Newspaper Page Text
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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2021
Georgia House Republicans elect
Matt Hatchett majority whip
By Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
Republicans in the Georgia
House of Representatives Fri
day elected Rep. Matt Hatch
ett, R-Dublin, to serve as ma
jority whip.
Hatchett, an ally of House
Speaker David Ralston, de
feated Rep. Barry Fleming,
R-Harlem. during a meeting
of the House Republican
Caucus in Jekyll Island. The
vote totals from the closed-
door session were not re
leased.
“Matt Hatchett is a proven
leader who has earned the
trust of the House Majority
Caucus,” Ralston said after
Friday’s vote. “He has fought
time and again for our priori
ties and principles both on the
campaign trail and in the well
of the Georgia House.”
Hatchett was elected to the
House in 2010, succeeding
longtime Democratic Rep.
DuBose Porter, who left the
General Assembly that year
in an unsuccessful bid for
governor.
Hatchett now succeeds
Rep. Trey Kelley, R-Cedar-
town, in the whip’s post.
Kelley stepped down from
leadership earlier this month
to focus on a misdemeanor
indictment related to a 2019
fatal hit-and-run crash.
Hatchett has resigned his
position as chairman of the
House Republican Caucus to
take up his new role.
The majority whip’s job
is to monitor legislation as
it moves through both the
Georgia House and Senate
and work to line up votes
among Republican House
members for bills favored by
the GOP Caucus.
Dean, Sorrells named
Rotary Club leaders
Two Barrow County Rotarians now have
new leadership roles within the Rotary Club
organization.
Maddison Dean has been named president
of the Winder Rotary Club for 2021-2022. She
is the 58th president of the club and has been
in Rotary for two years. She is the director for
economic development for the City of Winder.
In addition, Steffanie Sorrells has been
named assistant district governor for Rotary
District 6910. In that capacity, she will help
ing guide Rotary clubs in Winder, Monroe,
Loganville and Social Circle. She has been
in Rotary for 11 years and is a past president
of the Winder club. She works for the Banks
OZK.
The Rotary Club of Winder meets each
Thursday at noon at NEGA Medical Center
Barrow on the 3rd floor. There are currently
42 members in the Winder club & individuals
interested in joining Rotary may contact: Ro
tary ClubOfWinder@gmail.com or visit www.
WinderRotary.org
DEAN
SORRELLS
YMCA early
learning program
enrollment open
The YMCA of Metro Atlanta announced
recently early learning enrollment is open at
11 Y Early Learning Program locations for
the 2021-2022 school year. That includes the
Barrow County site, located at 55 Maynard
St.. Winder.
The Y’s state-licensed early learning pro
grams help improve school readiness and
prepare preschool children.
Through partnerships with the Early Head
Start and Head Start programs, the Y serves
more than 2,000 children. Early Learning
Programs use researched-based curriculum,
which supports learning through play, cre
ative expression and guided activities. Ad
ditionally, the Y implements four programs:
Read Right From the Start. STEAM Learn
ing, Start for Life and Early Learning Read
iness.
For more information, or to register, call
404-420-5800. To learn more about YMCA
Early Learning programs, visit ymcaatlanta.
org/early-learning.
Statham contimied from 1A
tal agreement between the
city of Statham and Barrow
County regarding a provi
sion of additional sewer ca
pacity at Barber Creek.
neighbors with objections to
have a voice in the process,”
said Piper.
Other action:
The council approved
Mayor Piper to sign an
engagement letter from
Bates Carter to perform the
FY2020 audit and financial
statements, which was bud
geted in the current fiscal
year’s budget.
Following the executive
session, the council ap
proved an intergovemmen-
Barrow Co. Museum
reopening on Aug. 3
The Barrow County
Museum will be reopen
ing, beginning on Tuesday.
Aug. 3.
The museum, located
on the original Barrow
County Jail behind the
historic courthouse, has
been closed during the pan
demic. except for special
events.
The museum is located at
74 W. Athens St, in down
town Winder. Hours are
1-4 p.m. Tuesday through
Friday and 10 a.m. to
1 p.m. on Saturday. Call
the museum at 770-307-
1183 to ensure a volunteer
is manning the museum.
Spanish language
diabetes class
to be held Aug. 27
A diabetes education Winder,
class to be in Spanish will For more information
be held Aug. 27 at 10 a.m. and to register, call Mari-
at the Medlink Rehab Cen- sol Scales at 770-867-6633
ter on West Athens St. in ext. 1755.
Auburn continued from 1A
Barrow and Gwinnett
county’s TAVT collec
tions increased and in
surance premiums have
gone up.
With these added rev
enues to the city, “We
will take a conservative
approach to all this stuff,
that way, we understand
it. we recognize that
more revenue is actually
coming in, but we match
our expenditures to the
revenue,” said Mitchem.
Also on the rise and
projected to contin
ue upward are utilities
revenues estimated to
be about $127,109 in
FY2022.
“We will see this
line item increase over
the next few years as
more lots come online
throughout the city,” said
Mitchem, who said his
estimate is a conserva
tive one. “We feel like
we’re going to be well
above that.”
Building permits is
sued in FY2021 brought
in $508,529, which more
than doubled the amount
projected in the budget.
“We got more growth
coming, but we don’t
want to overstate that, or
we will get ourselves in a
bind.” he said.
Other than machinery
and equipment costs for
ongoing projects around
town, the expenditures
projections for FY2022
didn’t look much differ
ent from years prior.
Sheats
contimied from 1A
no further public meetings
in the two-week span be
tween the public hearing
and vote on adoption.
The city has received
substantial backlash from
residents over its trans
parency surrounding the
budget, with one resident
saying last week that a
four-page letter she sent to
city officials with questions
about the budget went un
answered prior to the adop
tion vote. Sheats said she
herself had not received
answers to additional ques
tions she had emailed Cody
and Maynard. Other res
idents have said the city,
which was already three
weeks late adopting an
FY22 budget, rushed the
process and did not provide
the public adequate time to
dissect it.
Sheats’ most scathing
criticism in her resigna
tion letter centered around
Cody, whom she said “is
not effectively managing
the city.”
Cody was hired in June
2020 after a more than
three-month search to re
place former administra
tor Donald Toms and was
selected over two other fi
nalists to near-unanimous
praise from the council,
including from Sheats. But
Sheats wrote that Cody’s
“leadership skills are sim
ply not adequate enough
for her to build the loyalty
and devotion city-wide she
will need to execute the
things she says she can”
and that her managerial
skills “are sorely lacking or
questionable at best.”
“(The city’s human re
sources department) is
being misused and is not
functioning as it should
to protect employees who
have grievances,” Sheats
wrote. “I fear this will re
sult in future legal reper
cussions. I care about the
staff we have remaining
in this city and I can only
hope (Cody) treats more
than just a handful of fa
vorites better than the ones
who have chosen to leave
employment with us. She
will continue to deflect and
blame others for her lack of
time to accomplish tasks.”
Sheats also said May
nard has refused to allow
the council a “proper and
formal opportunity” to par
ticipate in performance re
views for Cody.
Cody did not respond
Monday. July 26, to a re
quest for comment for this
story, but Maynard defend
ed her performance in an
email.
“I am convinced that
the majority of the coun
cil, including myself, feel
that the city administrator
is doing an excellent job
and that the budget process
implemented this year has
been better than any other
process we have used to
develop a budget,” May
nard said. “I appreciate
Mrs. Sheats’ service on the
council.”
Sheats, who was a city
planning board member
prior to her time on the
council, was elected in
2019, and she and Ward 2
councilwoman Kobi Kil
gore became the second
and third women ever to
serve on the council.
“Until the past few
months, I have enjoyed
my time serving this city
as a council and planning
Board member over the
past five years. I want won
derful things for this city I
love, and I hope to one day
see those fulfilled,” Sheats
wrote. “However, I care
more about the people who
live here than the aesthetic
and physical aspects of the
city. I am sure I can find
capacities to serve in the
community that will be a
better fit for me. I hope in
time the people who sup
port me and voted for me
will be able to forgive and
understand that I can no
longer sacrifice my time
under the current condi
tions and in this dysfunc
tional environment.”
Maynard said Monday
it was likely that a special
election, to fill the remain
der of Sheats’ term through
the end of 2023, would be
held in November in con
junction with the regular
ly-scheduled city election.
Councilmen Sonny
Morris (Ward 1). Terrell
(Ward 3) and Chris Akins
(At-large) are all up for
re-election this year. Can
didate qualifying is set for
Aug. 16-20.
Cameras contimied from 1A
information campaign
along with a 30-day warn
ing period to encourage
people to slow down and
change their driving hab
its, according to the re
lease. In school zones,
there are flashing lights
and posted speed limits.
Additional road signs will
show a vehicle’s speed and
give advance warning of
the upcoming school zone.
Cameras will be used to
identify any vehicles trav
eling over the approved
speed limit.
Anyone in the designat
ed school zone driving 11
mph or more over the post
ed speed limit will receive
a citation in the mail.
The BCSO will fine of
fenders $100 for the first
citation and $125 for each
additional offense. This vi
olation is a civil violation
and is not considered a
traffic violation. Offenders
will not receive points on
your driver’s license, and it
will not be reported to your
insurance, according to the
release.
The automated speed
zone will be enforced on
school days starting one
hour before school starts
until one hour after the end
of the school day. Even
when lights are not flash
ing. the speed limit will
be photo enforced when
school is in session all day
long, officials said.
For a list of school bell
times, go to the district’s
website at www.barrow.
kl2.ga.us.
In zones with multiple
schools, automated en
forcement will start from
the earliest start time to
the latest end time. For
example, Yargo Elementa
ry starts at 7:30 a.m. and
Apalachee High School
ends at 3:35 p.m. This
speed zone will therefore
be enforced from 6:30 a.m.
until 4:35 p.m. each school
day, officials said.
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The 30-day warning pe
riod will run from Aug. 3
through Sept. 3. Enforce
ment will start on Tues
day, Sept. 7, when classes
return after Labor Day.
The system is already
in use in other school dis
tricts in the area, which
have seen a 50-76% re
duction in speeding, offi
cials said, adding that the
program “will protect our
children, while freeing up
our school resource offi
cers to help prevent prob
lems elsewhere.”
The Apalachee High/
Haymon -Morris Middle/
Yargo Elementary, Bethle
Select Fence Group: (678) 201-6548
hem Elementary. Bramlett
Elementary, County Line
Elementary, Holsenbeck
Elementary and Kenne
dy Elementary/Westside
Middle campuses are in
cluded in phase 1 of the
program.
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