About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 2017)
Friday, September 22,2017 Lake Oconee News Page All GREENE COUNTY Kludt has a clue about Greene C&CA Larry Kludt Dave Brown dave@lakeoconeenews.us It all began when Larry Kludt was hitting balls back and forth with Mike Lynch on the tennis courts. Kludt, who retired from the corporate world in Phil adelphia and moved back to Georgia, felt he still had something left to offer to society. What he had left, as the French say, was a case of/e ne sais quoi: something that couldn’t be adequately described or expressed. “I looked around and felt like I wasn’t done working. I felt I could still contribute to the community,” said Kludt. “It was simply a matter of finding out what I could do.” Kludt lived in the Phil adelphia area for nearly 25 years and worked as vice president of human resources for Ikon. He pre viously lived in Georgia and worked as in a similar position at the General Electric regional office. “Mike and I were talking about the school system and ways we could help improve it,” said Kludt during an interview this week at the Lake Oconee News office. “One approach was the College and Career Academy.” Kludt, along with several other volunteers, joined together to form the Greene C&CA steering committee. From that humble begin ning, the process toward a C&CA marched forward. Greene BOE recently approved eight charter members plus an open position for the post-sec ondary school as charter members of the Board of Governors for its College and Career Academy. Four of the nine-member Board of Governors will serve three-year terms and the other five members will serve two-year terms to set up a staggered system. Members of the Board of Governors will be limited to three terms. The unanimously approved list of the Board of Governors was put forth by the steering committee. In addition to the open position, the original eight members of the Board of Governors include Charity Burnette of Novelis, Jennifer Benson of Athens Tech, Dwain Evans of UPS, Rabun Neal of Reynolds Lake Oconee, Beth Patrick of St. Mary’s Hospital, Gary Pierotti of Builder’s Associ ation, and BOE selections Mike O’Neal and Kludt. Athens Tech, at this point, is the sole source provider for the College and Career Academy, where students can graduate from high school with enhanced, mar ketable trade skills. “We have a true partner ship with Athens Tech, em ployers in Greene County and the school system,” said Kludt. “There are 40 (college and career academies) in Georgia, and that’s the type of relationship that’s been successful. That’s the model we based ours on. “It’s an all-in community deal and a win-win situation for everyone.” The Greene C&CA is a good idea, but still awaits approval from the State of Georgia. Last year, Greene County Schools were among ap plicants that were turned down. However, even though there will be more applicants than grants given again this year, Kludt likes Greene County’s chances. At stake is $3,165 million in a matching grant from the state. The C&CA would not be a new building in the Greene school system. It would be housed at the Greene County High School campus with the monies going toward ex pansion and equipment. The proposed Greene C&CA will operate under the mantra of “Pathways to the Future.” There will still be a focus on training students for post-second- ary education and going to college, but also increased focus on a curriculum that prepares students to find a career after high school. There could be five cur ricula clusters: hospitality, health care, construction, manufacturing operations and welding. “Athens Tech has a state- of-the-art welding facility, and, as we’ve found out from one of our local business partners (B&P Piping), welders are extremely hard to find,” said Kludt. “It’s just one example of what we can do at the C&CA.” B&P is just one of the 35 local companies joined together with the C&CA. Kludt said he wants the number of local companies to grow to more than 50. “I will have no qualms about asking our partners for assistance and equip ment for the C&CA,” said Kludt. It bears mentioning Kludt’s tennis buddy is now chairman of the Board of Education. Kludt said any perceived dysfunction of the former BOE is a thing of the past and he prefers to look forward. “I don’t have any political history,” said Kludt. “It’s a new day in Greene County. From now on, we’re going to present our county in a positive light as a place to come and do business in order to promote economic development. “The plan going forward with the C&CA is provide the ability for students to move on from high school and either go to college or be trained to find jobs in tech nical areas.” The Greene C&CA approval from the state is expected to be around Thanksgiving. GREENE COUNTY Greene BOC chairman applauds county workers When you’re selling a property... You need to be seen online. Dave Brown dave@lakeoconeenews.us At the end of Tuesday eve ning’s meeting of the Greene County Board of Commis sioners, the collective heart and soul of county govern ment workers was applaud ed by board chairman Gary Usry for their hard work and diligence cleaning up from last week’s tropical storm remnants of Hurricane Irma. “I want to give a big thank you,” said Usry in reference to the clean-up and downed- tree removal by county workers, as well as by volun teers from the community. “We had people putting in 16-18 hours days cutting trees. This week we finally got back to normal because of their hard work,” he said. “It just goes to show the community coming together and getting stronger by over coming adversity.” Usry’s atta-boy served as a good conclusion to a brisk moving meeting by an obvi ously well-prepared Board of Commissioners. The first item on the business agenda was the consideration of a TEFRA Resolution to allow Lake Oconee Academy to apply for a USDA loan to finance a capital improvement project. TEFRA is a acronym for “Tax Equity and Fiscal Re sponsibility Act” of 1982. It is a federal requirement in place to make sure tax exempt bonds are in fact genuinely authorized to be exempt from federal taxation. The TEFRA process requires a hearing to be held to address specific facts, and according to the Greene BOC, the hearing was held Sept. 11. The TEFRA resolution passed unanimously. Also passing unanimously was the appointment of Rod Wilson to the Board of Tax Assessors. The Greene BOC also unanimously approved the SPLOST-funded CAD upgrade to the server at the 911 Dispatch. “This is a vital element of an enhanced system,” said county manager Byron Lombard before a motion for a vote was made. “We’ll be set for the next 10 years with our radio system.” The BOC also unanimous ly approved the $350,000 bid by Milford Construction for the EMS Station One Project, which was budgeted for $357,000. In its final unanimously approved business item, the BOC approved the fire de partment contracts. A rezoning request was approved for Dollar General to move to Willow Run. 92% of Buyers search online — so Coldwell Banker syndicates your listing to over 900 websites for maximum exposure. COLDWtLL BANKER COMMERCIAL J eoLDUieu. bank.gr □ couMueiL GLOBAL ““^1 LUXURY. CBLAKEOCONEE.COM • CBCLAKECOUNTRY.COM COLDWELLBANKERLUXURY.COM . ? withu We Are Open During The Sidewalk Construction! 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