Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, August 1,2018
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 7A
FROM 1A
Gaines
For the Dawson County News
Left, Jim Gaines and his wife of 47 years, Debbie, sit surrounded by several grandchildren. Gaines has served as pastor at First
Baptist Church of Dawsonville for 20 years. Right, Jim Gaines, pictured in the dark suit, stands with members of the congrega
tion of First Baptist Church of Dawsonville at a groundbreaking for the church's current building, which was completed in 2001.
expanded several times until it
became apparent the congrega
tion was too large for the small
white church in the center of
town. In 1999, a year after Gaines
took the helm, the church pur
chased 9 acres of land less than
two miles north of the downtown
facility.
By 2002 they had built a $6.2
million, 750-seat worship center
complete with a fellowship hall,
classroom space and offices for
administration.
When the church moved to the
new building, Gaines started
looking for a church to fill the old
one.
“Part of the vision that God
gave me for this community was
to have a Presbyterian church,
and so I asked the church to try to
find a Presbyterian,” he said. “We
called their denominational office
and said we’d sell (the building)
to them for a real good price if
they’d start one.”
The man they sent, who would
serve as the first pastor of Grace
Presbyterian in Dawsonville, was
Mark Weaver. He and Gaines had
gone to seminary together and
immediately struck up a friend
ship that lasted until Weaver died
in 2010.
Highlights of Gaines’ career,
aside from the new building,
include several mission projects
to Alaska and Africa.
The congregation has taken
seven trips to Alaska to refurbish
churches and even built a church
for an Eskimo village.
“I’ve preached in every
Southern Baptist Church in the
state of Alaska,” he said. “Of
course, there’s only 27 of them.”
A Huntsville, Alabama native,
Gaines has been married to
Debbie for 47 years. They have
three children, including County
Commissioner Chris Gaines.
“I’m going to miss this place,
these people are like family,”
Gaines said. “It has been hard for
me to retire. All three of my kids
have been married since I’ve been
pastor of this church, all of my
grandchildren have been born
since I’ve been pastor of this
church.”
Chris Gaines said he wished
his dad well on the next chapter
of his life.
“I have learned what service
truly means from my dad through
his commitment and dedication
not only to First Baptist Church
but to the community,” he said.
“I’m proud that he is crossing the
finish line of his working years
and look forward to seeing him
and my mom enjoy their retire
ment.”
The pastor said it was not an
easy decision to finally make the
move toward retirement.
He was on sabbatical at
Vanderbilt when one day he had a
conversation with an old friend of
his about how he had been think
ing about retiring.
“And as we were talking, he
said ‘what do you want to do in
retirement?’ and I said ‘I want to
do some stuff with Life Way, I’d
like to teach and I’d like to do
some leadership conferences like
I used to do.’ Within three days,
all three of those things came
together,” he said. “It was just
kind of a God thing.”
A longtime academic, Gaines
has always taught and plans to
continue when he retires. He
holds two bachelor’s degrees, a
master’s degree and PhD from
Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary.
“I’m going to have probably 10
PhD students, and I’ll work with
an international mission board
doing leadership conferences and
work with LifeWay writing cur
riculum and stuff,” he said.
Gaines said he has no plans to
move out of the county and that
he will continue to support the
church.
“This church and this commu
nity has been a blessing to me,”
he said. “It has been a dream for
any pastor and I envy the new
pastor to have a church like this
and to have people that are just
great, wonderful people. They
have always loved their pastor
and that is an amazing legacy for
a church.”
Church pianist Janice Darnell,
a longtime parishioner at First
Baptist, said Gaines will be great
ly missed.
“One of the things that
(Gaines) always teaches is that
our outlook on life can be
summed up as a ‘matter of the
heart.’ In the difficult, confusing
and wonderful situations we face,
our heart, our relationship with
God, is what carries us through or
makes an experience more joy
ous,” she said. “First Baptist will
never forget (Gaines) sharing his
heart with us every week. The
kindness and love he has shown
to all, along with his amazing gift
of knowledge, will be greatly
missed.”
Georgia House Rep. Kevin
Tanner considers Gaines a good
friend and has known him since
he first came to Dawsonville to
be the pastor at First Baptist.
“After I got elected to the
House he served as pastor of
devotion for the day and he did a
tremendous job representing the
community and meeting the lead
ers in the house,” Tanner said.
“He always led his congregation
with integrity and put the Lord
first in his life. He will be missed
not only by the congregation but
by others in the community.”
A Pastor Search Committee
has been set up to find a new pas
tor for First Baptist. Gaines said
the new pastor will have to be
ready for the future of Dawson
County.
“All the projections for the
community is tremendous
growth,” Gaines said. “The thing
that I see that is going to be the
big challenge is being able to bal
ance old Dawsonville with the
new, what’s coming. I think who
ever comes as pastor here is
going to have a part in that.”
The longest ever tenured pastor
the church has had, Gaines has
shattered statistics as surely as he
has embedded himself in the
community.
“Less than three percent of
Baptist preachers stay at a church
over 10 years,” Gaines said. “It’s
just amazing, I thought I would
come and stay a few years, but I
just love Dawson County. I’ve
never enjoyed living in a place as
much as I have here.”
Gaines’ final service will begin
at 11 a.m. Sunday with a recep
tion immediately following. The
church is located at 900 Hwy. 9 N
in Dawsonville.
FROM 1A
Hired
According to a release
from the chamber, the
goal of the partnership
between the chamber and
development authority is
to promote “better coordi
nating, planning and sup
porting quality growth in
Dawson County in the
coming years.”
McGriff will serve as
the point person and coor
dinator of day-to-day eco
nomic development opera
tions in Dawson County.
“Her immediate priori
ties include continuing to
build relationships with
elected officials and work
force and development
partners throughout the
region, determining the
best list of target indus
tries for Dawson County
and finding new avenues
to support existing busi
ness and industry,” the
release reads.
McGriff most recently
served as the University of
Georgia faculty Archway
Professional in Cairo,
Georgia and was responsi
ble for facilitating com
munity initiatives includ
ing economic and commu
nity development, educa
tion for a quality work
force, leadership program
ming and access to health
care, according to the
release.
She is a native of
Bulloch County and holds
a master’s degree in busi
ness administration and a
bachelor’s degree in
chemistry, both from
Georgia Southern
University.
“We are thrilled to have
Betsy join our Chamber
team,” Moore said. “Her
background in strategic
planning well positions
her to be a tremendous
asset to our community,
chamber and development
authority as we create
strategy and goals for eco
nomic development in
Dawson County.”
Brian Trapnell, chair
man of the Development
Authority of Dawson
County, said the board is
excited to welcome
McGriff and her family to
Dawson County.
“Betsy’s mix of energy,
experience, enthusiasm
and talent fit perfectly
with who we are and
where we’re headed as a
community,” Trapnell
said. “Her statewide rela
tionships, combined with
all of these other attri
butes, will strengthen our
ability to retain our exist
ing business and industry,
recruit new ones and con
tinue building a strong
workforce with our part
ners in the community.”
McGriff will officially
join the chamber on Aug.
20.
“I am looking forward
to my new role in such a
dynamic and beautiful
part of the state,” McGriff
said. “Dawson County is
poised for quality growth
and I am excited to be part
of the process.”
The new relationship
has also brought the
chamber and the develop
ment authority under the
same roof.
The chamber office off
Ga. 400, which also holds
the office of tourism and
development, is currently
being renovated to accom
modate the development
authority and its sister
authority, the industrial
building authority.
The board of commis
sioners voted July 19 to
allocate $14,470 to the
development authority for
the remodel.
The project was bid out
in April and the lowest
bidder, AHC Contracting,
was selected for the job.
The money for the reno
vation and move will be
taken from the county’s
capital improvement
account. The board of
commissioners also voted
in January to allocate
$135,000 to the develop
ment authority so it could
continue to operate for the
rest of the year.
McGriff joins Moore,
along with Membership
Director Melissa Mayton,
Director of Operations
Brenda Mason, Tourism
and Events Director
Dustin Heard and
Welcome Center
Coordinator Kaitlyn Silva
at the chamber.
Mandy Power is cur
rently serving as the 2018
chair of the chamber’s
board of directors.
Sitting on the develop
ment authority board are
Trapnell along with Mike
Ball, Tara Hardwick, Joel
Hanner, Calvin Byrd and
Tony Passarello. The
board meets at 9 a.m. the
fourth Tuesday of every
other month at Etowah
Water and Sewer
Authority in Dawsonville.
NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
The Dawson County Board of Education has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will
require an increase in property taxes by 10.7 percent.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this tax increase to be held at the
Dawson County Board of Education Administration Building, 28 Main Street, Dawsonville, GA
on August 7th at 4:30 pm and August 13th at 5:30 pm.
Times and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase are at the Dawson County
Board of Education Administration Building, 28 Main Street, Dawsonville, GA on August 20th
at 6:00 pm.
This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 15.778 mills, an increase of 1.525 mills.
Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 14.253 mills.
The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $300,000 is approximately
$183.00 and the proposed tax increase for nonhomestead property with a fair market value
of $225,000 is approximately $137.25.
NOTICE
The Dawson County School Board does hereby announce that millage hearings will be held at the board office at 28 Main
St., Dawsonville, Georgia on August 7th at 4:30 pm, August 13th at 5:30 pm, and August 20th at 6:00 pm. The millage
rate will be set at a meeting to be held on August 20th at 6:00 pm and pursuant to the requirements of O.C.G.A. Section 48
5-32 does hereby publish the following presentation of the current year's tax digest and levy, along with the history of the
tax digest and levy for the past five years.
CURRENT 2018 TAX DIGEST AND 5 YEAR HISTORY OF LEVY
COUNTY SCHOOL
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Real & Personal
1,129,195,046
1,235,141,214
1,335,404,282
1,405,703,009
1,496,458,775
1,695,040,121
Motor Vehicles
72,805,630
61,421,210
46,196,288
35,761,420
28,375,390
22,786,170
Mobile Homes
942,479
894,158
890,629
955,649
952,109
1,493,910
Timber - 100%
385,486
146,332
5,273
88,593
96,561
190,449
Heavy Duty Equipment
0
0
0
0
0
Gross Digest
1,203,328,641
1,297,602,914
1,382,496,472
1,442,508,671
1,525,882,835
1,719,510,650
Less M& O Exemptions
217,500,085
233,489,669
252,868,705
267,876,110
283,458,307
318,817,169
Net M & O Digest
985,828,556
1,064,113,245
1,129,627,767
1,174,632,561
1,242,424,528
1,400,693,481
State Forest Land Assistance
Grant Value
1,156,348
1,262,801
1,285,254
1,302,253
1,316,604
895,860
Adjusted Net M&O Digest
986,984,904
1,065,376,046
1,130,913,021
1,175,934,814
1,243,741,132
1,401,589,341
Gross M&O Millage
17.246
17.246
16.496
15.778
15.778
15.778
Net M&O Millage
17.246
17.246
16.496
15.778
15.778
15.778
Total School Taxes Levied
$17,021,542
$18,373,475
$18,655,541
$18,553,899
$19,623,748
$22,114,277
Net Taxes $ Increase
$1,351,934
$282,066
-$101,642
$1,069,848
$2,490,529
Net Taxes % Increase
7.94%
1.54%
-0.54%
5.77%
12.69%