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Wednesday, December 14,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
Jersey Mike’s Subs officially opens store in Dawson County
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Dawson County Chamber of Commerce members and Jersey Mike's own
ers and staff cut ribbon for new business during its soft opening on Dec. 6.
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
As of Wednesday Dec.
7, the new Dawson
County location of Jersey
Mike’s Subs is officially
open for business.
The fast-casual sand
wich franchise serves
jumbo subs with all types
of cold cuts and top
pings. It is the 14th store
opened by owner Danny
Rosales, who said that he
fell in love with the
county when he was in
Dawson for a visit.
“I fell in love with the
area coming up to visit
my son’s race team up
here, so we’re excited to
come up here,” Danny
Rosales said.
His daughter Alexis
Rosales, who is the res
taurant’s director of
operations, said that she
and her father are both
incredibly excited to
finally open their newest
location in Dawson
County.
“It’s been a long time
coming,” Alexis Rosales
said. “We love the area
and we’re very excited to
be here.”
One thing that’s very
important to their restau-
rant’s leadership, she
said, is making sure that
they are truly a part of
the community and giv
ing back as much as they
can.
“We want to get
involved as much as pos
sible in every community
we have a store in,”
Alexis Rosales said. “We
want to give as much as
we can to the communi
ty.”
One way they’re doing
this right off the bat, she
said, is offering free sub
cards from Dec. 7
through Dec. 11 for
those who make a mini
mum $3 donation to
local nonprofit No One
Alone, which provides
shelter, safety and sup
port services to victims
of domestic violence and
their children. The res
taurant’s goal is to raise
$2000 for the nonprofit.
“We want to give a
minimum of $2000, so
no matter what we come
up with we’ll cover the
difference,” Danny
Rosales said.
In the future, they plan
to continue giving back
to the community
through fundraisers and
other ways.
The Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce
held a ribbon cutting for
Jersey Mike’s on Dec. 6
during the store’s soft
opening. Before official
ly cutting the ribbon,
Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO
Mandy Power welcomed
the Rosales family and
their staff to the area,
expressing her excite
ment to have the new
restaurant finally open.
“We have heard excite
ment about this since the
day the signs went up so
we are very excited,”
Power said. “We know
that you will feel very
warm and welcomed
here in Dawsonville.”
Jersey Mike’s is locat
ed at 145 Forest
Boulevard Suite 425, in
the Dawson Crossroads
shopping center, and is
open every day from 10
a.m. to 9 p.m.
Dawson County transfer station to stop accepting recyclables on Dec. 30
File Photo
by Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County’s
transfer station on Burt
Creek Road will no lon
ger accept recyclable
items as of Dec. 30,
2022.
The change comes
after the Board of
Commissioners voted on
Dec. 1 to deny a contract
to renew the station’s
waste management ser
vices.
In August, the board
authorized $350,000 for
the first round of fixes to
the transfer station to
repair its building and
retrofit the facility with
a pull-in and drop-off
recycling system, simi
lar to Pickens County.
With the new system,
Dawson County custom
ers will have separate
areas to dispose of
household trash and
place recyclables. Bins
or divided compactors
would bear signage
showing what is and
isn’t acceptable.
BOC Chairman Billy
Thurmond suggested
nixing the proposed con
tract to “temporarily
halt” the recycling and
“save money until we
get the other system up
and running.”
There is no estimated
timeline on when those
renovations are expected
to be complete and recy-
cling can resume,
according to a Dawson
County Government
Facebook post.
During the BOC’s
Dec.l voting session,
Interim county manager
Vickie Neikirk shared
with the board that “over
90 percent” of recycla
ble materials collected
are eventually thrown
away and not recycled
due to contamination.
“What’s the point?”,
District 2 Commissioner
Chris Gaines asked
about continuing recy
cling services at the
time. “I’m all for consis
tency in offering some
thing to the citizens who
want to participate in
that...but that’s a lot of
waste.”
Thurmond noted that
the county has to pay a
recycling charge to haul
the materials and then a
landfill charge to dump
them when they’re con
taminated.
In an email to DCN,
Purchasing Manager
Melissa Hawk shared
transfer station statistics
showing that the hauling
fees for waste loads had
risen from $105.90 to
$325 per haul, with an
additional container
rental fee of $150 that
wasn’t charged in previ
ous years.
The overall costs for
disposal of tainted mate
rials would have risen
from $3,797 to
$7,501.90, a difference
of $3,704, if the county
had accepted the waste
contract, Hawk said.
Dawson County’s total
recycling costs as of
Nov. 23 were
$31,774.70. The new
pricing for 2023 would
have been “roughly
between $73,245.60 and
$90,022.80 annually if
continued at the same
tonnage,” Hawk added.
“Before, it was a lot of
money and now, it’s
ridiculous,” District 4
Commissioner Emory
Dooley said about the
cost. “It’s grown expo
nentially from when it
first started.”
Multiple commission
ers noted that since most
of the loads transported
do end up being contam
inated, it’s not profitable
for the waste servicer to
keep hauling.
Thurmond added that
any money made from
the recyclables would’ve
served as an offset, but
with the high contami
nation rate, there’s been
no offset for the disposal
costs.
Dawson County resi
dents visiting the trans
fer station before Dec.
30 can help by going to
the EPA’s website to
review how to prepare
recyclables ahead of a
trip there.
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Dawson County considering
some changes to handbook
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County
employees were again on
outgoing District 3
Commissioner Tim
Satterfield’s mind when he
spoke to his Board of
Commissioners colleagues
on Dec. 1.
“Once you lose people
that’ve been here a while,
it affects the whole county
with operations of the
county,” Satterfield said
during the BOC’s Dec. 1
work session.
On Dec. 15, the board
will vote on handbook
changes to allow for struc
tured merit and longevity
increase opportunities for
Dawson County employ
ees that, if approved,
would go into effect on
Jan. 1.
Under the new policies,
employees would be eligi
ble for merit and/or lon
gevity increases upon
reaching their first anni
versary working with
Dawson County. As
opposed to a cost-of-living
adjustment, this type of
pay increase would be
staggered since employees
each have different hire
dates.
The board’s Dec. 1 dis
cussion follows their
November approval of $1
million for merit increases
in the FY2023 budget and
September approval of a
5% COLA to address the
impact of inflation on
workers. These conversa
tions also come at a time
when fewer people are
applying for local govern
ment jobs across the
United States.
Satterfield clarified that
voting on the handbook
policy would not affect
what the board has already
budgeted for merit increas
es.
He also championed
county employees for
being able to help save
money in their depart
ments and put funds back
into the overall fund bal
ance.
Commissioners dis
cussed having two differ
ent increase ranges based
on evaluations that would
be conducted around the
time of employees’ hire
anniversaries.
Like Satterfield, BOC
Chairman Billy Thurmond
also supported the idea of
congruent merit and lon
gevity increases.
“A true merit system is
based on when you were
hired,” Thurmond said.
“Plus it’s a benefit to all
those people who have to
do the evaluations.”
The board chairman
elaborated on the impor
tance of longtime employ
ees and how their presence
can translate into better
services for county citi
zens, pointing in particular
to the 3% longevity raise
20-plus-year county
employees could get under
the new rules.
“You’re going to spend
more than three percent on
that recruitment phase, I
can tell you right now.
Plus, you’re not going to
have any of that experi
ence you just lost,”
Thurmond said. “In a way,
you’d be making money
right here by keeping
somebody.”
Satterfield likewise
pointed to month-over-
month increases in local
tax collections and the fact
that the county’s only pay
ing about 84% of what’s
allocated to payroll now.
That’s compared to hav
ing employees cover
vacant shifts, which he
said can lead to spending
more on overtime.
“A lot of this stuff, if
you look at it on the large
scale [and] if you could
get these critical positions
filled...with things like
this right here,” said
Satterfield, “you’re actual
ly going to save some
money in the long run.”
District 2 Commissioner
Chris Gaines expressed a
more reserved response.
“Today, the funding
looks good, and we have a
lot of good revenue coming
in. I think a lot of it is our
sales tax revenue is artifi
cially inflated due to infla
tionary increases that’s
short lived,” said Gaines,
“so we’ve just got to keep
in mind [that] this is a long
term commitment.”
Thurmond admitted that
especially considering
times like the 2008 reces
sion, the “economy itself’
would dictate implementa
tion of these policies.
“It might say it in the
handbook, but that can be
changed as well when
you’re in a bad situation,”
Thurmond said. “So you
kind of, for lack of a better
term, you play with the
hand you’re dealt with at
that particular time.”
Before Dec. 15, the com
missioners will wait on
additional figures that show
how their suggested lon
gevity increases far when
looking at other county
governments.
It was also suggested to
keep in language about
either an increase or paid
time off if an increase is not
available, or perhaps to
base the raises on annual
revenue.
“We’ll have to budget
every year and adjust the
schedule,” Gaines added.