Newspaper Page Text
6A
Tribune & Georgian
Wednesday, August 14,2013
Upcoming Events
Thursday, August 15
A planning committee
meeting for the 2014 Camden
County Relay for Life will be
held at 6 p.m. on Thursday,
Aug. 15, at the Camden Com
munity Recreation Center lo
cated at 1050 Wildcat Drive in
Kingsland. Anyone who is in
terested in volunteering with
the committee or forming a
relay team is welcome to at
tend.
Single Again, a growing
group of active adults, has
been meeting at The Green
Room Sicilian Restaurant
every first and third Thursday
for more than six months. The
next meeting will be held Aug.
15. Those interested in mak
ing new friends and enjoying
activities while creating a pos
itive lifestyle are invited. Food
is ordered at 5:30 p.m., which
is served upstairs. New busi
ness begins after 6 p.m. or
whenever the majority has fin
ished eating. The group occu
pies the loft until closing at 8
p.m. so there is time for so
cializing. There is hope after
divorce, death of a spouse or
the end of a long-term rela
tionship, and attendees share
their ideas with the group. For
the menu and address, visit
www.onthegreenroom.com/.
Saturday, August 17
Camden County Court Ap
pointed Special Advocates
(CASA) is a nonprofit whose
volunteers serve as advocates
in the courts for abused and
neglected children. A car wash
to benefit the organization will
be held from 8:30 a.m.-2:30
p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17, at
Camden Pharmacy, 214B
Professional Circle in St.
Marys. The nonprofit is also
seeking donations of buckets,
towels, soap and hoses. For
more information, or to do
nate, call (912) 882-3119.
Monday, August 19
The Camden County
NAACP branch No. 5177 will
hold a meeting from 7 to 9 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 19, at the Cam
den County Annex located be
hind the county public library
on Gross Road. For more in
formation, call president Eddie
Rhone at (912) 322-6434 or
Marjorie Timmons at (912)
673-7858.
The City of St. Marys will
hold a public works session
Monday, Aug. 19, on the topic
of vehicle parking on residen
tial property and rights of way.
The facilitator will be Roger
Weaver, planning director. The
work session will be held at 5
p.m. in the St. Marys City Hall
council chambers, located at
418 Osborne St. For more in
formation, call (912) 510-4039.
Camden Middle School in
vites all interested parents and
community members to attend
a Title I stakeholders input
meeting Monday, Aug. 19, in
the school's media center at
1300 Middle School Road.
The meeting will be held twice.
The first will start at 10 a.m.
and the second will start at 5
p.m. Topics to be addressed
include revising the: school-
parent compact, Title I parent
involvement budget, and par
ent involvement plan and ac
tivities, as well as the school
improvement plan. For more
information, call Tammie Al
derman at (912) 729-3113.
Tuesday, August 20
St. Marys Elementary
School invites all interested
parents and community mem
bers to attend the annual Title
I stakeholder meeting at 10:30
a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, in the
school's media center at 600
Osborne St. Topics to be ad
dressed: Title I overview and
eligibility, test data, critical
issue and action plans, school
improvement plan/parent in
volvement plan, Title I budget,
parent involvement survey re
sults, program evaluation, par
ent/teacher compact. For more
information, call (912) 882-
4839.
The Camden County
Friends of National Rifle Asso
ciation of America banquet
and auction will be held at 6
p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, at Citi
zen's State Bank, located at
201 E. King St. in Kingsland.
FNRAA is a grassroots fund
raising program that fosters
community involvement and
gives 100 percent of net pro
ceeds to qualified local, state
and national programs. The
cost of the banquet is $30. At
tendees will enjoy food, fellow
ship and firearms, all in the
name of fundraising for the fu
ture of the shooting sports, and
will help safeguard programs
across the nation that prepare
today's generations to be to
morrow's guardians of the
Second Amendment. For more
information, call Jimmy Coffel
at (912) 882-4779 or visit
www.friendsofnra.org.
The National Alliance on
Mental Illness (NAMI) support
group meets at 7 p.m. the first
and third Tuesdays of every
month in the hospital cafeteria
meeting room at the Southeast
Georgia Health System in St.
Marys. Those who suffer from
depression, bipolar disorder,
anxiety or who have a family
member with mental illness
are invited to join the group.
The next meeting will be held
Aug. 20. For more information,
call (912) 674-9060.
Wednesday, August 21
The St. Marys Middle
School council will meet at 5
p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 21, at
the school, which is located at
205 Martha Drive in St.
Marys.
The Camden County Re
publican Party Executive
Committee monthly meeting
will be held at 7 p.m. Wednes
day, Aug. 21, at the Camden
Convention Center. The con
vention center is located at
1215 E. King Ave. in Kings
land. The meeting will be con
fined to about 30 minutes to
allow Congressman Phil Gin-
grey of the 11th Congres
sional District and his staff
sufficient time to promote their
campaign for the U.S. Senate.
The public is invited to attend.
For more information, call
James Stacy at (912) 882-
7551.
Friday, August 23
Fall story time for children
ages 5 and younger will start
Friday, Aug. 23, at the St.
Marys Public Library. Story
time will begin at 10:30 a.m. A
signup sheet will be available
at the circulation desk. For
more details, call the library at
(912) 882-4800.
Tuesday, August 27
The St. Marys Convention
& Visitors Bureau Authority
will hold its regular monthly
meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday,
Aug. 27, in the St. Marys City
Council chambers, located at
418 Osborne St.
Thursday, August 29
St. Marys Elementary
School invites all interested
parents and community
members to attend the an
nual Title I parent meeting at
6 p.m. Thursday Aug. 29, in
the school's cafeteria at 600
Osborne St. Topics to be ad
dressed: Title I overview and
eligibility, test data, critical
issue and action plans,
school improvement plan/
parent involvement plan,
Title I budget, parent in
volvement survey results,
program evaluation, par
ent/teacher compact. For
more information, call (912)
882-4839.
Friday, August 30
The Camden County
Sheriff's Office Star of Hope
Team will host a barbecue
sale Friday, Aug. 30, to raise
money to help provide for
needy families throughout
the community during the
upcoming holiday season.
Whole smoked Boston butts
will be sold for $25 and
whole smoked chickens for
$10 at Mason Lodge No.
326, located at 305 E. Oak
St. behind Woodbine City
Hall. They can be picked up
from noon to 5:30 p.m. To
place an order, call Katie
Bishop at (912) 576-5651 or
send an email to
kberry@ co. camden. ga. us.
Email upcoming events
to the editor at
editor! @tds.net
or fax to
(912) 882-6519.
SPLOST 6 monies went to roads, buildings
Jocelyn Brumbaugh
jocelyn@tribune-georgian.com
With Camden County vot
ers approving the seventh
phase of Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Tax
(SPLOST) in March, the final
numbers are in for SPLOST
6.
Coming to a close at the
end of July, SPLOST 6 col
lected a grand total of $43.6
million that was divided
among the county, Public
Service Authority and the
cities of St. Marys, Woodbine
and Kingsland. SPLOST rev
enues pay for capital improve
ments to the community, such
as roads, buildings, equipment
and more.
Although original projec
tions for this round of
SPLOST were set at $70 mil
lion, Camden County finance
director Mike Fender said the
$26 million deficit isn’t out of
the ordinary — high monthly
SPLOST collections like
those from 2008 can’t be ex
pected now because of a shaky
economy, he said.
Many expected an upswing
in collections with the open
ing of the Pilot truck stop and
gas station at Interstate 95
Exit 1 in April, but Fender
said there was no significant
or consistent jumps directly
related to Pilot’s revenues.
“Opening that truck stop
kept the ball rolling,” Fender
said, pointing out a minimal
jump in April’s collections,
followed by another average
number for May
Fender said that as
SPLOST collections come in
each month, adjustments are
made to the budget to balance
out and cut projects from the
priority list. County commis
sioners discuss which to elim
inate from the SPLOST
funding project list, Fender
said, and the county typically
chooses to finish projects that
have already been started
rather than starting new and
more expensive ones.
“We just couldn’t get
around to everything we
wanted to do,” Fender said,
explaining that Department
of Transportation (DOT)
match funding did help keep
the county close to its origi
nal list of goals for SPLOST
6.
The county receives 27.83
percent of SPLOST funds
and used $7.6 million on road
projects alone. A portion of
this, about $3.7 million, was
matched money from the
DOT Camden County’s top
three most expensive projects
from SPLOST 6 are:
• Ella Park Church Road at
a cost of $4.9 million, $1.3
million of that from DOT
This road, located between
Horse Stamp Church Road
and Dover Bluff, is in an area
originally slated for develop
ment.
• Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) in Kingsland
for $1 million. This center
supports emergency prepara
tion in the county, including
planning for natural disaster
situations like hurricanes.
• Paving of Old Red Bluff
Road off U.S. Highway 17 in
Woodbine, formerly a dirt
road, at $654,000.
Other projects that received
significant SPLOST funding
were improvements to the
training center for disabled
adults in Woodbine, county
building improvements, heavy
equipment purchases, the re
pair of the old courthouse
roof and technology enhance
ments.
Camden County’s Public
Service Authority received
about 9 percent of SPLOST
6, focusing its funding on the
county’s parks and recreation
facilities. The PSAs top three
most expensive projects
were:
• Kingsland Lions Park for
about $1 million.
• Resurfacing of the PSAs
track and improvements to
Chris Gilman Stadium for a
cost of $800,000.
• Upgrades to county play
ground equipment at
$330,000.
PSA director William
Brunson said the rest of PSAls
SPLOST funding went to
ward skate parks in St. Marys
and Kingsland, fences and
lighting upgrades to various
parks in need of improve
ments.
The City of Kingsland was
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allocated 28 percent of the
county’s SPLOST 6 funding
and used it on a variety of
projects, ranging from road
construction, building im
provements, equipment,
water projects and paving.
The city’s top three most ex
pensive projects were:
• Widening Laurel Island
and Gross roads at $2.5 mil
lion.
• Completion of phase one
of the Kingsland North Cen
ter rehabilitation for $1.1 mil
lion.
• Finishing phase two of
the North Center for $1 mil
lion.
Kingsland Finance Direc
tor Tamra Edwards said that
the city plans to pay for the
completion of Garfunkel
Road with SPLOST 6 funds,
and remaining collections will
be allocated to miscellaneous
projects and equipment at the
discretion of the city manager.
The City of St. Marys also
received 28 percent of
SPLOST 6 funding. City fi
nance director Jennifer
Brown said that the city spent
$7.8 million on roads, roads,
buildings and infrastructure.
The city’s top three most ex
pensive projects were:
• Sewer infrastructure at a
cost of $3.8 million. Brown
said that additional funding
was previously spent to pre
pare for this construction.
• $800,000 for building re
pairs, a majority going to the
restoration of Orange Hall.
• Miscellaneous road proj
ects, including striping, sig
nage and resurfacing.
Brown said that the remain
der of St. Marys’ SPLOST
portion went toward storm
drainage and other various re
pairs at city hall and the St.
Marys Aquatic Center.
A majority of the City of
Woodbine’s 7-percent cut of
Camden’s SPLOST 6 rev
enue went toward public
works projects. Woodbine’s
top three most expensive
SPLOST-funded projects
were:
• Replacement of water
lines at a cost of $639,000.
• Various drainage projects
for $426,000.
• Paying off the city’s old
theater project loan at
$126,000.
Woodbine city finance di
rector Debbie Carter added
that $70,500 was spent on city
sidewalks. The city is still set
to receive another $1.2 mil
lion as collections come in,
she said. A majority, 90 per
cent, of this money will go to
ward paying off the city’s
water/sewer treatment plant
rehabilitation loans and the
other 10 percent will be spent
on various sidewalks and ren
ovations at Woodbine’s fire
station, Carter said.
Fender explained that each
entity has three years to spend
their allotted amounts on the
specific projects requested for
8PLO8T use. 8PLO8T 7
began on Aug. 1 and will des
ignate the first $5.3 million
for countywide projects be
fore funds are dispersed to the
cities, county and P$A, some
time around May 2014,
Fender predicted.
CAR TALK
Daniel Nettleton
Service Manager
with &an
*~the @gi Alan
Ql How often
should I change my
wiper blades?
A-
■ Most all wiper blade manufacturers recommend replacing them at least
once a year. Some recommend every six months, but depending on the season
you’re about to encounter, that may prove to be a little more profitable for the
wiper blade manufacturer. Regardless, the blades should be inspected at the start
of each season.
912-510-3673
2030 Hwy. 40 E., Kingsland, GA
lillistonfordofkingsland.com
62684 Ifm 8/14
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