About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2015)
Friday, December 11,2015 Lake Oconee News Page A3 GREENE COUNTY Lewis encourages city to change holiday incentives Jackie Gutknecht jackie@lakeoconeenews.us Greensboro City Councilman Vince Lewis wants to reevaluate the city’s annual holiday incentives for its employees in the upcoming calendar year. Lewis, who is the newest coun- cilmember on the Greensboro City Council, said there is no set methodology to the city’s current holiday incentive. The incentive city employees currently receive in the month of December of each year - if approved by the council - is equivalent to that employee’s week’s pay. Councilman Chris Moore said he agreed that the incentives needed to be reviewed, but if the council was interested in making a change in the 2015 incentive it should have been done months ago. He made the motion to approve the 2015 employee incentive with the stipulation that the council would reevaluate the incentives before December 2016. Lewis, who calls himself a fiscally conservative, said he could not agree to gift taxpayer money to anyone without methodology. “I can’t in good conscience agree with it,” he said, adding that incen tives are supposed to be used to en courage and motivate workers, and the current system, in his opinion, is not an incentive. Moore’s motion to approve the current year’s holiday incentive was passed 4-1, with Lewis being the only opposing vote. In other news, the city council approved this year’s holiday closing City Hall for the Christmas holiday. Itwill be closed after noon on Dec. 24, all day Dec. 25 and Dec. 28. City employees will be on-call to offer help in emergency situations. MORGAN COUNTY Madison planning director talks housing grants Jeff Warren jeff@lakeoconeenews.us At a regularly scheduled work session of the Madison City Council Friday, Dec. 4, Planning Director Monica Callahan briefed council members on a proposed city application for housing im provement grant money. The money would come from a Community Development Block Grant, federal dollars sent down from the Depart ment of Housing and Urban Development. Georgia’s Department of Communi ty Affairs administers and awards these grants as they are bestowed within our state. The grant money Callahan talked of applying for would go toward home improve ments for people in economic hardship. As she began her remarks, Callahan referred councilors to a map already in their hands. It showed an area of the city where resi dents living in poverty make up 30 percent of the neigh borhood. That figure has recently increased from 23 percent as aging residents enter retirement and face reduced incomes, Callahan explained. The eligible area outlined is bounded on the west by State Route 83, on the north by the city limits, on the east by the Airport Industrial Area and on the south by the railroad. The area includes about 300 houses, houses of the Canaan historic neigh borhood among them. In total, a half million dollars would become avail able if granted through Georgia’s Dept, of Com munity Affairs, Callahan said. Such house improve ment grants are pointed at resident homeowners, she said. Grants to resident homeowners supply 97 percent of the home im provement cost with the homeowner supplying the other 3 percent. The Canaan neighbor hood has shifted to a com munity of rental proper ties, Callahan noted. Some grants are made available to landlords, she said, but those tend to be harder to get and split the funding 50/50. The grant pays for half of the home improvement with the landlord paying the other half. To receive a grant, a landlord must commit to operating the property as low-income housing for 15 years. “It is not a pretty bathroom grant,” Callahan said. “It is not a new kitchen grant. It is to bring houses up to code, so people’s living conditions are clean and sanitary.” Callahan advised the council no vote was required at the time of her presen tation, but she asked for a council go-ahead to move forward with the plan. Councilors expressed their agreement with the idea. Callahan said this is the second time the city will apply for a Community De velopment Block Grant to fund home improvements. The first application went unfunded, she said, but that is standard on the first try. “It is hard money to get, and it is hard money to use, but it can really make a dif ference in [housing] safety standards,” Callahan said. Another grant mentioned by Callahan was a federal Redevelopment Fund Grant already secured for a new store at the corner of Burney and Fifth streets in the same neighborhood. This HUD money flows from the federal government through state government to city government, which becomes owner of the funds. For the store project, the city will loan that P e/ie Lookj, CldSSUj ear 1010 Parkside Commons, Suite 101 I^ake Oconee, Georgia 706.454.2200 www.madeleinepage.com accessories HARRIS ENGLISH FOUR-TIME UGA ALL-AMERICAN GOLFER, PGA TOUR MEMBER AND PETER MILLAR BRAND AMBASSADOR ETER ILLAR HE STAI ' t±* THt-STANDARD grant money to Madi son’s Downtown Develop ment Authority, Callahan detailed. The Authority will use it to tear down an existing concrete block building and replace it with a clapboard store correct for the historic neighborhood. A storekeeper will rent the building, allowing the Downtown Development Authority to use collected rents to pay back the loan from the city. Once all of the money returns to the city, it becomes available to spin again into another com merce-promoting, job-cre ating type loan, Callahan explained. For the “corner store” project, government acceptance of three final documents opens the way for construction, she said. With the new corner store coming, Mayor Fred Perriman asked about reopening the railroad crossing at the foot of Burney Street to reconnect the Canaan neighborhood to Madison south of the rail line. City Attorney Joe Reitman said railroads can be challenging to deal with. He suggested that if the city wants to reopen the crossing, it should press for that immediately and continue to press until a crossing is granted. Jeff Warren/Staff This concrete block building at the corner of Burney and Fifth streets is slated to soon be replaced with a clapboard store more in keeping with the neighborhood. A federal grant will fund construction. During Hurricane Sandy, my son Tripp was hit on the head by a falling tree limb at daycare. Right after we got out of the hospital, we started therapy sessions at Athens Regional. Tripp is involved in all the therapy programs here: he gets feeding therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy. For the first year and a half, we honestiy didn’t know if he was even in there. He didn’t smile, he didn’t cry, he showed zero emotion. Athens Regional’s Pediatric Rehab has brought a lot of that back. Now he definitely shows emotion, and that’s the most important thing to us - just the fact that he’s happy and can smile now. That’s a huge triumph. We love Athens Regional and we love his therapists. I attribute a huge part of his success to them. Stacy Halstead with her son, Tripp For more information about Athens Regional’s Outpatient Rehabilitation services, please call 706.475.3511. See Stacy’s story and share your own at AthensHealth.org/YourStory We put people first. Athens Regional
