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PAGE 2A THE JACKSON HERALD WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2007 County discusses TDR proposal at meeting County BOE gets more district complaints Parents express concern about traveling distances BY BRANDON REED Parents living in the area bet ween Hwy. 82, Hwy. 11 and Hwy. 129 continue to be upset about how far their children are having to travel to school this year. Tammy Shekey said at Monday night’s Jackson County Board of Education meeting that members of the community in that area are concerned about the amount of time their children have to spend on a school bus. She said there are 85 children in the area between Finch Landing and Wood Farm subdivisions, with 49 of those attending South Jackson Elementary School. Shekey said she didn’t believe the plan is in the best interest of children and that they deserved an option to do something other than going across the county to attend school. “It’s a numbers game to make the numbers look better at East Jackson,” Shekey said of the board’s motive for the district. But BOE Chairman Kathy Wilbanks disagreed. “No, it’s not to make the num bers look better,” she said. “It’s to alleviate the overcrowding on the west side. And there’s still subdi visions being built left and right on the west side.” One person asked the board to consider changing school district lines to allow area children to attend schools closer to home. “The last time we looked at this, we did give an option,” Wilbanks said. “We can’t keep re-opening this issue.” The board took no action on the group’s request. In other business, the BOE: • learned that it met the Georgia School Board Association stan dards and received a certificate saying that the board now meets those standards. • was informed by superinten dent Shannon Adams that East Jackson Elementary School met the criteria to be a platinum school for the statewide accountability system. The school reached the highest level of attainment. • was informed that the school calendar for 2008-09 will be as close to the current calendar as it can be, with adjustments for day changes. • was given a construction upda te from Dennis Patrick, director of administrative services, who told the board that Gum Springs Elementary School is still on sche dule, with brickwork to be comple ted at the end of the month. Water and sewer lines will be going in this month as well. • learned that EJES has had almost 98 percent attendance for the third school month. Adams said that system wide, the atten dance rates continue to be very good. • heard Adams report that SPOLST revenue for August was at almost $600,000. • recommended requests for additional personnel be approved, including a Spanish teacher for Jackson County Comprehensive High School, a social stu dies teacher for East Jackson Comprehensive High School, an 8th grade teacher for Kings Bridge Middle School and 3rd grade tea cher for Maysville Elementary School and two special education paraprofessionals. • approved the purchase of eight regular buses and one special edu cation bus from International at a total cost of $674,065. • approved surplus items to be resold or disposed of. • approved a list of substitute teachers, individuals for employ ment, resignations, and transfers. • approved the retirement of Beth Bray, principal for Benton Elementary School, effective June 30, 2008. • went into a closed meeting for approximately an hour and 15 minutes to hear the appeal of a stu dent disciplinary tribunal. Upon coming out of the closed meeting, the board voted unanimously to uphold the tribunal’s decision. BY ANGELA GARY The potential for corruption and decreased property values were among the concerns citizens had about “transfer of development rights” at a program on the subject last week. More than 75 developers, farm ers and interested citizens attended a meeting last week on transfer of development rights (TDR). Jackson County commissioner Tom Crowe planned the meet ing and has encouraged his fellow commissioners to take a look at this method of development. But most of those who spoke at the two-hour meeting had concerns about the program. TDRs allow increased develop ment in some areas of the county in return for less development in other areas. Richard Pruetz, a consultant who specializes in TDR, present ed a one-hour program and then answered questions from the audi ence. No action has been taken by the BOC on the matter. Pruetz said the time is “ideal” to look at implementing TDR since the county is about to update its comprehensive plan. A man in the audience, who said he lived in a county where TDRs are in place, said the program has been “abused by developers.” “It’s easy to go wrong,” he said. Another woman added that TDRs allow for developers to “overbuild” and “slums and ten ants” to be built. “It doesn’t do what it says it will do,” she added. Developer Keith Hayes said he is concerned that the program would lower property values. “I think it is too much govern ment,” he said. Crow said the current rezoning process already has problems and could also be open to corruption. “We need to be thinking outside the box,” he said. “This is just one tool. We hope to keep looking... This may not work, but we need to explore it.” BOC-IDA meet on potential road projects $80 million discussed for economic development BY ANGELA GARY Jackson County leaders are con sidering more than $80 million in road projects in an effort to boost the county’s long-term outlook. The Jackson County Board of Commissioners and the county Industrial Development Authority met for six hours Tuesday to discuss a list of potential road projects to possibly be funded through bonds in 2008. No action was taken, but the two groups did prioritize the proj ects. The first four projects to be would be: John B. Brooks Road, $6.4 million (with Jefferson to assist with funding); engineering on State Route 53 from 1-85 to State Route 332, $495,000; an interchange justification feasibil ity report for another exit on 1-85, $250,000; and a county-wide transportation and rail corridor plan, $185,000. The remaining projects were grouped into three tiers. Projects listed as “Tier One” were: •Zion Church Road construc tion, $22.9 million. •Bana Road, $5.4 million. •Commerce Retail Blvd., $10 million. “Tier Two” projects include: •Hog Mountain Road, $4.9 mil lion. •State Route 82/Airport, $10.5 million. •Hospital Road, $600,000. “Tier Three” projects include: •Concord Extension, $18.6 mil lion. •Concord Extension Sewer, $1.3 million. •Steve Reynolds signal, $80,000. Cronic named to District 1 school board post IDA considers buying, selling lots in Central Jackson BY BRANDON REED Michael Cronic was named as the new District 1 member on the Jackson County Board of Education during Monday night’s meeting. Cronic was chosen from three candidates who applied to fill the vacant post. He fills the unexpired term of Steve Bryant. Cronic is a West Jackson native and is a broiler manager for Columbia Farms in Lavonia. He is a member of West Jackson Volunteer Fire Department, serv ing as chief of the department for three years. “I think we’ve struggled on our side of the county for the best rep resentation,” Cronic said. “We had a good guy and had some district lines that were kind of messed up. I’m just looking for an opportunity to serve our side of the county.” Jackson County BOE approves new employees BY BRANDON REED The Jackson County Board of Education approved several new hires Monday night. Those hired were: •Martha Bait, food service assistant, EJMS. •Kathy Barnett, custodian, EJES. •Richard Friedman, school nutrition manager, EJES. •Catherine Cantrell, 5th grade teacher, WJIS (effective 12/17/07) RESIGNATIONS The following resignations were approved: •Carol Gilham, special educa tion teacher, EJMS. •Donna Wells, food service manager, EJMS •Sandy McGrath, paraprofes- sional, WJPS •Rebecca Stone, 5th grade teacher, WJIS TRANSFERS The following transfers were approved: •Alisa Hanley, principal, WJIS to Gum Springs Elementary. •Lydia Anderson, special educa tion teacher, EJES to EJMS. •James Pope, custodian, EJES to EJCHS. RETIREMENT The following retirements were approved: •Beth Bray, BES (effective 6/30/08) Bid approved for Hoschton Street water tank BY CHRIS BRIDGES Jefferson officials approved a bid of $178,000 with Utility Service of Perry for renovations on the Hoschton Street water tank during Monday night’s voting ses sion. The $178,000 amount represent ed the low bid and was approved unanimously by the council. In other action during Monday’s 20-minute meeting, Jefferson offi cials: •agreed to hold council meetings on the second and fourth Mondays beginning January 2008. •approved a low bid of $709,421 from Griffin Brothers of Maysville for wastewater and pumping and transfer facilities for the 1-85 corridor pending final easement acquisition. •tabled a bid proposal from Universal Watermain of Auburn for $266,695 for the relocation of certain water and sewer facilities on Hog Mountain Road. •tabled a proposal to make the calaboose a historic property. •approved use of road consult ing services on an as needed basis with Development Planning & Engineering Firm of Buford. •agree to auction various surplus items, including 14 Nextel phones from the police department, two pressure washers and a Bobcat mower, on GMA’s Gov. Deals Online Auction. Griffin named new NGHS Child Care Center director Northeast Georgia Health System, Inc. (NGHS) has announced that Diane Griffin has been named as director of its Child Care Center. Griffin comes to the center with many years of experience, accord ing to the health system. She pre viously served as a pre-kinder garten consultant for Bright from the Start, Georgia’s early child hood education regulatory agency. Prior to that, she served as Brenau University’s child care center direc tor for seven years. Griffin has a bachelor’s degree in travel and tourism from Georgia Southern University and a master’s degree in early childhood educa tion from Brenau University. “I fell into this career, and I fell in love with it. I have found my niche,” Griffin says. “I am very excited to work with such a dedi cated, caring staff.” Griffin says that as director, she plans to guide the child care cen ter through a year-long Center of Distinction accreditation program through Bright from the Start’s Standards of Care division. Griffin lives in Bethlehem with her husband, Pete, and son, Will. The NGHS Employee Child Care Center cares for employees’ children, ages 6 weeks and up. The center currently serves 85 children, including two classrooms dedicated to state-funded pre-kindergarten. The center’s state-funded pre-kin dergarten program accepts chil dren whose parents are not NGHS employees. For more information, call 770-718-5454. The Jackson County Industrial Development Authority is consid ering buying and selling lots in its Central Jackson Industrial Park in Jefferson. The IDA tabled an offer from Don Moore to purchase 4.09 acres he owns in the park until all mem bers of the IDA could be present. Only Chairman Scott Martin and members Chas Hardy and Jim Shaw were able to attend last Friday’s meeting, where attorney Daniel Hay good relayed Moore’s offer to buy back the land. The owner — not related to Jackson County’s State Court solicitor by the same name — paid $22,500 per acre for the tract. The IDA offered $27,000 per acre to get it back, and Moore countered with an offer of $30,000. Following a six-minute closed session, Martin announced that the authority would defer action on the request until a later meet ing. Bill Schaller, owner of Four Seasons independent Living Center, expressed interest in acquiring land in the same indus trial park to start a warehouse and storage business with Cory Ledford. Schaller told the author ity he’s developed similar busi nesses in Florida. The company rents inside and outside storage space and rents and sells storage containers. Martin told Schaller that he’d provide him with a copy of the park’s covenants, which include requirements for screening outside storage facilities, and advised him that land will sell for $30,000 an acre. Schaller expressed interest in a couple of lots, including one containing a long-vacant building. Three representatives of First Industrial, a commercial devel opment company, attended the meeting. The company hopes to acquire a site of 150-300 acres for speculative development. Newspaper accepting kids photos for annual section The deadline for accepting pho tos for MainStreet Newspapers’ annual children’s Christmas sec tion will be Monday, Nov. 26, at 5 p.m. Parents are asked to submit pho tos early, as photos received after the deadline will not be published. The special section will be in the news stands of The Jackson Herald, The Commerce News and The Banks County News on Wednesday, Dec. 19. The newspapers will be accept ing photographs of children age 8 years and younger. The child must live in Jackson or Banks coun ties. Photos of grandchildren will be taken only if the child resides with the grandparents (which must be stated when submitting the photo). Please submit the following information along with the child’s photo: The first and last name and age of each child shown, as well as the parents’ names, their city of residence and phone number. Photos submitted without all of the information may not be published. Black and white or color photos can be used, but no Polaroids or photographs printed out from a computer onto laser paper will be accepted, as they do not reprint well. Digital photos with the above information may be e-mailed to news@mainstreetnews.com. The e-mail MUST contain the subject line “Christmas Kids Photo” as a title, or the child’s photo may not be published. Also, the child’s photo and information requested above must be submitted in the same e-mail. Do not submit mul tiple e-mails for the same child. Once photos are submitted, they may not be replaced with another photo. The photos may be dropped off at or mailed to any of the newspa per offices and may be picked up there after Dec. 19. NGMC cardiac rebab program receives certification Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) again has been awarded program certification for its cardiac rehabilitation pro gram by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation (AACVPR). Certification recognizes programs reviewed by a national board and found to meet the outlined essential requirements for standards of care, according to the medical center. This is the third time NGMC’s Cardiac Rehab program has received the three-year accreditation; the pro gram first received accreditation in 2001. The cardiac rehabilitation program at NGMC uses education, exercise and emotional assistance to support a patient after a cardiac event to the best possible recovery. For more information call 770-533-8200. 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