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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010
New reservoir decision tabled second time
NEW PUMP STATION INSTALLED
Two contractors install a new water pump at the Jackson County Water and
Sewerage Authority’s Galilee Church Road pumping station. The station handles
all water sent to West Jackson, which accounts for about 75 percent of the author
ity’s business.
Countian aids in Haiti relief
A COMMERCE man is assisting in
the relief efforts in Haiti.
Petty Officer 3rd class Dustin Nichols
is serving on USS Carl Vinson, which
is leading efforts for the relief mission
in Haiti.
After completion of the Haiti mission,
the USS Carl Vinson will be travel
ing and stationed in San Diego, Calif.
Nichols graduated from Commerce
High School in 2007 and is the son of
Cheri Ann Nash of Commerce.
Martin remains as IDA chair
IDA’s slate of officers unchanged
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
FOR THE second time in
three months, the Jackson
County Water and Sewerage
Authority voted to table further
action toward the construction
of a new county reservoir.
The most recent action
came last Thursday night
after Prime Engineering’s Rob
MacPherson went over the
final report on the site selec
tion process. The previous
action came after MacPherson
presented the draft version of
the report in November.
The two versions were
essentially identical. In tabling
both, the authority basically
rejected MacPherson's recom
mendation that Prime be com
missioned to study the costs
and benefits of increasing the
size of the least expensive —
$127 million — of the three
reservoir sites, that it evaluate
the yield and cost of building
the two smallest reservoirs “in
a phased approach,” and that it
prepare the conceptual designs
on those two concepts.
The study considered three
potential sites for pump stor
age reservoirs, all of which
would get water from the
North Oconee River. The
largest, 730 acres, would be
located on Curry Creek and
would cost an estimated $365
million. The other two would
be located east and north of
Nicholson, range in size from
154 to 220 acres, and cost
from $127 million to $187
million.
While the authority cited
the lack of money as a rea-
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County
Water and Sewerage
Authority will continue to
operate Hoschton’s water and
sewer systems at least until
March 15 and most likely
through 2010.
As expected, the authori
ty voted Thursday to extend
its “mutual aid” agreement
with Hoschton under which
it took over those operations
Dec. 21 until March 15. The
original agreement was for
30 days.
Both the authority and
Hoschton expect to finalize
an operational contract for
the remainder of 2010 by
April 1.
Hoschton officials have
son for shelving the study,
MacPherson tried to convince
the authority to get its ducks
in a row by continuing the
process with an eye toward
future funding.
He pointed out that dur
ing a previous state push
for increased water storage
capacity, “suddenly there was
money available” for “those
projects that were ready.” He
also pointed out that as the
seriousness of Georgia's rev
enue crisis became apparent,
the offer of state money was
withdrawn.
agreed in principle with the
operations contract and have
budgeted the money to fund
it. They have also budgeted
$108,000 to purchase water
through the year from the
authority.
The authority took over
water and sewerage operati
ons after city officials found
what Mayor Erma Denney
called “deplorable conditi
ons” at the city’s waste trea
tment plant. The city suspen
ded its operator, Johnny Hill,
without pay and he subsequ
ently resigned.
Extending the emergency
agreement gives the authori
ty more time to get the waste
plant running normally so
it can better estimate its
“We need to keep ourselves
in a position to take advan
tage of whatever opportuni
ties arise,” agreed chairman
Randall Pugh, who then asked
for a motion to table further
action on the matter.
In other business, manager
Eric Klerk announced that the
backup pump for the Galilee
Church Road pumping sta
tion has been installed and
the project came in more than
$20,000 under budget.
The pump station handles
all water sent to West Jackson,
which accounts for about
costs — and therefore what
it should charge Hoschton
for the service. The draft
agreement projects a cost
of $90,000 for 12 months,
but the authority thinks that
figure could be lower.
“The big issue in the (Jan.
7) work session was the
cost,” noted Eric Klerk, the
authority’s manager. “That’s
what we’re uncertain about.”
Klerk said that it could take
until March to get all of the
necessary equipment in place
and to get the plant’s biologi
cal process “up to speed.”
The Hoschton City Council
approved its mutual aid
agreement with the auth
ority during a called meet
ing on Friday night — after
75 percent of the authority’s
business, Klerk pointed out.
The newly installed pump is
designed to maintain the flow
of water to West Jackson in the
event of a power failure.
“We’ve had several power
outages there,” he noted.
“We’ve come close to running
out of water.”
The project had a not-to-
exceed price of $85,000.
Klerk said the total cost will
be around $60,900.
“We did very well with
that,” he said. “The pump is
performing flawlessly.”
city officials learned that
Hoschton didn’t technically
have a signed agreement with
the authority.
A mutual aid agreement
with the authority was sent to
all cities in Jackson County
in 2007, but Hoschton never
returned its signed document
to the authority, Denney said.
That means that the autho
rity has been providing emer
gency services to Hoschton
without an agreement.
“We should be more than
thankful to the Jackson
County Water and Sewerage
Authority that they have
done what they’ve done for
our city in good faith until
we can get this to them,” she
said.
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
THE JACKSON County
Industrial Development
Authority re-elected its
officers and donated
$30,000 to the Jackson
County Area Chamber of
Commerce at its first meet
ing of the new year.
“If anyone would like to
be chairman, please speak
up,” commented chairman
Scott Martin as discussion
opened Friday on the elec
tion of officers. “It won’t
hurt my feelings.”
It didn’t hurt anyone’s
feelings to re-elect Martin,
42, chairman for the 11th
time, and the rest of the
officers as well.
“I don’t really see any
need to change officers,”
said member Jim Dove,
who made the motion to
continue with the current
slate of officers. “We’ve
got a good slate and we
would be remiss to start
making changes.”
Other officers are John
Buchanan, vice chairman;
Jim Shaw, secretary-trea
surer; and Dr. Jon Milford,
who was recently re-elect
ed by the board of com
missioners to another five-
year-term, assistant secre
tary-treasurer.
“Scott, we really appre
ciate the job you do,” said
Buchanan, who noted that
Martin “spends an awful
lot of time” on IDA busi
ness.
Martin thanked the
board for its support, and
expressed appreciation to
the county commissioners
for the personnel it pro
vides for secretarial and
financial reporting.
“It would be a full-time
job keeping up with the
financials and reporting,”
he said. “We just couldn’t
do it without the kind of
support we get from the
county.”
The other item of busi
ness on Friday’s agenda
was to approve the IDA’s
annual $30,000 contri
bution to the Jackson
County Area Chamber of
Commerce for economic
development services.
The difference this year
is that the donation is made
to the chamber’s Economic
Development Alliance, a
new group that will take
on expanded economic
development duties. That
group’s members included
major businesses and indus
tries, a number of Jackson
County’s municipalities,
the board of commission
ers and others interested in
bringing new business and
industry to the county.
Shane Short, president
of the chamber, told the
IDA that the Alliance will
not only help fund eco
nomic development efforts,
but will also be “an active
working group,” taking on
projects designed toward
economic growth.
Short said the alliance is
starting to attract attention
on the state and regional
levels.
“We’re seen as being uni
fied and a community that
works together,” he said.
“That sends a loud and
clear message to the eco
nomic development com
munity.”
One of the alliance’s first
projects, Short said, is a
lunch today (Wednesday)
with economic development
project managers from key
groups including Georgia
Power, Oglethorpe EMC,
the state and the Municipal
Electric Authority of
Georgia.
County to continue to operate Hoschton water, sewer
Three schools honored
THREE JACKSON County
schools were among 327 schools
in Georgia recognized for
improvement and achievement
during the 2008-2009 school.
Georgia’s Single Statewide
Accountability System (SSAS)
— which awards schools based
on their performance on state
curriculum exams and Adequate
Yearly Progress (AYP) status
— announced the honorees last
week. The awards are part of the
release of the 2008-2009 K-12
public schools scoreboard and
report card.
West Jackson Primary, Benton
Elementary and East Jackson
Comprehensive High School
were each honored by the SSAS
for greatest gain for students
meeting and exceeding stan
dards.
West Jackson Primary was
one of the few schools in the
state to receive a platinum award
in the category, which requires
making AYP for three consecu
tive years, at least 35 percent
of students exceeding standards
and in the 98th percentile of
greatest gains.
Benton Elementary earned
a gold award in the category,
which requires making AYP for
two consecutive years, at least
30 percent of students exceeding
standards and in the 97th percen
tile of greatest gains.
East Jackson Comprehensive
High earned a silver award in the
category, which requires making
AYP for two consecutive years,
at least 25 percent of students
exceeding standards and in the
96th percentile of greatest gains.
Greatest gains scores are
based on results on the Criterion-
Referenced Competency Tests
(CRCT) or the Georgia High
School Graduation Tests
(GHSGT).
Work starts on Ga. Hwy. 82
THE GEORGIA Department of Transportation said the resur
facing of State Route (SR) 82/Athens Highway in Jackson County
has started. The project is funded through the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
The project will resurface the existing roadway and build up
two-foot wide shoulders from the Barrow County line to SR 11
Business in Jefferson. The project is approximately 6.2 miles
long.
The estimated construction cost is $961,504. The completion
date for the project is May 31, 2010, and Pittman Contracting is
the project’s contractor.
Work will occur weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., as weather
permits. Flaggers will stop traffic and then pilot vehicles will lead
motorists through the work zone.
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