Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2009
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3A
Chamber of Commerce approves $450,691 budget
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
A STRONG end to a difficult
year gives the Jackson County
Area Chamber of Commerce
confidence - and some leftover
cash - going into 2010.
The chamber’s directors
approved a $450,691 budget last
Friday. On the revenue side, that
is $32,000 above the 2009 budget
but almost $14,000 less than the
expected year-end total. On the
expenditure side, the 2010 bud
get is up about $17,000 over esti
mated 2009 totals, but $36,000
under the 2009 budget.
The chamber expects to enter
2010 with $65,000 in cash; its
budget calls for it to end 2010
with $65,101 left over.
“It’s an extremely tight bud
get,” warned president Shane
Short. “There is not a lot of
room for us. We have been very
conservative on our revenues and
our expenses.”
The budget projects very few
operational changes. Revenue
for economic development will
nearly double, thanks to $40,000
from a new group, the Alliance
for Economic Development,
which was started this year.
Office administrator Hilda
Love is retiring Dec. 31 and will
not be immediately replaced, but
the budget projects the creation
of a new position, a “manager
of administrative affairs,” whose
primary role would be to assist
Short on economic development
work. Short said he is looking at
different scenarios for filling the
new position.
The budget projects revenue
of $128,410 from dues. Short
said that figure is based on a pro
jected renewal rate of 75 percent.
Dues revenue in the new budget
is almost exactly what it was in
the 2009 budget, and is about
$30,000 more than the chamber
actually collected.
The increase, Short noted,
is attributed to new members
who joined during a November-
December membership drive.
ROOM FOR GROWTH
Short also announced plans
that could give the budget a mon
etary shot in the arm during the
year.
He reported on discussions
with Dan Elliott at Gresham
Motorsports.
“We are looking at some joint
ventures,” Short said. He identi
fied some of the possibilities as
a fair, concerts, a large barbecue
and other fundraisers.
“Gresham wants to partner
with the chamber,” Short said.
“They have some good market
ing power.”
Gresham recently completed
a total reconstruction of its race
complex.
“If you haven’t seen it, it’s not
the old Peach State Park any
more,” Short advised.
Chamber to start 2010 with increased membership
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THANKS TO A late member
ship drive, the Jackson County
Area Chamber of Commerce
enters 2010 with more members
than it had a year earlier, in spite
of a depressed economy.
“We have more new members
than members we dropped,”
reported Linda Foster, the cham
ber’s vice president of member
services.
As of Dec. 11, the chamber
had more than 578 members -
its highest number ever - thanks
to a drive that added 94 new
members in November and
December.
But it was a tough year. First,
the economy knocked a number
of members out of business and
kept others from renewing their
memberships. While the cham
ber worked with members to
encourage them to stay active, it
also employed new software to
eliminate those members who
became totally inactive. The
result was a reduction of about
50 members from the rolls.
And although the chamber
has more members than it had
last year, the economy is hurt
ing its ability to find sponsors
to help it defray expenses on
events ranging from its monthly
breakfasts to the annual awards
banquet Feb. 4.
“We need more sponsors,”
Foster told the chamber’s direc
tors last week. “We will start a
push for sponsors in January.”
In other business at its Dec.
18 meeting, the chamber board
ratified its recent election of
directors. In addition, incom
ing chairman Sam McDuffie
re-appointed Brad Williams of
Wayne Farms as a representa
tive of the agricultural commu
nity, Jim Yarborough of BJC
Medical Center as a represen
tative of the medical commu
nity, and Howard Ledford as a
representative of the education
community.
Cities, county hammer out potential new Hwy. 53 route
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THERE ARE two key chal
lenges for a long-planned bypass
around busy downtown Braselton
and Hoschton — history and
money.
Talk of an alternative route for
Ga. Hwy. 53 around the histori
cal town centers has been ongo
ing for years. But, until recently,
there had been no engineered
concept plans for a potential
bypass of downtown Braselton
and Hoschton.
That’s now changing — with
Jackson County officials taking
the initiative to help plan a poten
tial route through the neighbor
ing cities.
“We’re trying to facilitate
input,” said Don Clerici, manager
of capital projects for Jackson
County. “We want everyone to
buy into the project and buy into
the alignment.”
Jackson County has enlisted
an engineering firm — Heath
& Lineback — to begin the
planning stages of a proposed
Braselton-Hoschton bypass.
On Friday, the county hosted
its third “stakeholders” meet
ing at the Hoschton Depot with
officials from Jackson County,
Braselton and Hoschton, prop
erty owners and a representative
from the Georgia Department of
Transportation.
So far, work on the bypass
has created three main alternate
routes, with two additional varia
tions.
Potential routes include those
west of the downtowns — start
ing off Cherry Drive in Braselton
through the back of some resi
dential property in Hoschton
— and possible routes east of the
cities — through mostly poten
tially historic farmland.
But those large farming opera
tions could become historic
properties, although they are
not currently listed as historical.
There are also a number of his
toric structures in the Braselton-
Hoschton area that have to be
avoided with any road project.
“Historic properties are the
number one issue because they
are large and somewhat hard
to get around,” said W. Allen
Krivsky, vice president and man
ager of transportation engineer
ing for Heath and Lineback.
To avoid any potential historic
properties, one of the proposed
bypass routes takes the roadway
much further east of the two cit
ies. But officials say that route
may be too expensive.
“You work through the process
and develop what it is eventually
the best alternate — it may not
satisfy every need, but you come
up with the best alternate to be
able to look towards funding,”
said DOT pre-construction engi
neer Robert Mahoney.
Other options under consid
eration included widening a Ga.
Hwy. 53 bridge over 1-85 to pro
vide a more direct route to a
potential bypass. But, that idea
could cost about a third of the
overall project’s price tag.
Instead, the preferred corridor
will use the new alignment of
Zion Church Road in Braselton
to continue east of the cities
through mostly farmland of the
edge of the towns’ limits and
ending past a historic church on
the Kenerly Farm. That route
will use portions of the existing
E.G. Barnett Road in Hoschton
and includes the removal of one
structure.
Dr. W.H. Sell — who owns
119 acres off E. Jefferson Street
in Hoschton — questioned the
potential alignment of the bypass,
which would have isolated a large
portion of his farm from the other
side of the roadway. His working
farm has been in his family for
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three generations, he said.
Engineers said they’d consider
adjusting the potential route. Sell
offered to give rights-of-way on
the edge of his property line for
the project.
Mary Ann Kenerly — who
owns 285 acres of farmland south
of the Hoschton town limits on
Ga. Hwy. 53 — said she was OK
with the proposed route ending at
the edge of her property.
Besides historic properties and
structures, another top constraint
for the bypass project is money.
The project is listed in the
DOT’s construction program,
but it’s not funded, according to
Mahoney. And the overall poor
economy means there isn’t much
money for other road projects,
either.
‘This is a much-needed proj
ect, as far as the (Ga. Hwy.) 53
corridor (and) as far as being able
to move people efficiently and
safely through the 53 corridor,”
Mahoney said.
To encourage the DOT to con
sider funding the project, Jackson
County has taken the lead to start
engineering plans on the pro
posed bypass.
Until state — or possibly even
federal — funds become avail
able, Jackson County plans to
use local money for the proj
ect. For now, the bypass will be
constructed as a two-lane road,
but will be engineered to have a
footprint for a four-lane road for
later expansion.
If federal money becomes
available, federal regulations
don’t allow the additional pur
chase of property in anticipation
of future expansion, Mahoney
said.
A study of traffic patterns for
the next 20 years didn’t warrant
that four-lanes be constructed
with the initial project, Krivsky
said.
‘Two lanes will get what you
needed for at least 20 years and
sometime after that, we think it
will warrant four lanes,” he said.
Engineers also expect that two
upcoming major road projects
— Jackson County’s realign
ment of Zion Church Road and
Braselton’s realignment of Ga.
Hwy. 124 behind the Braselton
Brother’s Store — will have
positive changes to Ga. Hwy. 53.
Both projects will likely start con
struction in early or mid 2010.
But any timeline of construc
tion for the Braselton-Hoschton
bypass hinges on money — and
when it becomes available for
what is viewed as a complex and
potentially expensive project.
For now, officials for Braselton,
Hoschton and Jackson County
plan to pinpoint a preferred cor
ridor of a potential bypass — and
unify their approach to preserve
that land from future develop
ment for the road project. The
proposed route would then be
specified in the governments’
comprehensive plans.
“We need to get to a preferred
alternate that the three jurisdic
tions can live with, can approve
and can adopt,” Clerici said.
The DOT has recently com
pleted expansion of Ga. Hwy. 53
from Oakwood to Tanner’s Mill
Road in South Hall. Long-term
plans call for the state highway
to be widened from Tanner’s Mill
Road to Braselton and potentially
to Winder.
Ga. Hwy. 53 through down
town Braselton and Hoschton has
seen its traffic volume increase
in recent years and safety has
become an issue, too.
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Thurmond continued from lA
“They do it, and when they
do it, they feel a sense of
accomplishment,” he said.
“Even if they may not win
every match they wrestle, they
know that they’re in shape.
They know that a lot of other
teams are not going to push
themselves that hard.”
With Jefferson held at such
high standards as a power
house team by the community
and wrestling world, there’s
little time to celebrate.
“When you have success,
you can’t sit still because as
soon as you’re sitting still,
you’re not watching your
head,” he said. “You’re not
watching what’s going on out
there.”
Thurmond said that each
year, the Dragons try to raise
their standards so that they’re
not satisfied unless they’re in
action all the way to the end
of the postseason.
“We’ve had some success
ful programs and teams and
they’ve done well,” he said.
“But you can’t ever sit back
and relax.”
When Thurmond does get
that rare moment to relax, he
likes to spend it with his fam
ily. They enjoy camping in
the mountains and he’s espe
cially fond of trout fishing.
He’s got roots in Jefferson
as both his mother and father
were born in the city and
attended JHS. In addition,
his brother, Phil, is a physi
cal education coach at South
Jackson Elementary School.
After graduating from JHS
himself, Thurmond attended
the University of Georgia
where he obtained a degree to
coach and teach. He then got
a job at Johnson High School
in Hall County as a wrestling
coach in 1987.
Upon word that his
own wrestling coach from
Jefferson, Jack Keen, would
be retiring, Thurmond made
his way to his old stomping
grounds and assisted from
1996 until Keen retired in
2001.
He doesn’t know for sure
how much longer he’ll be
coaching. The odds are good
that he’ll coach three of his
four sons, but the young
est is still a ways from high
school.
“I don’t know if I’m going
to hang around on that little
first grader I’ve got,” he said.
“He might be one I sit back
and enjoy and let somebody
else coach.”
BOC continued from 1A
•a request from Lamar
Thaxton to rezone 1.5 acres
at 116 Thaxton Road from
PCFD to A-R to allow his
granddaughter to build a home
on the property.
•a request from Ken Byce to
rezone 2.71 acres at the inter
section of Hwy. 124 and Hwy.
332 from A-2 to CRC. Byce
plans to locate three retail
shops, a convenience store and
a picnic area on the property,
which is located across from
the Publix shopping center.
•agreed to a request from
James Herbert Frazier to
rezone 8.7 acres at 1621
Jefferson River Road from
A-2 to A-R in order to split
the property and sell it.
•voted after a 20-minute
closed session to move for
ward with condemning a piece
of property needed for the
Zion Church Road project.
APPOINTMENTS
The BOC has several board
appointments to make at its
January 4 meeting. A list of
those positions was given to
the BOC Monday night. The
authority, the person currently
serving and the term are as
follows:
•Industrial Development
Authority, Dr. John Milford,
five-year term.
•Airport Authority, John
Buchanan, Ken Boris,
Shannon Sell, Don Lohmeier
and Ray Bauerband, one-year
terms.
•Board of Assessors, Chuck
Murphy, three-year term.
•Planning Commission,
Don Seagraves, Jeff Perry, A1
Venable, John Gaissert and
Tim Cornelison, three-year
terms.
•Board of Health, Dr. Keith
Zimmerman, six-year term.
•Keep Jackson County
Beautiful, Dave Rosselle,
three-year term.
•Dangerous Dog Committee,
Jacque Wilkes, Jean Collins,
Tony Kelly, Larry Marchinton
and Robert Schwalbe, three-
year terms.
•Parks and Recreation
Advisory Committee, Roger
Brock, John Derochers, Stan
Perdue, Jimmy Peck and Helen
Gunnels, one-year terms.
•Joint Development
Authority of Northeast
Georgia, Shane Short, two-
year term.
Also at the meeting Monday
night, commissioner Bruce
Yates reported that he is plan
ning a town hall meeting at the
Depot Hoschton on Jan. 12.
r
Merry Christmas
PAULA E. JUMP
August 4, 1977 ~ August 2, 2003
We love you and miss you very much Puala.
Wishing you were here to see how much
your baby has grown. Your would be so
proud of her. She is a true angel that
reminds us of you everyday.
Love,
All your Family
Irt Loving Memory of
DEBORAH JO
MCLENDON
Although you are spending your first
Christmas in Heaven, you are very
much missed here on earth.
Merry Christmas
lohnny and Shane
Yvonne, Phylliss, Carl, Brandy
and Alan
thoughts of our customers.
We thank you for the
privilege of serving you.
Trinity Tire and Auto
1810 Washington St. • Jefferson, GA
706-367-1400