Newspaper Page Text
20 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Statham council eliminates city administrator position
By Ron Bridgeman
ron@mainstreetnews.com
The Statham City Council unanimously
eliminated the position of city administra
tor and hired a new police chief at a called
meeting Friday night, Jan. 3.
The council met with two new members,
including a new mayor, who recommend
ed both actions. The council held about a
20-minute closed session before the actions.
The council also elected Dwight McCor-
mic the vice-mayor on a 3-2 vote. That vote
was done by secret ballot. According to
the state’s open meetings law, that was an
illegal vote. Secret ballots are not allowed
under that law.
MainStreet Newspapers registered a
complaint with Mayor Joe Piper and copied
new council members. McCormic and city
attorney Thomas Mitchell and asked that
the vote be re-done publicly.
Joe Piper, the new mayor who took the
oath of office Thursday morning, Jan. 2,
recommended the elimination of the ad
ministrator position and Ira Underwood, a
sergeant for the Auburn Police Department,
as the new police chief.
Mai Chang, who was the city administra
tor. was not at the meeting. She was named
administrator in early 2019 by former May
or Robert Bridges after Michelle Irizarry,
who had been the administrator for about
a year, took another job. Chang was the
Statham city clerk for about two years prior
to being named administrator.
Allan Johnston had been the Statham po
lice chief.
He resigned that position in December
and Officer John Wood, who was the as
sistant, turned down the head position af
ter the council rejected a proposal to give
him a year's contract and guarantee him six
months’ salary if he were fired from the job
without cause.
The council also agreed to take bids on
converting the current city hall to admin
istrative offices and the police department
so that the Statham Public Library can be
expanded. The library has a grant for ex
pansion and is supposed to start that work
April 1.
Piper said the city had one bid from “the
previous administration.’’ The bid was from
Tarpley Construction.
The council agreed to take bids after Pip
er said the city only had the one bid and
several people in the audience questioned
the process.
Mike Holcomb, who said he has been a
home builder and renovated numerous proj
ects, including the Statham police depart
ment, said the work would only take a few
days and could be done much more cheaply.
See Statham, page 2A
Barrow
Briefs
ANNUAL MLK
CELEBRATION SET
The Barrow County Mar
tin Luther King Jr. Day
Committee will host its
annual MLK celebration
Sunday and Monday, Jan.
19-20.
The MLK Gospel Con
cert will be held at 6 p.m.
Jan. 19 at White Oak Spring
Missionary Baptist Church,
123 East New St., Winder.
Church choirs and various
singing groups will per
form. All MLK community
choir members are asked
to contact Cathy Simmons
at 678-963-8243 for choir
rehearsal schedule. Each
church choir will be asked
to perform two selections.
The annual march
through Winder will be held
at 10:45 a.m. Jan. 20. The
march will begin at Quality
Foods on Broad Street and
take about 40 minutes to
complete, ending at White
Oak Spring Baptist Church.
All of those needing trans
portation to the beginning
point of the march are asked
to meet in the parking lot
of the church no later than
10 a.m.
The annual MLK cer
emony will be held at
11:50 a.m. in the church
sanctuary and is scheduled
to last about two hours.
The keynote speaker will
be Tommie Smith, a 1968
Olympic gold medalist in
track and field and a pro
moter of human rights
around the world.
See Briefs,
page 2A
Index:
Public Safety
5A
Opinion
4A
Classifieds
7A
Legals
8-11A
Obituaries
4-5B
Sports
1-3, 6B
Othercolumns
6A
MAILING LABEL
New leaders sworn in
Photos by Scott Thompson
WINDER CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS, MAYOR SWORN IN
The new-look Winder City Council held its first meeting together Monday, Jan. 6. Prior to the council
work session, from top left, clockwise, new council members Holly Sheats and Kobi Kilgore were sworn
in while Ward 4 councilman Travis Singley and Mayor David Maynard were sworn in for the start
of their third term. Sheats was elected in November to the at-large seat previously held by Michael
Healan, who chose not to seek re-election, while Kilgore defeated incumbent A1 Brown for the Ward 2
seat. The officials were sworn in by city attorney John Stell.
Photos by Ron Bridgeman
NEW STATHAM MAYOR, COUNCIL MEMBERS SEATED
Joe Piper, top left, takes the oath of office Jan. 2 as the new Statham mayor as city attorney Thomas
Mitchell administers the oath. New council member Gary Venable, top right, was also sworn in after
being elected to the council in November without opposition. He replaces former council member Per
ry Barton. Hattie Thrasher, bottom right, won another term on the council without opposition and was
also sworn in Jan. 2. Council member Tammy Crawley, bottom left, took her oath in office in December
after winning a special election to replace Eddie Jackson, who resigned his seat to run for mayor.
Barrow
teachers
may get
more local
money
By Ron Bridgeman
ron@mainstreetnews.com
Classroom teachers in Bar-
row County may get $1,000 on
the local supplement for the fis
cal year 2021.
The Barrow County Board of
Education got a proposal Tues
day, Jan. 7, to increase the local
supplement.
It would cost the school sys
tem about $1.3 million for the
$1,000 per teacher. If it is ap
proved, the added supplement
would be in the budget that
starts July 1.
Superintendent Chris McMi-
chael said the local supplement
has not been changed since the
FY2015 budget.
Jennifer Houston, assistant
superintendent for business
services, warned the board that
if the millage rate were to drop
below the current 18.5 mills, the
supplement probably would not
be possible.
No one objected to leaving
the millage rate at 18.5 mills.
Cindy Beggs, assistant super
intendent for planning and per
sonnel, said the proposal is for
995 teachers. It does not include
other certified personnel such as
counselors, media specialists or
administrators. Beggs said after
the meeting the other certified
people have different supple
ment schedules.
Beggs also presented the
board with two other propos
als: a $1,500 supplement and a
$2,000 one. Those would cost,
respectively, $1.9 million and
$2.5 million.
Board members were uni
formly supportive of the in
creases.
Board member Rickey Bai
ley termed it “long overdue.”
RENOVATIONS
Recommendations for costs
of renovations at Apalachee
High School and Westside Mid
dle School were made at $5 mil
lion for AHS and $1 million for
Westside.
Joe Pemo, assistant superinten
dent for system operations, said
the AHS work would be done
over two summers, 2020 and
2021.
He said most of the work is on
See BOE, page 3A
'0 4879 14541
o
Winder council wants more details on cost of golf course restrooms
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
The Winder City Council is gen
erally supportive of building new
public restrooms at the city-owned
Chimneys golf course but was not
comfortable with the price pro
posed at its work session Monday,
Jan. 6.
City staff recommended the
council approve an amount “not
to exceed” $50,000 in funding for
the restroom facility, which would
have running water and a septic
system, but several council mem
bers balked at that price.
“I don’t think $50,000 would
be required to build them, in my
mind,” said councilman Sonny
Morris, who has spoken in favor
of the public restrooms, which he
said are needed at the course. Mor
ris made the motion to table the
item until more information could
be obtained, and it was removed
from the agenda for the council’s
voting session on Tuesday, Jan. 7.
City administrator Donald Toms
said staff had looked at the cost of
a concrete slab as well as the cost
of running a water and septic line,
while leaving some room for the
actual construction.
But he said actual price quotes
for the whole project had not been
obtained.
Councilman Chris Akins said
those quotes and other details were
needed in order for the council to
make “an intelligent decision.”
“(The restrooms are) an accom
modation we ought to provide,”
Akins said.
See Winder, page 2A
