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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018
Brock to be mayor of Carl again, will be sworn in April 19
By Scott Thompson
News-Journal Editor
Former Carl mayor David
Brock will be returning to the
post later this month.
Brock was the only candidate
to qualify during a special-elec
tion qualifying period for the
vacant seat last week, according
to city clerk Deana Davis. There
won't be a special election as
planned for May 22 and Brock
has automatically won the seat,
Davis said. He will be sworn
in at the town council meeting
April 19. Brock, who previously
served as mayor of the roughly
1-square-mile town with a pop
ulation of less than 300 people
for 19 years, lost a re-election
bid. 24-19, to Joshua Godfrey
in November. Godfrey, however,
resigned March 15, citing per
sonal reasons.
“I didn’t get my summer off,”
Brock joked Monday before add
ing he was looking forward to
getting back to work. “It had
kind of been my theme song all
these years, that nobody wanted
the job. I thought (the re-elec
tion loss) was a win-win where
I could be more of a public
advocate for the town from the
outside.”
Brock said his top priority
at the start of his second stint
will be seeing through the resur
facing of the town’s portion of
Carl-Bethlehem Road.
“We’re really just a part-time,
grass roots government,” he said.
“Everybody is in there just to
serve the community, it’s never
been about any other platform.
I just look forward to getting
the town back online again and
making sure we’re as good a
neighbor as we were in the past.”
Bethlehem town council
considers sewer territory
By Si. aron Hog'an
News-Journal Reporter
As work continues on the updates to
the Barrow County Service Delivery
Strategy (SDS), the Town of Bethle
hem approved designating its sewer
territory.
At the town council meeting on
Monday, the council approved the ter
ritory to include the city limits as they
are now and as future annexations.
Mayor Sandy McNab said, "We
can partner with whoever we want,
Barrow County, City of Winder, Har
rison’s, to get sewer in our territory.”
"Designating your sewer territory
puts you in the driver’s seat, so to
speak,” said city attorney Ron Ben
nett. “No one can make you sewer it.”
McNab said the city could possibly
seek grant funding in the future to run
sewer lines or possibly form a public/
private partnership.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at the monthly
meeting:
•the council approved a tree assess
ment on East Star and Angel streets
in the rights-of-way. McNab said a
portion of one tree had recently fallen
and the rest had to be removed at a
cost of $1,500. He said at least one
other tree is rotten in the middle and
several have dead limbs in them.
•McNab said he was working on
getting pricing for crack sealing on
Gifton Thomas Road and King Ave
nue.
RIBBON CUTTING HELD FOR NEW SALON
The Winder Downtown Business Association held a ribbon cutting on
Tuesday, March 27 to welcome The Birch Salon Co. and owner Emily
Chang. The new salon is located at 34 North Jackson St. Friends and
family along with members of the WDBA attended the ribbon cutting to
welcome the new business to downtown Winder. Photo by Susan Treadwell
Documentary on ‘Psycho’ shower
scene to screen in Winder April 15
The Winder Cultural Arts Center
will present “78/52” with director
Alexandre O. Philippe as part of the
South Arts Southern Circuit Tour
of Independent Filmmakers at the
Winder Cultural Arts Center, 105
E. Athens St., on Sunday, April 15
at 4 p.m.
Following a screening of the film,
Philippe will participate in a discus
sion with the audience about his film
and work. The screening and discus
sion are free and open to the public.
78/52 is a film that is based on
the infamous shower scene in Alfred
Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” which has
78 camera set-ups and 52 edits over
the course of three minutes. “Psy
cho” redefined screen violence and
introduced a new way audiences
experience danger in a film. “78/52”
highlights what makes this shower
scene so effective by breaking down
frame by frame the dense web of
allusions and layered connotations.
“78/52 explores that intangible
‘cinematic space’ between shots,”
said Philippe in a news release, “and
delves into Hitchcock’s genius in
unprecedented fashion, to become
the first feature-length investigation
into the art, craft, and influence of
a single extraordinary scene — one
which forever changed the course
of popular cinema, and continues
to inspire some of the greatest film
makers of our time. If ‘Psycho’
changed the way people shower,
it’s safe to say that after watching
‘78/52,’ you will never look at the
shower scene the same way again.”
Philippe is a Swiss film director,
who began at the age of 12 to host
a weekly Hitchcock film series for
his parents. He holds a Master’s
degree in dramatic writing from
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and
his previous films include “Doc of
the Dead”, “The People vs. George
Lucas” and “The Life and Times of
Paul the Psychic Octopus.” His film
“78/52” premiered at the 2017 Sun
dance film festival.
The Southern Circuit Tour of Inde
pendent filmmakers is a program of
South Arts. Southern Circuit screen
ings are funded in part by a grant
from South Arts in partnership with
the National Endowment of the Arts.
South Arts, founded in 1975, is a
nonprofit regional arts organization
building on the South’s unique heri
tage and enhancing the public value
of the arts. Their work responds to
the arts environment and cultural
trends with a regional perspective,
through an annual portfolio of activ
ities designed to address the role
of the arts in impacting the issues
important to our region, and linking
the South with the nation and the
world through the arts.
Merger continued from 1A
Bartow Morgan Jr., CEO of
BrandBank, will become the chief
commercial banking officer for the
Renasant Bank system with respon
sibility for commercial banking,
including Renasant Bank’s specialty
lines and other financial services,
the release said. He will also join
Renasant Bank’s board of directors.
In addition, one independent Brand
director will be appointed to both
the Renasant Corporation and Rena
sant Bank boards.
Richard Fairey, president and
chief operating officer of Brand-
Bank, will be named chief retail
banking officer for the Renasant
Bank system, and Mike Dunlap,
executive vice president and director
of commercial banking for Brand-
Bank, will assume the role of pres
ident of the Georgia Commercial
Banking Group for Renasant Bank.
“Renasant is aligned strategical
ly and culturally with BrandBank,”
Morgan said. “As a proud company
with a long history in the Atlanta
market, we look forward to the
unique opportunity of leveraging
BrandBank’s commercial banking
niches with the enhanced lending
capacity and specialized lines of
business provided by Renasant.
“We are excited for our clients,
bankers and shareholders to realize
the immediate and longer-term ben
efits and value creation opportuni
ties this merger provides.”
A spokesman for Renasant said
it is the company’s “full intention”
to keep the Winder location open
post-merger.
According to the terms of the
merger agreement, Brand sharehold
ers will receive 32.87 shares of
Renasant common stock and $77.50
in cash for each share of Brand com
mon stock. Additionally, all Brand
options will be cashed out at $1,550
per share.
Keefe, Bruyette and Woods, Inc.
served as financial advisor to Renas
ant, and the law firm of Phelps Dun
bar LLP served as its legal advisor.
Evercore served as lead financial
advisor to Brand, and the law firm
of Troutman Sanders LLP served as
its legal advisor.
Banks Street Partners LLC also
served as financial advisor to Brand.
Council continued from 1A
“I’m just concerned that
perhaps we’re not being
cautious enough in looking
at this particular bid and
the information that was
given out about the bid,”
Terrell said. He added that
the council did not receive
the information until after
5 p.m. Friday and that he
did not believe that was
adequate time to thorough
ly review it.
Maynard pushed back,
noting that no concerns
were raised about the con
tract at the council’s work
session Monday.
“We reserve the right to
refuse any and all bids for
any or no reason at all,”
Maynard said.
The low bid by Strick
land and Sons was about
$300,000 less than Moor
head’s. Wilhelm said.
“I think just taking the
low bid every time is a bad
idea.” Healan said. “You
want to look at the qual
ity of work and body of
work. Especially if we’ve
got someone who has sued
us before, that’s probably
not someone you want to
do business with on a reg
ular basis.
“I think the mayor and
council have been good
stewards of our money and
do a good job of hiring
contractors.”
UTILITY
RELOCATION
FOR BYPASS
Also on Tuesday, the
council unanimously
approved a contract with
the Georgia Department
of Transportation for relo
cation of natural gas and
water utilities necessary
for construction of phases
1 and 2 of the West Wind
er Bypass, of which the
city will be responsible for
half, or an estimated $3.2
million.
Along with approximate
ly $1 million for sewer
relocation, the city would
be paying an estimated
$4.2 million for relocation
of infrastructure outside
city limits, city attorney
John Stell and councilmen
noted at a Monday work
session.
The contract items
approved Tuesday by the
council include an estimat
ed $1.7 million in gas util
ity relocations and an esti
mated $4.8 million in water
utility relocations, half of
which the city would be
responsible for, for phases
1 and 2 of the bypass,
which will span between
Ga. 316, Matthews School
Road and Ga. 211.
GDOT will be responsi
ble for the other half and
the construction contract is
scheduled to go out for bid
in May, with construction
slated to start this sum
mer. The bypass has been
estimated for completion
in 2021.
Wilhelm said the exact
cost amounts of the utility
relocations will be deter
mined once the bids come
back. The city is scheduled
to have its payments bro
ken out into three install
ments over three fiscal
years, he said.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business Tues
day, the council:
•approved an event per
mit for the 2018 Summer
Concert Series on Fridays,
May 4, June 1 and July
6 from 4-11 p.m. at the
gazebo park and surround
ing area on East Candler
Street. The events are
being co-sponsored by the
city and the Winder Down
town Business Association.
Food will be available and
alcohol will be sold/served
by eligible vendors from
5-10:30 p.m. There will
be street closures for East
Candler between North
Broad and North Jackson
streets and North Jackson
between East Athens Street
and East Midland Avenue
for all three events. The
Barrow County Chamber
of Commerce is also a
co-sponsor for the events.
•approved the city’s
solicitation of bids for the
sale of the property at 79
East Athens St., a vacant
building next to the former
Lanier Tech building.
•In a called meeting
last Thursday, council
approved the acquisi
tion of two parcels, in the
amount of $150,000, to
build a public parking lot
along North Broad Street,
North Jackson Street and
East Midland Avenue. The
public parking lot is part
of a redevelopment proj
ect around the Jackson
Street area and the portion
of Jackson Street between
East Midland Avenue and
East Candler Street will
be closed so that commons
areas can be built. Final
project designs are expect
ed to take several more
months to complete, city
officials have said. Also
as part of the project, the
buildings listed at 77, 79
and 83 North Broad St.
and 64 North Jackson St.
will be demolished. The
city’s historic preservation
commission approved the
demolition last month, but
the council must still give
final approval.
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