Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2021
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
PAGE 3A
National emergency testing slated for Aug 11
Council
continued from 1A
FEMA, in coordination with the Federal Commu
nications Commission, will conduct a nationwide
test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) and Wire
less Emergency Alerts (WEA) this summer.
The national test will consist of two portions, test
ing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests will begin
at 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
The Wireless Emergency Alert portion of the test
will be directed only to consumer cell phones where
Cody was hired by the council in June 2020 to
replace former city administrator Donald Toms
after serving as Metter's city administrator from
2016-2019 and was interim administrator in
Washington for several months before coming
to Winder. Cody, who. prior to her career in local
government, practiced law, also has been town
administrator for Register in Bulloch County
and a city planner and director planning and eco
nomic development in Statesboro.
Cody recently faced heavy criticism from for
mer councilwoman Holly Sheats, who resigned
the subscriber has opted-in to receive test messages.
This will be the second nationwide WEA test, but
the first nationwide WEA test on a consumer opt-in
basis. The test message will display in either English
or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of
the wireless handset
The Emeigency Alert System portion of the test
will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the
sixth nationwide EAS test.
last month over frustrations with the city's bud
get adoption process. In her resignation letter to
the mayor and council, Sheats contended that
Cody was not effectively managing the city and
that her leadership skills were “not adequate."
But Maynard and some council members
have publicly defended Cody’s performance.
Councilman Chris Akins said Sheats’ charac
terizations of Cody’s job performance and her
description of the city government environment
as “dysfunctional” “couldn’t be further from the
truth."
with top city officials. Rather than hold
ing a special election for the seat this
fall, the council will appoint Sheats’ re
placement to complete the remainder of
the term through the end of 2023 per the
city’s charter. The candidate chosen will
be up for election to a full four-year term
in 2023.
The council last went through an ap
pointment process in 2013, when former
councilman Charlie Eberhart died in
January of that year and A1 Brown was
appointed two months later to replace
him.
Mayor David Maynard said last week
this year’s process is set up the same
way as 2013, with candidates submit
ting applications to Franklin’s office as
if they were going through the normal
candidate qualifying process. There is
no charge to apply for the seat, Maynard
said.
A council interview schedule had
not been set as of Monday, Aug. 2. The
council will vote on the appointment at
its Sept. 2 work session, and a formal
swearing-in ceremony is set for Sept. 7
at the start of the council’s voting ses
sion.
OTHER CANDIDATE
QUALIFYING
The special qualifying period will
come a week before qualifying for the
Nov. 2 municipal election, when the oth
er Ward 1 and Ward 3 seats as well as the
other at-large seat will be up for grabs.
Incumbents Sonny Morris (Ward 1), and
Chris Akins (at-large) both have said
they plan to seek another term. When
reached this week, Ward 3 incumbent
Jimmy Terrell said he wasn’t ready yet
to announce his decision.
Qualifying will be Monday through
Thursday, Aug. 16-19. from 8:30 a.m.
to 4:30 p.m., and Friday, Aug. 20, from
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the coun
ty elections office, 233 East Broad St.,
Winder. The qualifying fee for each of
those seats is $180.
Cody continued from
1A
Covid
continued from 1A
“We know there are many
mixed thoughts and opin
ions about Covid in our
community, state and the na
tion,” Aggarwal said prior to
sharing the area Covid sta
tistics. “We know many peo
ple are tired of hearing about
it, talking about, or feeling
the impact of the decisions
about masking and distanc
ing. We understand. We are
tired, too.”
Dr. Erine Raybon-Rojas,
a critical care physician,
discussed vaccinations. She
said the vaccine is “not a
cure” but an effective mea
sure against the severity of
Covid-19.
“Getting vaccinated will
not guarantee you that you
won’t get Covid,” she said.
“But the key thing is that
getting vaccinated dramat
ically protects you against
severe infection, reducing
the chance that you will die
from Covid or be hospital
ized from Covid.”
Raybon-Rojas noted that
the lowest rate of vaccina
tion is among those under
age 65.
“The vaccine is free, and
it’s easy to get,” Raybon-Ro
jas said. “If you wait until
you end up in the hospital
to get the vaccine, then it's
too late. Again, we don’t
want to say this to scare you
or to drive fear. We want to
make sure that we are giving
you factual information, so
that you can reconsider your
stance on the vaccine.”
The effect of the pandem
ic on the system’s staff was
also addressed.
Elizabeth Larkins, exec
utive director of medical
nursing, said NGHS workers
are “still recovering from the
strain of the past 18 months.”
“Many of them tell me
they don’t know if they can
take another surge," Larkins
said.
Larkins said the system is
seeing turnover due to emo
tional and mental health.
“And the new people we
see entering these healthcare
professions are burning out
quickly,” she said.
Asked about the staff
needed for the next wave of
cases, Larkins said she’s dis
cussed numbers for tempo
rary supplemental staff with
the chief nurse executive.
“We’re looking for about
550 RNs we don’t have right
now.” Larkins said. “It’s sig
nificant.”
As for the effect of the
surge on hospital operations.
Aggarwal said the system
is continuing with its cur
rent plan for surgeries but
is monitoring the data on a
daily basis. He referenced
the beginning of 2021 when
elective surgeries were
stopped.
“We are hoping we don’t
go back to those times,” he
said.
The system isn’t currently
approaching that point, Ag
garwal said.
“Right now, we are not
that close yet,” he said. “We
are able to do the surgeries
that our community needs,
our patients need and able to
have the staff to take care of
them."
As for facilities to treat
the rise in cases, the hospi
tal received an extension for
its mobile medical unit “for
a few weeks,” according to
Aggarwal, which NGHS
will continue to utilize.
Aggarwal was also asked
about a recommendation for
Hall County schools con
cerning mask use.
“I think that’s something
that we are going to have a
conversation with the school
county system (about) and
where they are and what we
can do to help with that,” he
said.
In Barrow County, the
public school system is start
ing off the new school year
by recommending but not
requiring masks, while con
tinuing to implement several
of the mitigation measures it
had during the 2020-21 aca
demic year.
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Millage continued from 1A
her to afford higher taxes.
“You’re talking about an
inflated, outrageous tax bill.
My taxes have doubled on
my property in five years.
Now you’re talking about
increasing it to a ridiculous
amount of money. I can’t
afford that. I don’t have the
capability or choice to get a
job.
“You people are burying
us."
McGee’s comments
touched on several com
mon themes from residents
during the public hearings,
with several asking the
council to consider a more
incremental increase and
to explore putting off some
budget items until next fis
cal year or further down the
road. McGee and others cit
ed the impact of the corona-
virus pandemic on residents
and business owners in the
community and worries that
the Covid-19 Delta variant
could lead to more deaths
and economic hardship,
along with ongoing fears of
inflation.
“It’s not that you don’t
need (the revenue to fund
the budget and city priori
ties); it’s just that your tim
ing sucks,” resident Frances
Beaupre said.
Maynard, during the pub
lic hearings Monday and
Tuesday, sought to quell
some of the concerns by
reading off a statement that
reiterated his comments
from previous council meet
ings. He noted that the mill-
age increase helps fund en
hanced public services, road
improvements, recruitment
and retention measures in
the city’s police and fire de
partments, pay increases for
other city employees and a
much larger investment in
downtown development.
The millage increase,
Maynard said, will also al
low the city to reduce by a
little over $1 million its re
liance on utility-fund trans
fers to balance the General
Fund budget. He and city
administrator Mandi Cody
have repeatedly said the
transfers are not sustainable
long-term given the utili
ty departments’ increasing
revenue needs with continu
ing population growth in the
city and county.
“It is my belief that a lack
of adequate funding in any
of these areas will actually
result in a greater cost to
the citizens,” Maynard said.
“This is not the easy choice.
But some of us believe this
is the right thing to do.”
But Terrell said most
of the city’s top priorities
could still be accomplished
Chain Link Fences
even if another mill or two
were trimmed from the bud
get. He and some residents
took aim at the city’s plans
to increase downtown devel
opment authority funding
from $8,000 to $500,000,
and he and Sheats have re
peatedly panned the city's
proposed spending levels
within the planning depart
ment and the rate of money
spent on outside planning
services while the city seeks
to fill its vacant planning di
rector position.
“I do support the salary
increases for the public safe
ty people and our other em
ployees,” Terrell said. “We
have other agencies seeking
out our people every week,
and I think it's important
that we keep them. But I
have a lot of concerns about
the budget. I can’t support
6 mills. I could support 4.5
and then maybe another 1.5
next year. But I can’t sup
port this.”
Residents and some on
the city council have criti
cized the city for essentially
punting an eventual mill-
age-rate increase down the
road to where it will now
have a more jarring effect.
“I feel like we should
have been looking at this
several years ago and just
made baby steps to where
we're at now,” resident Don
ald Hall said. “We’ve gotten
into a hole, but we didn’t get
there overnight.
“And I don’t think we can
get out of it overnight."
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Town of Bethlehem 2021 Qualifying Fee and Election Notice
Pursuant to §O.C.G.A 21 -2-131(a)(1), the governing authority of the Town of Bethlehem
announces the following qualifying fees for the local offices to be filled in the
2021 Municipal General Election:
OFFICE FEE
Council Member Post 1 (To Succeed Bryan Bell) $22.50
Council Member Post 3 (To Succeed Joe Price) $22.50
Council Member Post 5 (to Succeed Tommy Buchanan) $22.50
The qualifying period will be: Monday, August 16, 2021 - Thursday, August 19, 2021
from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Bethlehem Town Hall located at 750 Manger Avenue
in Bethlehem.
The Municipal General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 2, 2021 at the
Bethlehem Community Center, 750 Manger Ave, Bethlehem. Per the Town Charter, no
Runoff Election is necessary, the candidate with the most votes wins. The polling location
will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.
The Voter Registration deadline to be eligible to vote in the Town of Bethlehem Election
is October 4, 2021.
If you wish to vote by Absentee Ballot contact the Election Office at 770-307-3110.
Applications for an absentee ballot will be accepted August 16, 2021 - October 22, 2021.
No applications will be accepted or processed after 4:00pm on October 22. No ballots
will be issued after the close of business on October 22, 2021. A voted absentee ballot
must be returned to the Elections Office no later than 7:00pm on Tuesday, November 2,
2021.
Advance Voting will be October 12 -16, 2021 from 9:00am to 5:00pm, October 18 - 23,
2021 from 9:00am to 5:00pm, and October 25 - 29, 2021 from 9:00am to 5:00pm at the
Barrow County Elections Office located at 233 E. Broad St. Winder.
City of Winder: Notice of Candidate Qualification Period
Due to a resignation there is a vacant, At-Large seat on the Winder City Council. According to the
City Charter, the Mayor and Council shall appoint a person to fill the remainder of the term for the
vacated seat. The term expires December 31, 2023.
Those individuals interested in serving in this position should contact Monica Franklin for an
application to qualify for consideration of appointment to office. Ms. Franklin will be accepting
applications on Monday, August 9, 2021 through Thursday, August 12, 2021, from 9:00 AM until 4:30
PM and on Friday, August 13, 2021 from 9:00 AM until Noon.
Monica Franklin
Director of Elections and Voter Registration
(0ffice)770-307-3110 (Fax)770-307-1054
Email: mfranklin(S>barrowga.org
All City of Winder elections are nonpartisan and all candidates seeking office must meet the
qualifications of the Official Code of Georgia and the Charter and laws of the City of Winder.
A vote of the Winder City Council to appoint a qualified candidate to this seat is scheduled for
September 2, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. A swearing in ceremony is scheduled for September 7, 2021 at 6:00
p.m.
Both events will take place at the Winder Community Center located at 113 E Athens Street Winder,
Georgia 30680.
Select Fence Group: (678) 201-6548