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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2011
More parking, batting cages approved for WJ park
WORK READY COMMUNITY
At Thursday’s meeting, Jackson County Area Chamber
of Commerce President Shane Short (L) presented
Jackson County Board of Commissioners Chairman
Hunter Bicknell (R) with the framed copy of the procla
mation designating Jackson County as a Work Ready
Community. Photo by Sharon Hogan
BY SHARON HOGAN
A PLAN TO add 216
parking spaces and batting
cages at the West Jackson
Park was approved by the
Jackson County Board of
Commissioners at Thursday
night's meeting at the court
house.
During a discussion prior
to approval of the plan, com
missioner Dwain Smith said,
“My understanding was we
were going to do the grad
ing. There is a figure here of
$30,000 for grading.”
Special projects consul
tant Don Clerici explained
that, as with all projects, the
$30,000 cost for grading is
associated with fuel costs
and depreciation cost of the
equipment used.
“This project has not been
approved so it has not been
out yet,” Clerici said.
County manager Darrell
Hampton added, “This is
just a concept bid. We'11 bid
every bit of the project out.”
Smith emphasized the need
of putting the project out for
sealed bids and giving local
contractors a chance to sub
mit bids for the work.
“I have not seen any bids
on projects like this.” Smith
said. “I think we should give
our local contractors a chance
to bid on this. We need to
keep the money local.”
Hampton said, “We follow
your purchasing procedure
on projects like this.”
Clerici added, “We under
stand that everything outside
of the grading would be bid
out.”
Smith suggested that the
bid solicitation run in the
local newspapers.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business at
Thursday's meeting the
board:
•unanimously approved a
request to create a special
tax district for streetlights in
Magnolia Point Subdivision,
located in West Jackson.
•approved a request from
EMS director Steve Nichols
to extend the contract for the
emergency notification sys
tem for two years at no addi
tional cost to the county.
•approved the creation of a
law library for the Piedmont
Judicial Circuit, which
includes Jackson, Banks and
Barrow counties. The posi
tion will be paid for through
law library funds and will not
cost the counties anything.
•approved the annual agree
ment with the University
of Georgia Cooperative
Extension Service to provide
for a county agent and staff
in the county.
•approved an inter-govern
mental agreement with the
City of Hoschton to allow the
county building and grounds
department to provide assis
tance for the removal and
replacement of deteriorated
flooring in two storage rooms
at the rear of city hall.
•approved a resolution
enrolling Jackson County as
a participant in a statewide
effort to increase the effec
tive reporting and collection
of sales tax revenue.
•approved the appointment
of finance director John
Hulsey as the county’s rep
resentative to the SPLOST
V joint technical committee.
This committee will review
the SPLOST programs to
ensure allocation of proceeds
and compliance to the reso
lution are met.
•approved the request to
move forward with seeking
local legislation to allow the
county to create community
improvement districts. These
districts would be formed to
foster the economic develop
ment or revitalization of a
defined area.
•approved four change
orders for the senior citizen's
center project. These includ
ed: reducing the budget by
$4,678 to use VCT instead of
resilient sheet vinyl; adding
$6,914 for carpentry chang
es; adding $5,317 for elec
trical changes; and adding
$1,127 to extend the kitchen
exhaust hood.
•approved a supplemental
agreement with additional
contract time and $88,768
for Pittman Construction
Company for the signal
installation and extra work
at the Hog Mountain Road
project.
•delayed action, until the
next meeting, on having the
county attorney file condem
nation for .87 acres where
the Randolph voting precinct
is located. Commissioner
Tom Crow advised that the
land obtained from John
Buchanan in the land swap in
2004 is not suitably shaped
for the county to construct
an ambulance precinct. “We
can’t follow the county
guidelines and setbacks,”
Crow said. BOC chairman
Hunter Bicknell said, “The
county may need to consider
purchasing some additional
acreage.”
OTHER ISSUES
Other issues discussed at
Thursday’s meeting included
the following:
•Crow reported that he has
not been able to get in touch
with Roger Brock to see if he
would be interested in serv
ing on the Jackson County
Parks & Recreation Advisory
Board for another one-year
term.
•commissioner Smith
voiced his concern with the
meeting being held in spite of
the inclement weather. Smith
stated he was concerned for
the safety of any citizens
attending the meeting.
•commissioner Bruce Yates
reminded everyone about the
upcoming town hall meeting
set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday,
Jan. 25. at the West Jackson
Primary School gymnasium.
•Crow reported that sever
al citizens who have moved
to Jackson County from the
Gwinnett County area had
commented to him about
the roads in Jackson County
being in better shape than
those in Gwinnett.
•public safety director
Steve Nichols reported that
there had been 916 calls to
911 from 12 a.m. Sunday
to 10 a.m. on Thursday. “It
has been a long week, a lot
of hours have been put in,”
he said. “All of the depart
ments have come together
and worked well together.”
•GIS director Joel Logan
reported that by the end of
January, the county’s online
GIS mapping system would
be available for public use.
Users can enter a street
address, search by subdivi
sion, search by a road, search
by a parcel number or search
by property owner’s last
name.
•Shane Short, Jackson
County Area Chamber of
Commerce President, pre
sented Bicknell with a framed
proclamation designating
Jackson County as a Work
Ready Community. Short
also reported that notifica
tion had been received that
Jackson County has received
County of Ethics designa
tion. The Georgia Municipal
Association will make the
presentation on Jan. 23. Short
reported that the project is
under way to have Jackson
County become a Camera
Ready Community. “We are
very confident this designa
tion will be received,” Short
said. He added that film
companies look at camera-
ready communities for film
productions and this brings a
lot of additional revenue into
the community.
•Short reported that 45
companies considered locat
ing in Jackson County in
2010, five new industries
located in the county in 2010
and 750 new jobs were creat
ed. Short stated he has been
in contact with the manag
er of Systemax who stated
the vast majority of the 400
people hired at Systemax
were unemployed Jackson
Countians. “This is what we
want, we want to put Jackson
Countians back to work,”
Short said.
Some Nicholson commercial buildings used as residences
BYBENMUNRO
HOPING TO stop a
trend from ever starting,
the Nicholson Planning and
Zoning Committee (NPZC)
will look into any situations in
which people are dwelling in
buildings zoned commercial.
The planning committee
said last Thursday (Jan. 6)
that citizens living in busi
ness-only facilities aren’t
good situations, especially
if children are involved. The
committee only mentioned
one such instance — a family
reportedly living in a garage
in town. The NPZC noted that
the facility has no bathroom,
only a port-a-potty.
The NPZC doesn't want to
make the family move, but
chairman Mike Stowers said
any subsequent situations like
this need to be dealt with.
“We need to be sure with
our zoning, with our planning,
that people are not using their
commercial buildings (to live
in) ... We need to prevent this
from happening for health
reasons in the future and lia
bility reasons,” Stowers said.
Stowers pointed to a similar
situation in the past where
the county stopped a business
owner from living in a shed
connected his antique store.
In other business, NPZC
members said they'll support
efforts to bring sewerage to
Nicholson to attract busines
ses to the city.
The decision would have
to be made through the
Nicholson Water Authority,
however.
Stowers said a system
could be installed - most
likely a lift station — for
the Hwy. 441 corridor and
tie into Commerce's sewerage
system.
“With the new elevation of
Hwy. 441, I don’t think it
would be that big of a stretch
for us to install a sewage lift
station,” he said.
Stowers noted that GEFA
money could be available for
such a project.
Stowers said the board
needs to join forces with the
Nicholson Water Authority
and the Nicholson City
Council to help make this
happen.
“I think all three need to
be involved.” Stowers said. “I
think it's something we really
need to push.”
In other discussion, the
NPZC also talked about
the possibility of using the
Wilbanks House in town as a
Nicholson museum.
Announcement from
COMMISSIONER BRUCE YATES
Please join me for a
DISTRICT 3 TOWN HALL MEETING
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
7:00 PM
West Jackson Primary School Gymnasium
4825 Highway 53
Braselton, GA
PRESENTATIONS ON
Public Safety • Law Enforcement • Fire • EMS • EMA
Road Projects • Recreation • Citizen Concerns
Couple contests $4,563
water bill with JCWSA
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
MICHAEL AND Christi
Brownlow of Jefferson prob
ably should have capped
a water line leading to an
unoccupied trailer when they
moved out nearly a decade
ago.
It might have saved them
$2,500.
The Brownlows appeared
before the Jackson County
Water and Sewerage
Authority last Thursday to
contest a settlement offer on
a $4,563 bill in November
alleging they'd used almost
525,000 gallons of water.
Mrs. Brownlow did most of
the talking during the 56-min
ute discussion. She adamant
ly denied the possibility of
a leak, on the grounds that
she’d seen no huge pool of
water. She submitted as part
of her evidence a photograph
and story about Celene Dion
installing a 500,000-gal
lon swimming pool, but her
argument focused on two
concepts: that there was no
leak and that the authority
was remiss for not telling her
sooner that she had a leak.
Having concluded to its
satisfaction that there was a
leak, the authority, per its
standing policy, offered a
50-percent reduction in the
bill and the spreading of the
reimbursement over time.
That did not satisfy Mrs.
Brownlow, who complained
that in dealing with the arbi
tration committee she “didn't
get anywhere with her com
plaint.”
From Oct. 15 to Nov. 15,
when the meter was read,
524,950 gallons of water
went through the meter. It
was several days before the
data was used to generate a
bill, at which time the author
ity saw the spike in usage and
notified the Brownlows that
they likely had a leak.
Another 125,000 gallons
had passed through the meter
by then, a fact that Mrs.
Brownlow returned to several
times.
In a written statement, she
said, “This kind of bill is
outrageous and I just don't
understand how this kind of
spike of gallons used could
not be seen before it was too
late.”
She also reiterated the lack
of evidence — water on the
ground — of a leak of that
magnitude.
“I want to see where this
water is,” she said. “I don't
see no water... This has
never happened before and it
shouldn’t happen to nobody.”
And, “We don't see the
water; we’ve never seen the
leak.”
Yet the Brownlows conced
ed that there was water under
the trailer, but dismissed it as
“a small leak.”
The couple lives in a house
on the front of the lot on
State Route 124. The mobile
home is on the back of the
lot and served as their resi
dence before while they built
the house, and when they
moved into the house they
abandoned the trailer, cutting
off the water.
However, they cut it off at
the trailer, leaving 200-300
feet of pressurized low-grade
PVC line in place. Once the
Brownlows capped that line
at the upper end (after noti
fication from the authority of
the probable leak), the high
usage ceased.
“That had to tell us there
was a leak somewhere
between the house and the
trailer.” noted chairman
Randall Pugh.
The authority tested the
Brownlows' meter and found
it more than 99 percent accu
rate.
Water manager Stacey
Jenkins said that on one visit
to the site he could see the
meter running, indicating a
leak.
“I didn’t see a leak, but
water was running through
the meter,” he said.
LEGAL RESOLUTION
Following a nine-minute
closed session, the authority
approved an amendment to
an “addendum” to its con
tract for the recent upgrade
of its Middle Oconee Water
Reclamation Facility that is
expected to result in repairs
to a bar screen that does
not function properly. The
authority had to threaten
litigation to get the matter
resolved.
PRESSURE INCREASED
Manager Eric Klerk
briefed the authority on the
resolution of a water pres
sure issue for East Jackson
residents in the Hoods Mill
Road area. Basically, the
authority moved the area
from service from the
Waterworks Road tank to
service from the Dry Pond
tank, the result of which is
an increase of more than 30
pounds per square inch of
water pressure.
Klerk also advised that
a new skimmer had been
successfully installed at the
water reclamation facility.
Both of those projects, he
said, came in well under
budget, although both were
delayed by long “lead
times” required when order
ing parts.
Nicholson council to meet Thurs.
THE MONTHLY council meeting for the City of Nicholson
has been re-scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 20, following the
council’s monthly work session meeting at 7 p.m.
Both the work session and the council meeting will be held
at the Community Center.
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