Newspaper Page Text
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THE
ACKSON
H Wednesday, March 8, 2023
ERALD
VOL. 148 NO. 39
20 PACES 2 SECTIONS PLUS INSERTS
Merged in 2017 with
The Commerce News
A PUBLICATION OF MainStreet Newspapers, Inc.
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Pendergrass
Geiman elected Pendergrass mayor pro tem
A special election will
be held June 20 to fill the
unexpired term of Pender
grass’ mayor following the
death of long-time Mayor
Monk Tolbert on Feb. 27.
The special election will
also fill the seat previously
held by Harlan Robinson,
who resigned last week.
Both seats will also come
up for election in Novem
ber’s General Election.
At its Feb. 28 meeting.
the Pendergrass City Coun
cil voted to elect Nick Gei
man as mayor pro tem to
replace Robinson. Geiman
will chair the council’s
meetings until a new mayor
is elected.
The council election of
Geiman was required after
the city attorney discovered
that Robinson had been ap
pointed, but not elected, to
the mayor pro tem position.
The city’s charter requires
the mayor pro tem be elect
ed, but that had not been
done in recent years as the
mayor had appointed the
position.
The council also elected
Tara Underwood as succes
sor mayor pro tem.
Also on Feb. 28, the
council voted to approve
an overlay district for the
city’s new town center,
which is currently under
construction.
Public safety
Education
Rome man killed
in wreck on 1-85
A Rome, Ga., man was killed in a single-vehicle
wreck on 1-85 in Jackson County recently.
William Vaughn Garrett, 57, of Rome, died at the
scene of the wreck. Garrett was traveling southbound
on 1-85 in a Chevrolet Tahoe on Feb. 26 around 3 a.m.
when he lost control of the vehicle.
The Tahoe overturned, struck the cable barrier in the
median and traveled into the northbound lanes before
coming to a final rest.
No one else was injured in the wreck.
Hoschton to submit
modified council district
plan to state legislature
By Ben Munro drew the proposed city
ben@mainstreetnews.com C0U ncil districts based on
The City of Hoschton
will move forward with
plans to divide the town
into city council districts,
albeit with a different pro
posal than previously pre
sented.
Hoschton leaders look
to split the city into two
voting districts with two
councilmembers elected
per district (they must re
side within their respec
tive district) and two other
councilmembers elected
at-large. Hoschton cur
rently uses an at-large
election format exclu
sively that doesn’t require
geographical disburse
ment of its council mem
bers.
Under this new plan.
District 1 would cover the
far western portion of the
city and part of the north
ern end. District 2 would
cover much of the south
ern and central portions,
all of the eastern segment,
and a portion of the north
ern end.
The state’s general as
sembly executive office
population density using
data from the 2020 cen
sus.
Hoschton leaders will
now send this plan to the
state legislature for ap
proval. The city, via a pub
lic notice, announced the
introduction of a bill for
this year’s regular session
of the state general assem
bly to create a new charter
for Hoschton to allow for
city council districts.
The pursuit of coun
cil districts comes as the
southern portion of the
city, with the large Cress-
wind and Twin Fakes sub
divisions. is projected to
grow by 7,000 residents
before 2030.
Councilmember Tracy
Carswell said during a
Feb. 16 city council meet
ing that districting would
ensure all parts of town
have representation on the
council. He noted that at
one time, four Hoschton
council members lived in
the same four-block area
See Hoschton, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
Index
Opinion
4A
Public safety.
6A-7A
School news
12A, 8B
Social news
8A
Sports
1B-3B
Classifieds
9A
Obituaries
lOA-llA
Legnls 4B-7B
Chamber honors STARs
STARS RECOGNIZED BY CHAMBER
STAR students and their teachers were recently recognized by the Jackson County Area Chamber of
Commerce. Shown here at the Chamber’s annual STAR banquet are (L to R) Amberly Roberts, teacher,
and student, David Heard, of Jefferson High School; teacher Steven Bowles and student Kellen Salom of
Jackson County High School; teacher Joseph Brubaker and student Jacob Buell of East Jackson Com
prehensive High School; and teacher Travis Roye and student Scarlett Maze of Commerce High School.
(Photo by Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce.)
Commerce, county
Crowd packs town hall over Commerce parks and rec proposal
By Alex Buffington
aiex@mainstreetnews. com
Commerce City Coun
cil members faced a packed
room during last week’s town
hall meeting about the future
of the city’s parks and recre
ation department.
It was a marathon of a
meeting — lasting about
3 hours — during which
a number of people spoke
against a proposal to turn
over the city’s rec department
to the Jackson County Recre
ation and Parks Department.
The city has not made a
decision on whether it will
move forward with the pro
posed merger. A second
town hall meeting is planned
this Saturday (March 11) at
11 a.m. at the Commerce
Civic Center.
BACKGROUND
City leaders have been
working over the past several
years on plans to expand the
city’s recreation department.
Mayor Clark Hill said the
city’s intention initially was
to buy land and build new fa
cilities.
A crowd packed the Commerce City Council’s town hall meeting,
Hill said the city first
started looking at city-
owned property on Small
wood Dr. But there isn’t
enough buildable land for
an expansion there and the
neighboring property own
ers weren’t willing to sell
their land.
The city then looked at
buying an alternative proper
ty, 70-80 acres at the comer of
Whitehill School Rd. When
the city hired an engineer for
the expansion, it learned the
estimated cost to build addi-
Mayor Clark Hill gives information on the back-
See Commerce, page 2A ground of the city’s parks and rec department.
piggly wiggly
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