Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, July 27,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Dawson Schools receives financial reporting award
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
For the ninth year in a row,
Dawson County Schools has
received an award of distinction
for excellent financial reporting,
an honor given to organizations
that submit timely, thorough and
high-quality financial state
ments.
During the Dawson County
Board of Education’s July 19
meeting, board members and
Superintendent Nicole LeCave
recognized and honored the
members of the school system’s
finance department for their
hard work in achieving the
award.
“The Department of Audits
awards an award of distinction
to organizations that submit
quality financial statements and
supporting documents in a time
ly manner each year,” Finance
Director Beth Covington
explained during the meeting.
“We finished up our audit very
early this year compared to nor
mal and we were notified a few
months ago that we had received
the award again this year.”
In order to receive the award,
an organization must email a
financial report with an unmodi
fied audit opinion, meaning that
there are no findings in the
audit, and that is free from any
significant deficiencies or mate
rial weaknesses. The report
must also comply with all trans
parency and government
requirements.
Dawson County Schools has
won the award every year that
it’s been possible, an impressive
feat for any organization,
Covington added.
“The award has been given
for nine years, Dawson County
has received the award for all
nine years, and we are one of
the very few schools that have
done this,” Covington said.
Photos courtesy of Indigo Energy
North Georgia company Indigo Energy recently installed a brand-new electric vehicle charging station in Dawsonville's Main Street Park.
FROM 1A
Charger
seen a Ford F-150
Fightning electric pickup
truck come in and it was
able to take that full
load, or 19 kilowatts, so
that was really encourag
ing to see that although
we have in mind for it to
be future-proof it’s
already being used to its
max capacity now.”
While different cars
take different amounts of
time to charge, a car like
Rivers’ own vehicle, a
Hyundai Ioniq 5, could
charge from completely
dead to fully charged in
less than 7 hours, he
added.
The station was offi
cially installed and
opened the last week in
June, and so far he said
that the station has seen a
lot of traffic.
“We’ve already gotten
some usage out of it; we
use a third-party app
called ‘Plugshare’ where
you can leave reviews for
a station, so we’ve been
getting a lot of feedback
there which has been
really encouraging as
well,” Rivers said.
Right now, the charg
ing station is usable with
a credit card with a tap-
to-pay function, or it is
also compatible with
apps for those who want
to connect to it that way,
Rivers said. Currently,
the station is set to be $3
per hour, but as Georgia
laws are subject to
change that pricing could
also change.
“Right now in Georgia
you have to bill based on
time and not based on
electricity that’s used
which might sound okay
but the issue with that is
that there are some elec
tric vehicles like that
F-150 Fightning that may
take the full load of the
station which is 19 kilo
watts and that’s great, but
the downside is that they
have to pay the same as a
Nissan Feaf that plugs in
and charges at a third of
that speed, so it kind of
creates a disparity there,”
Rivers said. “As soon as
we can, we’re going to
change it to be based on
the electricity that gets
used there just to make
that equal for anybody
that plugs in, but right
now it’s $3 an hour.”
The charging station is
the first of its kind in the
Dawsonville area, and as
an electric vehicle owner
himself Rivers said that
having a charger central
in the city is a huge help.
“I live kind of between
Dahlonega and
Dawsonville; there’s not
much there, so there’s a
couple in Dahlonega but
they’re a good bit slower
than the one we just put
in Main Street Park,”
Rivers said. “So my wife
and I went out to dinner
in Dawsonville at that
seafood restaurant right
by Food Fion; we were
there for about an hour
and a half and in that
amount of time I could
have easily gained 65 to
75 miles of range. If
you’re commuting to
Dawsonville or someone
is visiting Dawsonville
from a little farther out,
you can plug in there and
easily make it back to
wherever you came
from.”
Indigo Energy is based
out of Gainesville and has
been pivoting toward the
future with a future-focus
on renewables in the last
several years, Rivers said.
As part of the energy
company’s mission, it has
installed several electric
vehicle charging stations
like the one in
Dawsonville.
“We do turnkey instal
lations where, say hypo
thetically the City of
Dawsonville wanted to
own it and operate it
themselves, we help them
get that installed and help
them with the operations
of it,” Rivers said. “And
then this station is
through our EV charging
host program, where the
City of Dawsonville is
acting as a site host for
our charging station.”
The company is look
ing to continue branching
out to install electric
vehicle charging stations
in even more places, from
apartment complexes and
retail spaces to cities and
office buildings, he said.
“Essentially, EV charg
ing is a lot more fluid and
flexible than a gas station
because you can put them
nearly anywhere as long
and as you have sufficient
people passing through
that area it’ll be a great
spot for it,” Rivers said.
“My email address is
always open for folks to
reach out if they have any
projects or they think that
they would be a good site
host or they’re interested
in owning it themselves
or understanding the busi
ness model or anything
like that.”
The station in
Dawsonville, he said, is
in a great location
because of the ability to
plug in a vehicle and
leave it charging while
the driver enjoys Main
Street Park or walks
around the downtown
area.
“The park itself has the
new disc golf course, the
playground, the corn
hole; Dawsonville is real
ly doing a lot of work to
make the park a destina
tion and I think the charg
ing station also helps with
that,” Rivers said. “We’re
eager to continue expand
ing our network and our
partners.”
To learn more about
Indigo Energy and elec
tric vehicle charging sta
tions like the one in
Dawsonville, go to www.
indigoenergy.com or
reach out to Rivers via
email at crivers@indi-
goenergy.com.
Celebrating 192 Consecutive Years
July 25-31,2022
Host Pastor
Dr. David Sanders
Ministers
Dr. Warren Lathem Rev. Jason Hamby
The song Leader
Barry Slaton.
We will tell your story and
share your love everyday.
You are forever in our hearts.
We miss you and love you
always son/
— Daddy and Mama
