About The Eatonton messenger. (Eatonton, Ga.) 18??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2025)
» Your hometown newspaper since 1861 The Tatonton Messenger THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2025 | A3 STEPS being taken to accredit Georgia Writers Museum This summer, the Georgia Writers Museum (GWM) took its first step toward receiving accreditation. “Most people know that schools are accredited; that they undergo routine external reviews to ensure they meet best practices for their profes sion,” GWM Executive Director Melissa Swindell said. “Similarly, museums can be accredited, too.” The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) reviews and ensures that museums achieve their mission and goals and meet performance standards and best practices in the museum field. More than 1,100 museums are AAM-accredited in the United States, but only 19 of those are in Georgia. “The ultimate goal is to reach AAM accreditation, and there is a step-by-step process to help small museums reach this lofty goal,” Swindell added. The American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) works with more than 5,500 small- to mid-sized organizations through a program called STEPs (Stan dards and Excellence Program for History Organizations) to build their accreditation portfolios. The STEPs program was created in 2009 with funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to help history organizations, no matter how small, reach accreditation. It provides work books, online resources, and an online community to review museums’ policies and practices and benchmark themselves against six national museum standards: Mission, Vision, and Governance; Audience and Community Engagement; Inter pretation; Stewardship of Collec tions; Stewardship of Historic Structures and Landscapes; and Management. As each museum works its way through each national standard, it will receive a Bronze, Silver, or Gold certificate from AASLH to recognize the achievements. Georgia Writers Museum is one of seven Georgia-based organizations enrolled in the STEPs program. This summer, GWM received its Gold Certificate — the highest level of achievement — in the Mission, Vision, and Gover nance category. This sets the bar for completing the remaining five standards by focusing on GWM’s core purpose, stra tegic direction, and leadership structure. Despite being a relatively new member of the Eatonton community after relocating with her husband to Lake Oconee from Philadelphia about a year ago, GWM volunteer Judi Bell is at the heart of the museum’s STEPs initiative, Swindell said. “It’s been my goal to work toward STEPs certification, but Judi has really made this come to fruition,” Swindell said. “Judi comes to us with a back ground in operations and vital experience with accreditation processes, and we are truly fortunate to have her — and all our volunteers — to help move GWM forward.” — Contributed CONTRIBUTED Georgia Writers Museum Executive Director Melissa Swindell (left) and volunteer Judi Bell work on documents to support the museum's first STEPs certificate. Georgia Power seeks new energy projects certification Dave Williams Capitol Beat News Service Georgia Power asked state energy regulators last Thursday to certify 9,900 megawatts of new energy resources that would come from a variety of power-generating projects. In a filing with the Georgia Public Service Commission, the Atlanta-based utility proposed projects the PSC has already approved in Georgia Power’s last two Integrated Resource plans (IRPs). The company submits IRPs every three years outlining the mix of energy sources it intends to rely upon for power generation during the coming years. About 8,000 megawatts would come from bids received from an “all-source” request for proposals the commission approved in the 2022 IRP. The projects include power-purchase agreements (PPAs) from existing resources as well as new company-owned natural gas generation, battery energy storage systems (BESS), and projects that combine BESS and solar. A second filing requests certification of 1,886 megawatts that would come from projects the PSC approved this month in the utility’s 2025 IRP, including PPAs from existing resources, new battery energy storage construction, and compa ny-owned BESS paired with solar. The list of projects includes previously approved new gas turbines to be built at Georgia Power’s Plant Yates near Newnan, and Plant McIntosh near Savannah. It also requests five additional turbines, including two at Plant Bowen near Cartersville, two at Plant Wansley in Heard County, and one at Plant McIntosh. Environmental groups have opposed the new gas turbines as a doubling down on Georgia Power’s commitment to continue using fossil fuels for power gener ation rather than more aggres sive investment in renewable energy. On the other hand, Georgia Power is stepping up its reli ance on battery energy storage systems as a way to improve the efficiency of renewable power. Construction is currently underway on new BESS projects in Bibb, Lowndes, Floyd, and Cherokee counties, while the company is seeking certification of 10 new BESS facilities at eight sites across the state. Georgia Power also is requesting approval of two new state-of-the-art solar systems paired with BESS. Those would be located in Laurens County and at the site of the former Plant Mitchell in Dougherty County. The PSC will hold hearings on the two certification requests in October and early December, with a Dec. 19 vote planned. IAN TOCHER/Staff L-R: Putnam General Hospital Authority Board member Lou Benjamin, PGH Human Resources Director Rhonda Largo, and hospital CEO Alan Horton address county commissioners with detailed financial stats displayed on screens behind them. PGH CONTINUED FROM » A1 salary today also requires giving a raise to those doing the same job but hired previously. “So, one of the signifi cant cost increases to the hospital right now is we’ve got to bring our people up closer to market so that they will come on board [and then] we can save the inordinate amount of money that we’re paying for contract employees,” Benjamin explained. PGH Human Resources Director Rhonda Largo also addressed the commis sion, confirming Benja min’s statements. Largo used a registered nurse’s pay rate as an example, explaining PGH typi cally pays $32-$36/hour, compared to a competi tive rate of approximately $45/hour statewide, including at hospitals in Milledgeville, Greens boro, Madison, and Athens, among others. “I get applications all the time and we go through the interview process, but we can’t match what other people are paying. We just can’t,” Largo told the commis sion. She said she and her staff consistently attend job fairs seeking new nurses, but without competitive pay rates it’s nearly impossible to attract employees to PGH. “You’ll see the students; they walk right by Putnam because we’re not big and flashy. But what they don’t understand is they’d get to do everything at our hospital,” she said. “We’re so small that our people wear so many hats ... so it’s really a great NOTICE OF PROPERTY TAX INCREASE The Putnam County Board of Education has tentatively adopted a millage rate which will require an increase in property taxes by 20.03 percent. All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing on this tax increase to be held at the Putnam County Board of Education Office, 158 Old Glenwood Springs Road, Eatonton, Georgia on August 11, 2025 at 12:00 p.m, and 6:00 p.m. Times and places of additional public hearings on this tax increase are at Putnam County Board of Education Office, 158 Old Glenwood Springs Road, Eatonton, Georgia on August 18, 2025 at 5 p.m. This tentative increase will result in a millage rate of 11.983 mills, an increase of 2.000 mills. Without this tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more than 9.983 mills. The proposed tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $200,000 is approximately $140.00 and the proposed tax increase for non-homestead property with a fair market value of $150,000 is approximately $120.00. place for people to start out. But we just can’t pay the market rate.” Answering a question from McElhenney about PGH finances, Largo explained when she joined the hospital five years ago, PGH was heavily indebted to Navicent Health in Macon. “They helped bail us out before with several million dollars and we have worked so hard to pay that off so that we don’t have any debt now,” she said. “So, we’re pretty proud of that.” Ironically, however, that debt-free status works against PGH when it comes to securing state-provided financial support. Hospital CEO Alan Horton explained to the commission that because PGH is presently debt free, it is not consid ered as “needy” as hospi tals that are underwater, financially speaking. For example, he suggested St. Mary’s Hospital in Greensboro consistently carries debt, though many would consider it a more prosperous hospital than PGH. “And there are other hospitals like them that are rated ahead of us in terms of need, but we take a lot of pride. I mean it took us a long time to get out of debt and we don’t want to be there again,” Horton said. “We know it has more cost than just paying the principal back. You’ve got to pay interest on that as well, so we worked hard to get out of debt, but because of that we are not ranked as most needy [under the Georgia HEART designated taxes REAL JCOUNTRY Q92.3FM 4 program].” No action was taken on the matter during the work session, though it could be revisited during a future council meeting.
