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THE TRUTH SINCE 1886
FAYETTE COUNTY (1) NEWS
f ay ett e-news, net
Vol. 151, No. 30 Wednesday, July 26, 2023 $1.
Council Approves FY24 Fayetteville Budget, Strategic Plan
Mixed-Use Development Debated
Luke Haney
Editor
lhaney@upsonbeacon.com
Following approval of
the 2023 Strategic Plan,
Fayetteville City Council
unanimously approved the
proposed $40.9 million
FY24 budget, $2.9 million
less than FY23.
Finance and Admin
istrative Director Mike Bush
presented the budget, high
lighting various overall
changes.
A detailed breakdown of
the budget was printed in
the July 12 edition of Fay
ette County News and
budget documents are avail
able online at Fayetteville-
ga.gov and at Fayetteville
City Hall.
Following, council unan
imously approved an
amendment to water and
sewer rates for FY24, a five
percent annual increase
which staff noted is needed
to meet debt service needs
associated with the recently
built waste-water treatment
plant and upgrades associ
ated with repayment of the
2019 PFA Revenue Bond
Series required debt.
Staff added that the city
still holds one of the lowest
rates in the Metro Atlanta
area, “which is making it
more difficult to upgrade
our infrastructure,” added
City Manager Ray Gibson.
“So, we are trying to plan for
[costly upgrades].”
The increase, noted as
“pennies on the dollar,”
equates to a $2.11 increase
of the minimum residential
water and sewer rate, a 10-
cent increase per 1,000 gal-
See Fayetteville, A5
Notice
of Data
Breach
FAYETTE - EMS Man
agement and Consultants,
Inc. (“EMS | MC”) recently
notified certain customers
in Fayette County of an inci
dent that may have im
pacted the privacy of
information related to cer
tain patients, according to
Fayette County officials.
EMS | MC is a billing
services provider for Fayette
County Fire and Emergency
Services. While EMS | MC is
reportedly unaware of any
actual or attempted misuse
of information in relation to
the incident, it is providing
potentially affected individ
uals with information about
the incident and steps indi
viduals may take to help
protect their information
should they feel it is nec
essary to do so.
On May 31, and again in
June, Progress Software
Corp. publicly disclosed
zero-day vulnerabilities that
impacted the MOVEit
Transfer tool. The county’s
billing services provider
(“EMS | MC”) is a user of
that tool. EMS|MC moved
quickly to apply available
patching and undertook
recommended mitigation
steps.
EMS | MC promptly
launched an investigation,
with the assistance of third-
party cybersecurity special
ists, to determine the
potential impact of the vul
nerabilities’ presence on the
MOVEit Transfer server on
the security of data housed
on the server.
EMS|MC’s investigation
determined that an un
known actor exploited vul-
See NOTICE, A5
Fayette B0E Receives
Back-to-School Updates
First Look at Budget Breakdown
Don Harp, center, poses with his family before a mile-long walk around downtown Fayetteville.
Hoojin’ It for Harp
Race to Cure Sarcoma Raises $55K-Plus
Brigitte Greer
Staff Writer
bgreer@fayette-news.net
When a loved one is dia
gnosed with cancer, dark
ness often seems inevitable,
and when diagnosed with a
rare cancer, brightness can
seem even harder to find.
But for 25-year-old Fay
etteville resident Don Harp,
the brightness at the end of
the tunnel has been visible
from the beginning.
Although commonly
diagnosed in children, Harp
was diagnosed with sar
coma as an adult in De
cember 2021. Since then, he
and his family have been
fighting hard to bring
awareness to the rare
cancer.
In honor of Sarcoma
Awareness Month, event or
ganizer Susie Arrington in
vited family, friends, and
See Harp, A2
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
With the 2023-24 school
year right around the cor
ner, Fayette County Board
of Education met on July 17
to discuss updates for the
beginning of the school year
and moving forward for
families and students.
Of the topics on the
agenda, the superinten
dent’s report included an in
structional and operational
update, along with the
2023-2024 staffing update.
Within the staffing up
date, it was noted that there
are teacher vacancies avail
able at Sandy Creek High
School and employee va
cancies available in the cen
tral office.
According to Fayette
County Schools Director of
Human Resources Erin
Robeson, a more detailed
update of these vacancies
and open positions will be
provided in August, but staff
is confident they will be
working diligently to fill
these vacancies.
At the end of Robeson’s
presentation, board
member Scott Howell in
quired about the impor
tance of substitute teachers
and the impact they have
within the school system.
Questions swirled about
whether retirees who
wished to be substitute
teachers would have to en
dure some type of training.
According to Robeson, it
is a law that former edu
cators do not have to un
dergo training to become
substitute teachers.
The next segment of the
meeting included discussion
of the 2023-24 system
budget, maintenance, and
restoration plan. Staff told
the board they would return
See B0E, A5
Tyrone Council OKs
Purchase of PD Body,
Vehicle Cameras
Mayor Proclaims July Muslim American
Heritage Month in Fayetteville
The Fayetteville Mayor and City Council recognized Muslim American
Heritage Month on July 20, which is recognized throughout the State of
Georgia during July, reading a local proclamation highlighting the cultural
diversity and contributions to the community by those of the local Muslim
community, designating the month of July, each year, as Muslim American
Heritage Month in the City of Fayetteville.
Mayor Ed Johnson presented attending community members with Fay
etteville bicentennial coins during the event.
Community News and Small
Business Support Act Introduced
Bipartisan Bill Provides Tax Credits to Newspapers, Advertisers
Leah Banks
Investigative Reporter
leah@fayette-news.net
During the July 20
Town of Tyrone Council
meeting, members ap
proved the purchase of 11
additional body cameras
and 12 vehicle cameras for
Tyrone Police Department,
totaling $33,683, $7,000
higher than the original
projected cost of $26,683.
According to Tyrone Po
lice Chief Randy Mundy,
the price increase results
from the updated software
for cameras that are within
the official police vehicles.
Without updated software,
body cameras are fully op
erational, but vehicle cam
eras would not be
functional.
“During our budget
workshop, I discussed with
you all the need to get some
new body cameras as ours
are just about obsolete and
no longer supported,”
Mundy explained to coun
cil. “So, you guys were in
agreement with that. We
got a quote on it, and when
we received the quote, the
original quote was for
$26,683.00.
“Subsequent to us turn
ing in our packet to all of
you for approval, we re
ceived word from Watch
Guard that they failed to in
clude a software upgrade
for our cameras in our
cars,” Mundy continued.
“So, that would mean for us
that our body cameras
would work but our car
cameras would not.”
Mundy said the depart
ment requested a new quote
for the total amount of the
purchase, resulting in the
$7,000 increase in the total
price.
“We’re down to three
body cameras that are func
tional right now, so we’re
really trying to get this
under way,” Mundy said.
“We have already pur
chased three of the [body]
cameras, so we’re looking to
purchase 11 more,” he con
cluded. “We’ve already got
three for a total of 14. We
will have the ELA platform
for those 14 body cameras
and for 12 vehicle cameras.”
New legislation to sup
port local newsrooms and
small businesses has been
introduced in the 118th
Congress, according to a
statement from Georgia
Press Association.
The Community News &
Small Business Support Act
was announced Friday, July
21, by sponsors Rep. Clau
dia Tenney (NY-24-R) and
Rep. Suzan DelBene (WA-i-
D), both members of the
U.S. House Ways and
Means Committee.
The bipartisan legisla
tion supports two institu
tions critical to sustaining
hometown communities -
local news organizations
and small businesses.
“I understand how es
sential it is to support local
newspapers and provide our
See Tax Credits, A2
INSIDE: FAYETTE VIEWS
SPORTS
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B1 SCHOOL
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CONTACT US: support@fayette-news.net - (770) 461-6317 - fayette-news.net
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