About The Georgia post. (Knoxville, Crawford County, Ga.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2013)
Opening Day Recreation Baseball & Softball 10 am, Saturday, April 13th Father/Son Retreat April [ 9-21 a«H Camp Grace Contact Lucas Farmer at 404-989-2204 Thursday, April 11,2013 2 Sections, 14 Pages The, Uoiae, CtawfiotusL County (peach. Co t 7927 & buice. betiuny n. Commissioners Change Meeting Time Back To 6 p.m. By Abigail Adams The Georgia Post The agenda for the Crawford County board of commissioner’s meeting on April 2nd was request ed to be amended by Chairman Dean Fripp to include the commis sioners’ meeting time. Also on the agenda the transit policies were presented as requested after the last meeting when, Charles Cook, president of the Chamber of Com merce expressed concerns about the uses of the transit buses. County Manager Pat Kelly presented the commissioners with the 2014 LMIG (Local Mainte nance Improvement Grant) road list to start the meeting. The list consists of paving for one mile of Billy White (requested by Com missioner Blasingame), one mile of Mt. Param (Thomas), and two and a half miles of Tribble (Hollis), widening, drainage, and grading of Jackson Rd. and Rowell Rd. (both requested by Fripp) and resurfacing of one and a half miles of Hortman Mill Rd. and one and a half miles of Walton Rd. (to be considered by the board). At the last meeting of the com missioners, Cook came before the board to express the concerns of the Chamber and himself about the transit system, which is partially funded by county tax dollars, tak ing citizens out of the county on personal shopping trips to Walmart and Kroger. Cook stated again at the April 2nd meeting that it did not make sense for the county to take people out of the county to spend money taking away from the tax revenue of Crawford. Kelly stated that on reviewing the policies, while medical trips outside of the county are a required use of the transit buses and these trips should be prioritized, the use of the transit buses for the sole purpose of a shopping trip and the limits on these were at the discre tion of the board. Commissioner John Thomas asked that Kelly research further to find out how many trips, just for shopping, were being made before the board made any decision to limit services. The board agreed. The proposed industrial park has been in discussions for a long time now and after the public hearing on the matter, the board requested Kelly to find an appraiser to get a second appraisal on the property being looked at for the proposed park. Kelly stated that he had hired David Gay from Dublin, GA and that the appraisal would be com pleted no later than May 23,2013 and would cost $2,600. Chairman of the Board of Asses sors, Shawn Bryant came before the board to clarify the issue of storage shed living, which was brought before the board by former commissioner, Eddie Still at their last meeting. Bryant stated that though board member Michael Sama had attended the meeting and had stated the board of assessors were not quite sure how to handle the matter, the assessors were treat ing these “storage shed houses” as guest houses and taxing them accordingly. Chief appraiser D’Lyn Jones gave the board paperwork on some of the “guest houses” showing where they were being taxed at a higher rate than regular outbuild ings. She stated, though, that if a building is not secured to the ground and could be moved from the property, it was considered personal property and, therefore, would be tax exempt. The meeting time for the board has now been changed back to 6 p.m. thanks to Thomas. He stated he felt 6 p.m. would be a better time for citizens who work until 4-5 p.m. in the afternoon. He stated he felt like the 7 p.m. meeting time gave people the opportunity to get home and “get comfortable on the couch,” and by the time the meet ing started, they would not want to leave the house having made them selves comfortable for the night. Fripp disagreed but the motion car ried 3-2 with Fripp and Blasingame voting against the change. Representative Robert Dickey, owner of Dickey Farms on Old 341 North, came before the board asking what they could do to get the name of their road changed. His wife, Cynde, was in attendance with him, as well as neighboring business owner and resident Buddy Hays. The three stated that the road name makes it very hard for people to find their businesses even with the signage on the state highway 341. Mrs. Dickey stated that some times even ambulances would get lost trying to find them and trying to have a package delivered could turn into a nightmare. Fripp asked if they had a name in mind and they stated that they would like to poll their neighbors to come up with a suitable name. The board agreed and set a public hearing for their next meeting on April 16th at 6 p.m. All citizens who have an opinion on this matter are asked to attend. Sheriff Lewis Walker rounded out the evening with a request for a better training area for his deputies. The shooting range and training grounds for the Crawford County Sheriff’s department is currently at Fair Play Hill Pit where the ground is very rocky and not suitable for on-the-ground training maneu vers. Walker asked Kelly if there was another location they could relocate their training grounds to and suggested the Hortman Surface Mining Pit. Two residents spoke out against the relocation of the training grounds to Hortman stating they did not feel it would be safe. In stead the board suggested resurfac ing the current training grounds to make it more suitable for the depu ties to train there. Walker agreed, stating that safety was the number one concern of the sheriff’s depart ment and whatever was best for the county and its residents would work for him. Old 341 May Change Names Residents of Old 341 would like to change its name. Due to a lot of confusion trying to find businesses the CC Board of Commissioners was asked to consider changing the name of the road and other small connecting roads that are also called Old 341. If you live in that area and would like to make a suggestion for the road name, or are just curious as to what the name of the road will be changed to, there will be a public hearing held during the next county commissioner meeting on April 16th at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held in the Paul Coverdell room in the Crawford County Courthouse. Some names already suggested are Peach Blossom Street, Elberta Lane, and Peachtree Parkway. Development Authority Award Grass Bid; Thanks Fitzgerald For Service By Abigail Adams The Georgia Post Development Authority board member, Don Fitzgerald has decided to see what retirement feels like and has decided to resign from his posi tion on the board. He attended their regular meeting on April 4th as a visi tor as they discussed the grass cutting bids and the lease on the community center. Also visiting the meeting were Chamber president Charles Cook, David and Charles O’Neal (grass cut ting contractors who had a bid put in) and Troy Cook, an applicant for the vacant authority board position. Board Chair, Brenda Carroll, thanked Fitzgerald for the entire board and community for all his hard work and dedication, not only to the authority, but also to the community. She also stated that, “retirement is not what he thinks it will be like.” Fitzgerald stated he would still be available to help but is looking for ward to retiring. Board member, Johnnie Colbert and secretary, Carol Jackson, attend ed the Logistics Summit in Atlanta, GA on behalf of the authority. They stated they had a lot of people visit the booth they had set up and met many different people of different nationalities. They also met with the representatives from the Houston County Development Authority, who also attended the summit. “The event was great and registra tion was the easiest we have ever been through at an event,” Jackson stated. Recently, the Community Center changed from being the responsibility of the county to the Crisis Counsel ing Center. The change has now also brought a change in location. The Community Center used to lease part of the Development Center from the authority, but now the Crisis Center has decided to use their own building to cut down on costs. “The crisis center already pays in surance on their own building and if they leased the old Community Cen ter they would have to pay double insurance. So, they have decided not to lease the building. They will move the center to their building down town,” board member Roy Shepard stated. Board member David Mathews gave the recommendations of the maintenance committee on the bids put out for grass cutting, the alarm and fire protection systems. He stated that the lowest bidder with all the required paperwork was Gary Crane for both locations that were bid for grass cutting. On the alarm system the lowest bidder was Safeway, but the board questioned the monthly maintenance fee. The fire protection system bid process was tabled because of the huge difference in bids received with the lowest being $31,947 and the highest being, $94,930. Board member Charlie West- berry and Carroll agreed to make arrangements to find out why the discrepancy in prices. Since “time is of the essence,” the board agreed to go ahead and let the two make the arrangements on the fire protec tion system before the next authority meeting in May. Champion’s Restaurant officially opened Monday with a RC- CCOC Ribbon Cutting. Above are Chris McIntyre, Scott Long and Kathleen Cook. \v Turner’s Wings was chosen as the Roberta-Crawford County Chamber of Commerce Business of the Quarter. Pictured from left are Patricia Bassett, Libby Scarborough (regular customers), Sara Turner, daughter Felicia “Little Bit” Turner, David McLeighton - chamber president-elect and Gary Turner. Though famous for their wings, Turner’s serves a variety of foods.
