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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2023
BCES joins ceremony
to honor veteran
Members of Barrow County Emergency
Services joined hundreds of people to wel
come to their home, a 10 year Army veteran
and his wife and three children.
“The Built to Honor organization built
this family a mortgage free home just in
side of Gwinnett County and invited us to
attend with our ladder truck,” said Chief
Alan Shuman. “We were honored to fly the
American Flag off our aerial as part of the
ceremony.”
The US Army Staff Sargent enlisted at
the age of 22 years old. He served with
honor, earning three Army Commendation
Medals, among others awards. After 10
years of service to the American people,
his career unexpectedly ended in medical
retirement in 2022.
The family moved to a temporary home
in Georgia and placed their belongings into
storage, only to have them stolen from the
unit just a few days later. Not having then-
own home has placed a lot of stress on the
family. The former Sargent is looking to
use his skills to train as a law enforcement
officer or a firefighter.
Last week, the family was able to take a
big step into their future, by receiving this
home built by Built to Honor and Operation
Homefront. “Our crew was honored to be a
Submitted photo
Members of Barrow County Emergency Ser
vices joined hundreds of people to welcome to
their home a 10 year Army veteran and his
wife and three children. Pictured (from left):
Captain Nic Bourchier, Lieutenant John
Rivers, Captain Shannon Faulkner, Fire
fighter Josh Fisher.
part of such an incredible blessing to a fam
ily that has sacrificed for our freedoms,”
said Chief Shuman. “We welcome them to
being our neighbor and want them to know
we truly appreciate their sacrifice.”
School board to discuss education
property tax at Aug. 8 meeting
Property taxes help to fund
the public school system.
Over 15 years ago, local Bar-
row legislation designated a
tiered education tax based on
property value and income.
Within the tiered system,
qualified senior citizens with
home values below $200,000
were exempt from paying
school taxes if they fell with
in the income limitations.
Property tax assessments
are completed every two
to three years. Each May,
the Barrow County Tax As
sessor’s Office sends out
appraisals to homeowners
which include the estimat
ed property tax for that year,
which is due in the fall.
In recent years, home val
ues have significantly in
creased in the community, up
to 25% in some areas. When
property appraisals went out
in May 2022, many senior
citizens found their home
value assessed over $200,000
and were surprised to see that
they were required to pay
school property tax.
To help relieve the burden
of senior citizens on a fixed
income, the Board of Educa
tion started the process to re
vise the current tiered tax sys
tem. In the fall of 2022, the
Board of Education commis
sioned the Carl Vinson Insti
tute of Government from the
University of Georgia to con
duct a Barrow Tax Study. The
findings of the study were
presented on Jan. 31,2023, to
the Board of Education.
The Board of Education
has been receptive to feed
back and input from the
community. Several times
this spring, individuals have
spoken to the Board of Edu
cation to share their concerns
and ideas. In June, open mile
age rate hearings were held in
which further discussion and
explanation were conducted.
On Tuesday, August 8,
another meeting will be held
for the Board of Education
to continue the discussion
on how to proceed with a
modified property tax ex
emption. The presentation
will include information on
current aged-based property
tax exemptions and compar
isons with other districts that
have aged-based property tax
exemptions. The presentation
will also introduce additional
ideas for aged-based property
tax exemptions and review
the financial impact of addi
tional aged-based property
tax exemptions to the school
system.
This meeting is open for
the public to attend, but it
will not be a public forum
in which guests are permit
ted to speak. The meeting is
an opportunity for the Board
of Education to learn more
and have discussions among
themselves. Anyone wishing
to speak on the topic can sign
up to speak at a future board
meeting.
The meeting will be
held at the Professional
Development Center at 179
W. Athens St, in Winder. It
will also be broadcast on the
BCSS YouTube channel for
viewing.
Barrow County
changes mass
notification services
Barrow County is chang
ing its mass notification sys
tem from Everbridge to Hy
per-Reach, effective Oct. 1,
“We utilize mass notifica
tion to help keep our citizens
informed of possible emer
gency situations such as se
vere weather warnings and
watches, law enforcement
operations and other emer
gency situations,” said Emer
gency Management Director
Penny Clack. “Citizens who
sign up for the notifications
will receive them through the
contact they choose and it is
automatic”
The county has been uti
lizing Everbridge for sev
eral years now, and any cit
izens who signed up under
them will automatically be
transferred to the new Hy
per-Reach system. Citizens
who are not signed up can
sign up for notifications by
going to www.barrowcoun-
tyga.org and go to the “I want
to” box and click on Citizen
Alert System.
As you sign up you will
be allowed to choose how to
be notified and what weather
alerts you want to receive.
“We want to make sure
the citizens that are current
ly signed up to receive alerts
will automatically be moved
to the new system and will
not need to sign up again,”
said Clack.
“The only thing that will
change is where the noti
fications come from, and
they may receive alerts from
both systems as we make the
change.”
Enrollment
continued from 1A
BOC
continued from 1A
also favored the applicant’s request
to remove the rental cap, ended in a
5-2 split, with Brown and Ward in
opposed.
This division among a generally
unanimous board reflects the chal
lenges policymakers face as they try
to strike the right balance between
tenant protection and encouraging
housing investment within Barrow
County.
OTHER BUSINESS
Also during its July 11 meeting,
the BOC took the following actions:
• Tabled the approval of the Tray
lor Business Services personal prop
erty audit contract until further no
tice.
•Adopted the millage rate for the
2023 Tax Digest
•Approved the Indigent Defense
Services Agreement for Calendar
Year (CY) for 2024.
• Received an update on the fund
ing available in the ARP fund, Na
tional Opioids Settlements Account
•Surplus a 2004 Ford Explorer
and purchased a 2024 Ford Explor
er through Allan Vigil Ford for the
stormwater department.
•Received updates on projects
funded by the ARP funds and the
approval of various agreements and
grants were discussed and approved.
•Executed the CSX New Project
Initiation Form for the traffic signal
at Atlanta Highway at Bowman Mill
Road and Jackson Trail Road.
•Approved the Storage Water
Tank Maintenance Agreement
•Approved the professional ser
vices agreement with Engineering
Management Inc. for the Tanner’s
Bridge Wastewater Treatment Facil
ity Phase 2 expansion.
•Appointed Tommy Jennings as
the private sector appointment to the
board of the Northeast Georgia Re
gional Commission.
•Approved a rezoning of 1.6
acres on from agricultural (AG) to
low-density residential (R-l) and a
variance request for minimum lot
width.
Raffensperger announces successful audit
of Barrow’s election infrastructure
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the suc
cessful audit of Barrow County’s election infrastructure,
both software and hardware, in preparation for the 2023
municipal elections and 2024 Presidential elections. In co
ordination with the Barrow County election office, the Sec
retary of State’s office recently conducted health checks of
the voting system, finding that Barrow County’s election in
frastructure remains secure, unaltered and fully functioning
as Georgia heads into a major election cycle. These health
checks are in conjunction with Secretary Raffensperger’s
Four-Point Secure
The Vote Plan for the 2024 election.
ESTATE SALE
Canup Estate Sale
552 Stratford Parkway, Winder
Fri. Aug. 4, 9-3 • Sat. Aug. 5, 9-3
Sun. Aug. 6, 12-4
Cain & Cain Estate Sales
estatesales.net
though the first day of
school was Aug. 1.
OTHER BUSINESS
Also during the Aug. 1
meeting, Superintendent
Dr. Chris McMichael rec
ommended:
• The renewal of the Re
mind Two-Way Commu
nication Platform, in the
amount of $34,800 for the
new school year. Remind
is a two-way messaging
application that keeps par
ents and students aware of
what is happening in the
classroom.
• To enter into a contract
with Solaiant Health LLC,
Stepping Stones Group,
Ideal Schools, and Max
im Healthcare Staffing, to
provide special education
evaluations and services
to Barrow County special
education students for
an amount not to exceed
$1,421,910 per year.
• Authorization of the
purchase of Ellevation
and Ellevation Strategies
for the 2023-24 school
year. Ellevation Strate
gies provides sustained,
job-embedded profession
al development to help
teachers develop the ca
pacity to support multilin
gual students in language
acquisition and content
mastery.
Considering
((TM*R) )) buying or
selling?
770-867-9026
www.maynardrealty.com
August 2, 2023 ~ Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1. Manuscripts (abbr.)
4. Came to grips with
9. Smallest element
component
11. Esprit de corps
12. Grandmothers
14. Unhinge and distract
15. Largest municipality
iin Finland
16. Not win
17. Red Cross work
18. A theatrical performer
19. Renounced under oath
21. Thick center cut of
beef tenderloin
23. Cathode-ray oscilloscope
24. Before
25. Negative
26. Paronomasia
27. Mortar trough
28. Swiss river
29. Adornment
36. More dismal
37. Helper
38. The cry made by sheep
39. Ceases to live
40. Give qualities or abilities to
41. Cordialities
43. Alt. spelling of tayra
44. Verb conjugations
45. Furnace product
46. Long & difficult journeys
47. Stallone’s nickname
DOWN
1. An insane person
2. Stem
3. First movement form
4. Warn beforehand
5. Macaws
6. Deliberately misleading
story
7. 60120 IL
8. Transfer property
10. 16th C. Fr. poet Clement
11. Adult males (Fr.)
13. Beget
14. R.l. rebellion 1841 - 1842
16. Wolf (Spanish)
19. State of violent mental
agitation
20. A single unit or thing
22. Private secondary schools
25. Persons of no importance
26. A set of two similar things
27. Health Maintenance
Organization
28. Brews
29. Comic & actress May
30. States a falsehood
31. A minute amount (Scott)
32. Tropical Asian starlings
33. Stream disturbances
34. Relating to a nerve
35. Agreement between
two states
36. Computer game player
38. Large bale of stuffing
material
42. Sound expressing
disappointment
1
2
9
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12
13
15
18
21
38
41
44
46
M6
M9
22
23
24
136
[39“
42
M7
20
30
31
32
33
34
35
37
40
43
45
mm 47
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