Newspaper Page Text
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 2010
THE JACKSON HERALD
PAGE 3A
Chamber gives official backing to SPLOST vote
BY KERRI TESTEMENT
THE JACKSON County
Area Chamber of Commerce
has made its pledge to support a
sales tax vote official.
The chamber's board of direc
tors approved a resolution on
Friday that will support the next
round of Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax (SPLOST)
funding.
Voters will be asked to
approve the proposed penny-on-
the-dollar sales tax referendum
on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
“It’s going to be full steam
ahead,” said chamber president
Shane Short.
While the chamber agreed
several months ago to support
the sales tax push, Friday’s move
makes it official.
The chamber plans to work
with the county and its cities
within state law to encourage
the passage of the next round
of SPLOST, according to the
resolution.
If approved by voters, the
six-year SPLOST is expected
to generate a total of $47.5
million.
Of that, $33 million will
be earmarked for the county
— with most of the money
being used to pay down Jackson
County’s debt on the new jail
and on sewerage bonds.
The county’s nine cities will
share more than $13 million.
Commerce and Jefferson will
get the most of the money with
an estimated $4 million each.
Arcade would get $1.25 mil
lion, followed by Nicholson with
$1.14 million and Braselton with
$1.12 million. Hoschton would
receive an estimated $932,000
during the six-year SPLOST,
Maysville would get $431,400
Pendergrass would get $372,500
and Talmo is slated to receive
$376,700.
State law requires that
SPLOST revenue be used for
specific capital outlay projects,
such as jails, roads, bridges,
parks and courthouses.
The Commerce City Council
agreed last week to use its share
of sales tax revenue on water
and sewerage work, along with
parks and recreation, and roads
and bridges.
Other cities in Jackson County
are still considering which proj
ects to finance in the next round
of SPLOST, if it’s approved by
voters.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business, the cham
ber’s board of directors:
•heard an economic devel
opment report from Courtney
Bemardi, director of economic
development for the cham
ber, who said the chamber has
completed four projects since
January that will bring an esti
mated 650 jobs to Jackson
County. The chamber is work
ing with two new projects and
22 existing projects, she said.
So far for 2010, there have been
31 projects that the chamber has
worked on.
•approved participating in the
Georgia Drugs Don’t Work pro
gram, which allows employers
to save 7.5 percent in workers
compensation insurance premi
ums for those who meet the
requirements. There is no cost
to the chamber to coordinate the
program in Jackson County.
•heard from chamber presi
dent Short about the Northeast
Georgia Development Authority,
which is considering hosting a
European summit showcasing
the region in the fall. Five coun
ties, including Jackson County,
would be included on the tour.
Clarke County now plans to par
ticipate, too. Short said the event
would include a formal dinner,
networking and a tour.
•heard from Short about
updating the chamber’s commu
nity guide of Jackson County.
The chamber may switch to a
smaller-size format to make it
more user friendly.
•approved spending up to
$5,000 in its reserve to develop
a new chamber website.
•named members to an events
committee to explore a “sig
nature” event for the chamber.
The committee will report back
to the board of directors in two
months.
•named members to a director
nominating committee.
Jefferson council approves SPLOST agreement
BYBENMUNRO
JEFFERSON CITY leaders
authorized mayor Jim Joiner to
sign off on an agreement with
Jackson County for the city’s cut
of the projected $47.52 million
SPLOST pie.
Jefferson will receive $4.07
million of the county’s estimat
ed sales tax revenue over a six-
year period.
The city will earmark 40
percent of its SPLOST money
— $1.63 million — for cul
tural, historical and recreational
facilities, allowing Jefferson to
payoff the debt on the Jefferson
Recreation Center.
The rest will go to water and
sewer ($1.18 million); roads,
bridges and storm water man
agement ($1.18 million); and
public facilities ($81,351).
The council approved the
intergovernmental agreement
Monday night at its monthly
voting session.
City manager John Ward
pointed out that the current
SPLOST is $52 million, but the
county has collected approxi
mately $55 million.
Being conservative, the coun
ty and the cities estimated the
new SPLOST at $47.52 million.
But if the SPLOST exceeds that
total, Jefferson would collect the
same percentage of the surplus
SPLOST as it would the regular
SPLOST.
The SPLOST vote is Nov. 2.
If passed, it will start in 2011.
The council also authorized
Joiner to sign off on an agree
ment regarding House Bill 49.
In other business, the council:
•approved two appointments
— Joel Harbin to the Downtown
Development Authority and
Bill Ives to the Jackson County
Library Board.
•OK’d a resolution supporting
Thomas Ward’s effort to develop
Maple Square Apartments.
•approved a resolution for
supplemental leases of patrol
cars.
•OK’d a contract with Jackson
County to house Jefferson pris
oners.
•agreed to sell a 1988
Chevrolet C-65 fire truck as sur
plus.
•approved an ordinance to
allow sidewalk cafes.
JEFFERSON SEEKING
TWO GRANTS
Jefferson leaders are target
ing approximately $1 million in
funding from an area develop
ment grant program for filter
upgrades at the water plant.
Jefferson is also seeking a
community development grant
for a sidewalk and drainage
improvement project on MLK
Jr. Drive. The city can use funds
secured through the Appalachian
Regional Commission as match
ing funds for the community
development grant.
The city council approved
applications for both grants
Monday night.
Nicholson mayor questions SPLOST use for NWA
BY BRANDON REED
THE NICHOLSON Water Authority held
a work session with the Nicholson City
Council last week to discuss possible water
upgrades to be funded with special purpose
local option sales tax revenue.
Those included a $41,000 project on
Peach Street, a $37,000 project on James
Maxwell Road, along with $100,000 for
meter replacement for customers inside the
city limits and $169,000 worth of refurbish
ment work on a 75,000-gallon tank.
The water authority also presented a proj
ect to tie in Tacjabs Road to the eight-inch
fine on Highway 441 that had no dollar
estimate at the time of the workshop.
However, the discussion hit a snag when
Nicholson Mayor Ronnie Maxwell brought
up concerns about being able to legally use
SPLOST funds on projects that the city has
no ownership over.
“It directly says you’ve got to be able
to show ownership,” Maxwell said fol
lowing the meeting. “You can be owner
with another municipality or several, or
the county, but at some point you’ve got to
show some ownership. According to Tully
(Westmoreland, NWA chairman), we can’t
show none.
“We can’t use SPLOST dollars on that.
It’s for them. Our citizens aren’t getting
anything back in return. They’re getting
the water, but financially, there’s no return
on it.”
During the meeting, Westmoreland said,
“If it’s illegal for you to spend money, put
it in the form of a resolution and say it’s
illegal. We could talk about these things for
months. If there’s any questions of why they
would not fund these projects, all they have
to do is put it in writing.”
The water authority authorized their attor
ney to look over the regulations with the
city’s attorney to discern what the city and
water authority can do in this situation.
The two groups have scheduled a follow
up meeting for June 30 at 3:30 p.m. at the
Nicholson City Hall.
Nicholson City Council to consider facilities agreement
BY BRANDON REED
THE CITY of Nicholson may
enter into an agreement with
the Nicholson Water Authority
to help with system upgrades.
At last week’s city council
workshop, the council members
heard from Chris Quigley, con
sulting engineer from Peoples
& Quigley, on a facilities agree
ment between the city and the
Nicholson Water Authority.
The agreement would allow
the NWA to get a low interest
loan and grant for water system
improvements. The author
ity, however, doesn’t have tax
ing authority. GEFA requires
someone with taxing author
ity to back-up the loan. The
agreement would authorize the
mayor to sign it, and authoriz
ing the drafting of a letter by
the city attorney.
Quigley said everything has
been applied for and this is
one step that must be taken
before the grant and loan can
be awarded. He said it’s hoped
the award will take place on
July 22.
The council also heard from
Jerry Weitz, of Jerry Weitz and
Associates, on the compre
hensive plan. Weitz has been
working on the comprehen
sive plan for the city. Weitz
presented the council with the
first draft of the community
agenda, which is the planned
part of the comprehensive plan.
Weitz said he wanted to give
the council time to study the
agenda over the next couple
of weeks, and then schedule
a public hearing for their next
regularly scheduled meeting
on July 5. After holding the
public hearing, a resolution
will be drafted asking for the
plan to be transmitted for the
required review process by the
regional commission in Athens
and the Georgia Department of
Community affairs.
Weitz said that one item that
was brought up by the commu
nity was a desire for preserving
more rural, agriculture area land
use rather than pro-commercial
development.
The city council also heard
from Jan Webster, who urged
them to place signs at the city
limits of Nicholson to advertise
different events taking place in
the city.
“The city signs are kind of
ratty themselves, and I ask
that you invest in two nice
signs, going in and going out,”
Webster said. “It doesn’t have
to be outrageously expensive.
It doesn’t have to be digital.
Just something that represents
the city well.”
Commissioners rename road at county airport
BYANGELA GARY
RENAMING A road at the
county airport was approved by
the Jackson County Board of
Commissioners Monday night.
The BOC agreed to rename
Airport Drive to Sky Harbor
Way.
In other business Monday
night, the BOC approved:
•an agreement with the
Georgia Department of
Corrections that outlines the
condition in which inmates are
housed at the Jackson County
Correctional Institute.
•a “points of distribution
plan,” as required by the Georgia
Emergency Management
Agency. This plan allows staff
to plan the locations, contacts
and how operations will take
place in advance of a disaster in
the county.
•a proclamation recognizing
the 100th anniversary of Boy
Scouts of America.
•a request from Finch Landing
Subdivision residents to create
a special tax district for street
lights.
•heard from commissioner
Bruce Yates that he will hold a
town hall meeting at the Talmo
Depot at 7 p.m. on Tuesday,
July 13.
$5°°OFF
Ticket Ot s 2Cf° Or More. Valid with coupon Mon.-Thurs. only.
La Hacienda Commerce La Hacienda Braselton
173 Steven B. Tanger Blvd. 5391 Highway 53
706-335-7458 706-654-0070
j^T/ie Original Mexican Restaurant! Not affiliated with any other restaurant j
Doggie Days
Pet Daycare and Boarding
1195 Airport Rd. • Jefferson, GA
706-367-1259
Hours: Mon.-Fri. 7 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sat. & Sun.: By appointment
www.mydoggiedays.com
RECEIVES AWARDS
The Jackson Herald co-publisher and editor Mike
Buffington receives two Freedom of Information
awards from Georgia Press Association president
Laura Geiger at an awards ceremony last week.
The Jackson Herald honored for
Freedom of Information efforts
THE JACKSON Herald
editor and co-publisher Mike
Buffington received two top
Freedom of Information
awards from the Georgia Press
Association during last week’s
annual convention.
Buffington was awarded the
‘ ‘David Hudson Award for Open
Government” for a career of
fighting for more transparency
in local public agencies and for
investigative reporting. In addi
tion, The Herald was honored
for its efforts in 2009 to stop
the Pendergrass City Council
from having secret meetings
with the GPA “Freedom of
Information Award.”
Nominated by publish
er Robert Williams of The
Blackshear Times, publisher
Burgett Mooney III of News
Publishing Company in Rome
and Tonda Rush of American
Press Works in Washington
D.C., the Hudson Award was
given for editorials and aggres
sive news stories by Buffington
on a variety of local open gov
ernment issues in recent years.
The award is named for GPA’s
long-time attorney David
Hudson of Augusta who has
championed the open govern
ment cause in Georgia for the
last three decades.
The GPA “Freedom of
Information Award” won by
The Herald revolved around
efforts by the newspaper to
have the Pendergrass City
Council hold open meetings
and for those meetings to be
announced in advance. The
issue came to a head in 2009
after a group of city whistle
blowers made a long series
of accusations against city
leaders. The mayor and city
council responded by shut
ting off public comments at
its meetings and attempting to
hold secret meetings in Mayor
Monk Tolbert’s private real
estate office.
After being sued by The
Herald, the council eventually
agreed it would begin to follow
state law on open meetings.
“Throughout the controver
sy, The Herald kept readers
informed on its efforts with
news stories, and kept the pres
sure on the city with editori
als decrying the problems and
their root cause — the mayor
and his close circle who run the
town,” said the judges’ com
mentary about the FOI award.
County’s airport authority
searching for interim manager
AN IMMEDIATE search is
on for an interim Jackson County
Airport manager following the
recent resignation of former man
ager Bob Stapleton.
Authority chairman Shannon
Sell expects to hire an interim
manager within a week
Sell is coordinating the search
with county manager Darrell
Hampton.
In the meantime, the two are
also working together to handle
the day-to-day operation of the
Jackson County Airport.
In other news, airport author
ity members heard from resident,
Doug Legg, who asked Friday
during a work session, that either
the airport, Jackson County or the
FFA purchase his property.
Legg, who lives in a farmhouse
near the end of a runway, said the
increased traffic and noise make
his home no longer livable.
Legg felt that his property
would be considered in a “safety
zone,” according to a “405” sur
vey.
But engineer Brian Salyers
said Tuesday during the author
ity’s regular meeting that the 405
survey wouldn’t identify whether
Legg’s property lies in a protected
zone.
Salyers added that the runway
protection zone doesn't extend to
Legg’s property.
The airport authority will talk
to other officials to determine if
there are any other solutions to
Legg’s problem.
A PHARMACIST
ADMINISTERED
WEIGHT LOSS &
HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
PROGRAM
■ TAKE CHARGE
This comprehensive, 13 week
Take Charge® weight loss program
teaches you how to safely &
successfully lose weight, keep it off
and never diet again!
The pharmacists at Homer Drug
and Tiger Town Pharmacy will guide you through
the program and meet with you weekly to monitor
your progress and assist you in attaining your
goals.
Together with your pharmacist, you will see first
hand how the Take Charge® program can make a
ramatic difference in the way you look and feel!
Give Us A Call Today
706-677-3223
or 706-335-0099
Store Hours: Monday-Friday 9am-6pm
Saturday 9am-12noon
www.tigertownpharmacy.com