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About Jackson herald. (Jefferson, Jackson County, Ga.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2023)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2023 THE JACKSON HERALD PAGE 3A Photos by Hannah Barron Pictured are authority staff, board chairman Dylan Wilbanks, board member Wade Johnson and board member Tommy Benton. JCWSA breaks ground on new headquarters By Hannah Barron hannah@mainstreetnews. com The Jackson County Water and Sewerage Au thority held a ground breaking ceremony on April 19 for its new head quarters. The facility, totaling roughly 36,000 sq. ft., will be located off of Adella Ln. in Jefferson next to the authority’s sewer plant. Construction is expected to be complete in the spring of 2024. “This is one of the most important things that we’ll ever do as a water authori ty,” general manager Joey Leslie said. “This is go ing to be our heart and soul — this location. We all have a passion for the authority, we’re all here in this together and we want to be here a long time and serve this community for decades. This is going to be our lifelong home.” Carroll Daniel Construction and Precision Planning leaders are pictured with authority general manager Joey Leslie, board chairman Dylan Wilbanks, board member Wade Johnson and board member Tommy Benton. Hoschton chooses firm for city park design By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews. com Hoschton city leaders have awarded a design bid for a proposed park on a seven-acre tract fronting Mulberry, White and Broad streets. On Monday (April 17), the city council chose En gineering Management, Inc. (EMI), with a low bid of $15,290. over two other firms vying to provide park designs for the city. Jerry Hood of EMI said the firm would produce a conceptual plan allowing the city to seek grant funds for the park. Hood said EMI would work with Brewer Engineering to create the designs. “Our main goal is to get input from you and do a good concept plan and try to get that done by about the middle of May if you want to go for DNR (Depart ment of Natural Resources) funding,” Hood told the city council at its April 13 work session. “They do have a nice pot of money this year.” He said the DNR offers a 50% matching grant of up to $500,000. Hood said the city won’t know if it is a candidate for full funding until February 2024. “Our idea was to get a good concept plan, then you’ve got all summer to work the details out,” Hood said. EMI’s bid was consider ably less than its two com petitors, WA Engineering and WLA Studio, as the ser vices of each differed. The scope of WA En gineering’s work was de scribed as “turn key,” pro viding design, planning, landscape architecture, site development engineering, permitting and bid and con struction administration for $103,000. WLA Studio would provide a master plan for $27,000. As park planning now moves forward, Hoschton leaders look to divide the park project into three phases: trails, a playground and an amphitheater. According to City Man ager Jennifer Kidd-Harri- son, the city hopes to com plete the walking trails this year with money already in the city budget. She said the entire park would be a two- to-three-year project. Braselton DDA makes decision about Harrison St. property Should the Braselton Downtown Development Authority ever part with its Harrison St. property, the Town of Braselton will have the first shot at buying it. The DDA, following a closed session, voted Thurs day (April 13) to offer the town first right of refusal should it ever sell the 1.47 acre parcel, which includes the 89-year-old Braselton school house. The DDA has owned the property since 2014. In other business, the DDA: •heard that preliminary work has started for this year’s ArtRageous festival. The DDA event debuted in October 2022. •has awarded $1,000 to downtown businesses through a landscaping grant. All recipients must com plete improvement projects by June for reimbursement. •heard that the design committee is reviewing de signs to expand the town’s parking deck mural. The committee also plans to re paint the planters on Frances St. this year. The committee will put out a call to artists within the next few weeks. •heard that the organiza tion committee has sold 21 of 36 tables for the May 4 “Toast to Braselton” fund raiser. The committee still needs auction items for the event. •welcomed new DDA members Sue Wyatt and Es teban de Leon. Prose Concord being sold to Fla. investment firm The Prose Concord apart ment community in Jeffer son is being sold to a real es tate investment group from Florida. Berkadia, an affiliate of Coral Gables, Fla.-based Beacon Real Estate Group, has arranged a $45 million loan for the acquisition of the 300-unit apartment community. Located at 575 Concord Road, the community com prises one- and two-bed room units ranging in size from 836 to 1,188 square feet. Amenities at the prop erty include a swimming pool, clubroom with a ca tering kitchen, entertain ment lounge, business cen ter with coworking spaces, landscaped courtyards, concierge package locker system, fitness center and pet park. COMMERCE GAS DEPARTMENT RECOGNIZED Commerce City Council members recently recognized the city’s gas depart ment, which won a second Region One Golden Backhoe Award. The award is presented annually by the Georgia Utilities Coordinating Council (GUCC) and recognizes the department for its safety practices. Gomez announces candidacy for Pendergrass council Pendergrass city resi dent Gabriel Gomez has announced that he will be running for Pendergrass City Council Seat 1 for the June 20 Special Election. Gomez has been a busi ness owner in the insurance industry for 22 years. He has experience in risk man agement. residential and commercial real estate. Gomez said he is running on having a safe and di verse community for Pend ergrass. as well as making Pendergrass “a great place to raise your family.” Gomez can be reached at thegomezagency @ gmail. com JCSS names Peacock director of secondary education Dr. Jeremy Peacock will serve as the Director of Secondary Education, the Jackson County School System Board of Education approved last Monday night. Dr. Peacock is the current Science/STEAM Specialist for JCSS. He will begin in his new position July 1. “Dr. Peacock has demon strated tremendous exper tise and skill in curriculum development and instruc tional support, and we are excited about the impact he will make in his new role as Director of Secondary Edu cation for JCSS,” Dr. Ami ty Hardegree. Assistant Su perintendent for Teaching and Learning, said. “Dr. Peacock is an instrumental member of our Teaching and Learning team and is invested in the work of en suring high quality instruc tional experiences for all of our students.” Dr. Peacock is in his fourth year in his current position. He taught biolo gy for a year prior and also previously served as the Middle and High School Science Specialist for Northeast Georgia RESA. “The thing I am most looking forward to is the sense of teamwork we have at the district and school level,” Dr. Peacock said. “I look forward to continuing the work we already have in progress.” Dr. Peacock is a Macon native and holds three de grees from the University of Georgia. He obtained a Bachelor of Science De gree in Environmental Health, along with a Mas ter and Doctorate Degree in Science Education. 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