About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2013)
\ bvrbruuert^Bahta Tfiiursd^Ua^l^^q^S OjS? r ? f Si RSy^^an^4thj/ ^B^iymg^Refiitgnmng^oSEa uity^ ^ mforriTationr OMEiLoANbInEQRMaTtIONjNi hi Issue 3 Covering Byron & Peach County email: byronbuzz@pstel.net Thursday, January 17, 2013 Headed For Retirement Sims Says She Is Only A Phone Call Away By Victoria Simmons The Byron Buzz Betty Sims became Byron City Clerk in February 2000 because she wanted the op portunity to make a diffe rence and help the city move forward. ”It was a promotion and the City Clerk is a very important position in city government,” she said. Sims is retiring effective February 1, 2013, a decision she made in 2011. She began working for the city on Octo ber 21, 1997 as a voter regis trar. Her first day on the job, she says she was given check books and invoices to pay, which began her accounting responsibility with the City. Ann Emerson was Deputy City Clerk and in 1985 when she became sick and was forced to retire, Betty was moved into that position. A 1958 graduate of Banks County High School, Betty took secretarial classes in shorthand, typing and book keeping. She became a Certi fied Finance Officer in May 1986; Georgia Certified Mu nicipal Clerk in 1989; and an International Certified Mu nicipal Clerk in 2001. ”On October 21, 2012, I celebrated 35 years of dedi cated and loyal service with the City of Byron. During this 35 years, I feel I made the City of Byron first in my life,” Sims said. A lot of things can change in a short period of time and during Betty’s 13 years as City Clerk that was the case. After she became City Clerk, the General Fund revenues in creased, eliminating the need for annual tax anticipation notes. Betty says she feels she has been a good steward of the City and taxpayers’ mon ey. ’’The City has grown tre- mendousbly and along with growth comes more responsi bilities,” she said. Some other changes she has witnessed during her tenure include more federal mandates and technologi cal advances. ’’The City has become more technological and I have enjoyed learn ing and adapting to change. I am thankful to have been involved with the building, financing and occupying of the beautiful new Byron Mu nicipal Compex, which is one reason I decided I was not ready to retire sooner.” Betty has really enjoyed working with the city em ployees, Mayor and Council over the years. ”1 have also enjoyed attending Georgia Clerk Conferences, as well as Inemational Clerk Con ferences where I have met and made many friends with clerks from other states and countries,” she said. In fact, she had one clerk from New Mexico that she stayed in touch with and corresponded with for a few years. She has enjoyed meeting people from other organizations such as Georgia Municipal Asso ciation and Middle Georgia Regional Commission. ”1 have also enjoyed working and handling the Munici pal Election, since I enjoy meeting and talking with people.” The worst part of her job as City Clerk, Betty feels, was being the EEOC Of ficer and being involved in handling disciplinary ac tions. Though she could have retired seven years ago, Betty said she was not ready to give it up and was told by friends, ’’you will know when you are ready to retire”. She began trav eling with Middle Geor gia Memory Makers and discovered that she re ally enjoyed traveling. ”1 made a wonderful trip to Ireland in 2011, Paris, Belgium and the See RETIREMENT, Page 2 PHOTO COURTESY DANIEL VARGA Through efforts of Byron PTO, Byron Elementary School has a new digital sign, pictured at left. Be low is the old sign. Fund ing came from purchases in the Santa Shop prior to Christmas. Several op tions were given and this design was chosen. Byron Council Approves Ad Hoc Fire Committee By Victoria Simmons The Byron Buzz In their first meeting of 2013, Byron City Council made short work of their agenda. Ken Rissman was sched uled to speak concerning an animal control issue but was not in attendance. Council set qualifying fees for council members of the November 5, 2013 Gen eral Election at $90. Michael Chumbley, Post 3, Michael Chidester, Post 4 and Mark Waters, Post 5 are up for re- election. Qualifying will be held the week of August 26- 30th. Betty Sims, who is retir ing as city clerk as of Febru ary 1, 2013, was appointed as election superintendent. She will serve in that posi tion this year. Telina Allred was appointed as City Clerk, effective January 30, 2013 to take Betty Sims’ place in that position. She has been train ing since late 2011 to fill that role. Though there is already a Public Safety Committee in place, Council, at the sug gestion of Michael Chidester, approved the formation of an Ad Hoc Fire Commit tee. Mark Waters will be in charge of deciding which di rection that committee needs to go in to move forward and whom needs to serve on it. Chidester stated expendi tures were made for equip ment, etc. and it was not sure where it was needed. He felt a fire committee, which could See BYRON, Page 2 Chapman Road Businesses Say Project Has Hurt Them By Abigail Adams The Byron Buzz What for some seemed like a good idea in safety has be come a problem for Byron business owners. Businesses on Chapman Road in Byron are not happy with the out come of the project to change the intersection of Chapman Road and Highway 49 from close to the interstate to fur ther in town. The city and property own ers on the road were told at the beginning of the project that it would be finished by Decem ber 31, 2012. As of a meeting hosted by the Peach County Chamber of Commerce on January 9, 2013 the project is still incomplete and, as the business owners stated, unsafe for travelers who frequent the Chapman Road businesses and as a result has been hurt ing the businesses financially. The project brought the opening of Chapman Road further into town from its pre vious spot close to the inter state to help with traffic safety. What the city did not expect to happen is the issue of a fiber optic wire putting the project on hold and keeping the traffic lights that had been installed from being turned on. It is this traffic light issue that is concerning citizens and business owners. The lights now hang over the new inter section with black trash bags wrapped aroimd them unable to receive the electricity they need to be lit because of a pole that needs to be moved. The pole is unable to be moved be cause of two fiber optic wires that are attached to it, that the DOT representative, Mike King stated they think belongs to AT&T. Until these wires are moved the project cannot move for ward and the lights continue to be useless and make the in tersection dangerous for driv ers especially at night. Busi ness owners also said that the change has made the road hard to find and that their business es are suffering because of it and the unfinished paving of the road could possibly cause damage to vehicles. Rick Holdman, a tourism rep, stated that he sends al most 1500 rooms in business to the hotel sitting next to Captain Jack’s Crab Shack, the Passport Inn. Holdman is set up close to Atlanta in one of the Welcome centers and sends tourists who would nor mally go to Warner Robins or Macon for lodging, gas and food to Byron. He stated also that most of the tourists he sends to By ron are elderly and that the new intersection has proven dangerous or even sometimes invisible to those he has sent since the project closed the original entrance. Without the traffic light operational mak ing a left turn out of the road can sometimes be quite dif ficult especially during peak traffic times and also does not indicate to travelers the entrance to all the businesses they have just seen coming off the interstate. Business owners in the area agreed and stated that they have had customers who have stated they would never come back because of the road issue. The owner of the Marathon station on the comer across from where the entrance used to be stated that he has seen many people almost get into accidents because drivers are not yet used to the change and actually witnessed one car drive into the ditch. This brought up the discus sion of the lighting of Chap man Road which the owners complained is terrible and has hotel owners expressing their concerns for their guests who may travel on foot to other establishments at night. The DOT rep stated that lighting was not budgeted into the project and would take anoth er two or three years to plan and about two million more dollars budgeted. Among the list of concerns the loss of business has been high on the list. The Mara thon gas station stated their business has gone down by 85% and they are not sure how much longer they will be able to stay open and Captain Jack’s has lost up to $4,000 a week in business since the project started. Byron Mayor Larry Col lins who was present at the meeting and also represented Representative Robert Dick ey, who he had met with ear lier that morning, assured the owners that the city would do its best to get the project on track and done. He stated that he understood their concerns and agreed that the businesses should be well lit and that the project should have been done on time. King told the group that AT&T was next on the list to come move their wires and that he hoped that the ones in question belonged to them so that the project could move forward to completion. He stated that the contractors were also being fined for ev ery day they were past their deadline. Chamber president Perry Swanson closed the meeting with the assurance to the business owners that they would try to keep up contact on the project details and an other meeting to discuss prog ress would be set again in the near future.
