About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2022)
4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, November 30,2022 County approves funds for health department fixes By Julia Hansen jhansen@dawsonnews.com After previously hearing about a mounting list of maintenance needs at Dawson County’s 70-year-old health department, the Board of Commissioners unani mously approved money for the fixes during their Nov. 17 voting session. The county plans to use $60,968 from the general fund balance to cover repairs for the health department, located at 54 Ga. 53 in downtown Dawsonville. Of that amount, $5,000 is allotted for contingency funds. At the board’s Nov. 3 work ses sion, Facilities Director James Tolbert said his staff will manage the contracting in-house to keep costs down. Some of the health clinic’s needed fixes include replacing its carpet with non-slip vinyl flooring, swapping deteriorating door frames for more secure ones, updating the electrical panel and adding more electrical outlets to the clinic’s WIC offices. These repairs will serve both as a holdover while Dawson County plans for a new health department and as improvements for the building’s next occupants. In particular, the electrical fixes would allow clinic staff to move medical refrigerators to secure locations in those spaces and avoid an overload to the building’s power system, which BOC Chairman Billy Thurmond point ed out was a fire hazard. “I know we’re building a new health department,” Thurmond said on Nov. 3. “But we’ve got to keep what we have up until we do, and that’s going to be a couple years down the road.” FROM 1A Rotary some of the same people they served last year and getting to serve the com munity. “We’ve gotten to know and meet people in the community that we might not see otherwise; it’s real ly neat to see people that we recognize from last year,” Stewart said. “It’s a really great team-building event for us where we all get to hang out, do some thing fun and help the community.” In the end, the goal of the event is to provide commu nity members with friendly faces, a hot meal and a little holiday cheer, Stewart said. “We have some people who need the food, or some people who are by themselves for Thanksgiving and now they can have a meal — we always put little flyers and cards in there for them too,” Stewart said. “Everybody was so nice and thankful and super sweet — and a lot of peo ple have messaged us on Facebook and said that it was good and they appre ciated it.” She added a special thanks to all of the event’s sponsors, Service Projects Chair Randy Wells and President-Elect Mike Liberatore for their hard work helping organize and plan the event and all of the Rotarians who came out to volunteer their time and efforts to serve the community. FROM 1A Park said Fausett has been “liv ing and breathing this one with me for a long time” since Styles initially approached the county wanting to donate the land almost two years ago. BOC Chairman Billy Thurmond also voiced his gratitude, thanking Styles for the “huge donation to Dawson County citizens” attorneys and Fausett because “she put a lot of time and energy into this project to make it happen” by coordinating much of the conversation between the county and Styles. Fausett noted that like any proposed park, there will have to be planning for it, though a passive park with walking and biking trails seems to be the preference for the land, which sits in the more rural District 1. “The county is just so blessed to have this ... y’all just look forward to that because great things are coming,” Fausett added. “Good things come to those who wait. It’s another great day in Dawson County. We’ve had a lot of great days, and this is one of them.” DAWSON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION SCHEDULE 10 SCHEDULE OF APPROVED LOCAL OPTION SALES TAX PROJECTS YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2022 AMOUNT AMOUNT ORIGINAL CURRENT EXPENDED EXPENDED TOTAL EXCESS ESTIMATED ESTIMATED ESTIMATED IN CURRENT IN PRIOR COMPLETION PROCEEDS NOT COMPLETION PROJECT COST (1) COSTS (2) YEAR (3) YEARS (3) COST EXPENDED DATE ESPLOST V adding to, renovating, repairing, improving, and equipping existing school building and school system facilities; 1 7,635,000.00 5,884,613.06 718,497.05 4,631,381.93 acquiring and/or improving land for school system facilities; 2 2,000,000.00 2,144,967.00 1,720,967.00 acquiring miscellaneous new equipment, fixtures and furnishings for the school system, including technology equipment, tablets and laptops, and safety and security equipment. 3 7,200,000.00 8,503,976.06 764,560.84 7,254,964.59 acquiring school buses and other vehicles, transportation and maintenance equipment, 4 2,065,000.00 1,430,456.50 315,360.00 749,986.50 acquiring books, digital resources, and other media for the school system. 5 500,000.00 554,695.96 554,695.96 constructing and equipping new classroom space including a performing arts center at Dawson County High School 6 13,000,000.00 24,060,629.60 24,060,629.60 paying expenses incident to accomplishing the foregoing, and for the purpose of payment of a portion of the interest on such debt. 7 $ 32,400,000.00 $ 203,505.06 42,782,843.24 6,000.00 $ 1,804,417.89 $ 183,505.06 39,156,130.64 ESPLOST VI adding to, renovating, repairing, improving, and equipping existing school building and school system facilities; la 17,500,000.00 17,500,000.00 240,743.11 2,950,295.82 acquiring and/or improving land for school system facilities; 2a 3,000,000.00 3,000,000.00 375,402.75 649,069.43 acquiring miscellaneous new equipment, fixtures and furnishings for the school system, including technology equipment, software, tablets and laptops, and safety and security equipment. 3a 12,280,000.00 12,280,000.00 2,164,056.38 1,823,954.89 acquiring school, transportation and maintenance equipment. 4a 2,000,000.00 2,000,000.00 34,698.80 235,802.10 acquiring books, digital resources and other media for the school system. 5a 1,294,990.00 1,294,990.00 293,421.33 26,013.62 June 2023 June 2023 June 2023 June 2023 Completed Completed June 2023 June 2025 June 2025 June 2025 June 2025 June 2025 constructing and equipping new school buildings and facilities and new educational space, including athletic, technological and academic facilities 6a 12,000,000.00 12,000,000.00 9,459,649.10 288,626.20 - June 2025 paying expenses incident to accomplishing the foregoing, and for the purpose of payment of a portion of the interest on such 7a 140,240.00 140,240.00 - 105,274.00 - - June 2025 $ 48,215,230.00 $ 48,215,230.00 $ 12,567,971,47 $ 6,079,036.06 $ $ - $ 80,615,230.00 $ 90,998,073.24 $ 14,372,389.36 $ 45,235,166.70 $ __ $ - (1) The School District's original cost estimate as specified in the resolution calling for the imposition of the Local Option Sales Tax. (2) The School District's current estimate of total cost for the projects. Includes all cost from project inception to completion. (3) The voters of Dawson County approved the imposition of a 1% sales tax to fund the above projects and retire associated debt. Amounts expended for these projects may include sales tax proceeds, state, local property taxes and/or other funds over the life of the projects. (4) In addition to the expenditures shown above, the School District has incurred interest to provide advance funding for the above projects as follows: Prior Years $ 2,870,480.00 Current Year 170,875.00 Total $ 3,041,355.00 A New Way to Get MORE from Medicare Now you can get complete protection for your health and budget plus more of everything you deserve. Essence—a long-standing leader in healthcare—has launched new plans in your area. More Choices. Multiple plan options to best fit your unique needs More Flexibility. 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