmage.
A special high school foot
ball preview section is inside
today.
Photos by Jessica Brown
Rabies case
reported in
City of Winder
Raccoon tests positive
A raccoon has tested positive
for rabies in the City of Winder.
On Aug. 5, Barrow County
Animal Control received a report
of a raccoon that had attacked
a dog near the area of West
Midland Avenue and Belleview
Street. The officer was able to
locate the raccoon and impound
it. The raccoon appeared to be
highly agitated and disoriented.
The raccoon was euthanized
and prepared for testing at the
Georgia State Laboratory in
Decatur.
On Aug. 9, Barrow County
Animal Control received word
from the lab that the specimen
had tested positive for rabies.
All residents are advised to call
Barrow County Animal Control
if they see any wildlife behaving
strangely or aggressively.
Residents are advised to not try
to handle any wildlife.
Residents are also strongly
encouraged not to leave pets out
side unattended and to keep a
current rabies vaccination at all
times.
Two charged
in insurance
fraud case
One is former
BCSO deputy
Two Winder men were recent
ly arrested for their alleged
involvement in insurance fraud.
On Aug. 11, at approximate
ly 1:45 p.m., officers with the
Winder Police Department
arrested Donald Avery Reynolds,
56. 320 Harrison Lane, Winder,
and Gerald Edgar Moon, 66, of
the same address.
Both arrests are in connection
with an insurance fraud investi
gation conducted by the Winder
Police Department over the past
several months.
See Fraud on Page 11A
Public defender’s office seeks county funding
Seagraves: New social worker position
would help provide services to clients
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Reporter
A public defender’s job
today is much more than repre
senting clients in a courtroom.
As Piedmont Judicial
Circuit public defender Donna
Seagraves points out, her agen
cy is responsible for sever
al other tasks, which include
helping clients get into pro
grams that serve as an alterna
tive to jail time in an effort to
save taxpayers money.
But that process can be dif
ficult and the public defend
er’s office is in desperate need
of help, Seagraves said last
week as she appeared before
the Barrow County Board of
Commissioners to request
funding for a new social work
er position.
If approved, Barrow County
would cover 45 percent
($23,531) of the position’s
$52,290 salary with Jackson
(41 percent) and Banks (14
percent) counties covering the
remainder.
The person chosen for the
job would be a state employee
and their mileage and other
benefits would be covered at
no additional cost to the coun
ties, Seagraves said.
Seagraves spent about 15
minutes advocating for the
new position on Aug. 9 during
a commission workshop on the
county’s proposed budget for
next fiscal year, which begins
Oct. 1.
Though county manager
Mike Renshaw initially rec
ommended during a budget
work session last month that
the county not fund the new
position, he invited Seagraves
to last week’s meeting to fur
ther clarify her office’s need.
"Our workload goes up
when the district attorney’s
office’s and law enforcement’s
workloads go up,” Seagraves
told commissioners.
See Funding on Page 11A