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The Commerce News
JEFFERSON, JACKSON COUNTY GEORGIA 30549 $1.00 COPY
Jefferson
Jefferson set to issue $12 million in bonds for aquatics center
But city building
authority has narrow y-2
vote to approve bonds
By Mike Buffington
mike@mainstreetnews.com
The City of Jefferson is about set to
go to market with $ 12 million in bonds
to fund its aquatics center project.
The Jefferson City Council voted to
approve the bond package at its Aug.
28 meeting following a brief presenta
tion by underwriters.
The bonds are for 20 years with a
blended rate of 3.97%. Underwriters
said the bond proposal had received
a “strong reception” from the market.
The city is floating the bonds through
its building authority, which met
Aug. 29 and voted 3-2 to go forward
with the bond sale. Voting against the
bonds were former mayor Roy Plott
and Doug Turco while Randall Reed,
Patrick Brewer and chairman John
Blackstock, who broke the tie, voted
in favor.
The bonds are scheduled to hit the
market Sept. 27.
Earlier this summer, the council vot
ed to pursue the aquatics center proj
ect after several years of discussion
and controversy. The new facility is
slated to be used by area swim teams
and private citizens for a variety of
aquatic uses, including competitions.
It will be located on Old Pendergrass
Rd. near the existing city recreation
center.
See Jefferson, page 2A
Judicial
State, local
Banks Co.
judicial move
could impact
Jackson,
Barrow
If Banks County is moved
out of the Piedmont Judi
cial Circuit, what would
that move mean for Barrow
and Jackson Counties?
Banks has been pushing
to jump out of the Pied
mont Circuit for several
years and move into the
Mountain Judicial Circuit.
The move would require
legislative action and so far,
those efforts have not been
successful.
But state legislative lead
ers held a rare out-of-At
lanta hearing in Homer last
week to hear about the ef
forts to have Banks move to
the Mountain Circuit.
“It is rare to come out
of the committee room,”
said legislative committee
chairman Stan Gunter. “We
want to hear why we should
make a change or why we
should leave it alone. What
we hear will influence what
happens in January.”
State leaders said if the
action is taken it would
be “precedent-setting” be
cause there has never been
action to take a county out
of one circuit and put it into
another one. (The state has
separated a county into its
own circuit, however.)
For Jackson and Bar-
row counties, losing Banks
County to another circuit
might open the door to
using one, or both, coun
ties in a bid to realign the
See Judicial, page 2A
MAILING LABEL
Local group works to get
overdose reversal kits installed
Overdose Reversal Kits have been installed at the State Capitol. The an
nouncement comes after a months-long collaborative effort between lo
cal and state leaders. Jackson County resident Jon Langston’s company,
Langston and Langston, LLC, builds, initially stocks and installs the box
es. A local Recovery Community Organization (RCO), such as REBOOT
Jackson, then maintains and re-restocks the box as needed. Pictured
here is one of the kits at the public entry security desk at the Capitol. A
total of five boxes will be in the Capitol and one box will be in the office
of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
Members of the Georgia Council 4 Recovery are pictured. They are the
RCO that will maintain these particular boxes. From L-R: Jeff Breedlove,
Community Outreach Manager, DBHDD; Gene Conroy, Assistant Direc
tor of Operations, Georgia Council 4 Recovery; Laurisa Guerrero, Execu
tive Director, Georgia Council 4 Recovery; Jon Langston, Langston and
Langston, LLC; Commissioner Kevin Tanner, DBHDD; Rep. Emory Duna-
hoo Jr.; Jenn Langston, Executive Director, REBOOT Jackson; and Dave
Scott, Treasurer, REBOOT Jackson.
Overdose Reversal Kits have been installed at the State Capitol.
Overdose
Reversal Kits
have been
installed at
the State
Capitol. The
announcement
comes after a
months-long
collaborative
effort between
local and state
leaders.
Overdose
REVERSAL
KIT
j Geori|ia ("C-ii ;.t,f it
r:“.r Eteocvery
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Nuusenr
Elections
Qualifying closes,
busy elections
season ahead for
municipalities
It’s going to be a busy year for local elections.
Qualifying ended last week for the Nov. 7 munici
pal General Election. Seats are contested in nearly all
of the county’s municipalities. Arcade and Talmo are
the only two municipalities in the county that don’t
have contested races.
See the qualifying results:
ARCADE
•Three at-large council seats: Incumbents Cindy
Bone, Jenny Buley and Tom Hays qualified.
BRASELTON
•District 1: Becky Richardson, incumbent, and
Joshua Spearman
•District 3: Jim Joedecke Jr., incumbent, and
Tom Logan
COMMERCE
• Mayor: Clark Hill (incumbent)
•City Council Ward 3: Mark Fitzpatrick (in
cumbent) and Alicia Vargas
• City Council Ward 4: Bobby Redmon (incum
bent)
•City Council Ward 5: Roshuanda Merritt,
Marty Vitug and Ronald Silver. Incumbent Johnny
Eubanks announced that he would not seek re-elec
tion.
• District 1 School Board: Nathan Anderson (in
cumbent)
• District 3 School Board: Matthew Dean
• District 4 School Board: Kyle E. Moore (incum
bent)
• District 5 School Board: Cory Griffith
HOSCHTON
• Mayor (filling the unexpired term of Lauren
O’Leary): Michael Beck, Debbie Martin and
Nick Sutton
• 2-year term (filling the unexpired term of Scott
Mims): David Brown, Monti Robinson and Tam
my Sweat
•4-year terms (three spots open): Christina
Brown, Scott Courier, Melba Moss, J.J. Jackson
and Shannon Sell
JEFFERSON
• Council District 1: Steve Kinney, incumbent
• Council District 3: Cody Cain, incumbent
• Council District 5: Stephen Crawford, incumbent
•School Board District 1: Catherine Peer and
Ashley Wheaton Smith
• School Board District 3: Willie Hughey, incum
bent
• School Board District 5: Guy Benson, incumbent
MAYSVTLLE
• Mayor: Richard Presley (incumbent) and Wil
liam S. McLeish Jr
• Council member Ward 2: Amanda Farley
• Council member Ward 4: Brodriche D. Jack-
son and Roy Dean
NICHOLSON
•Mayor: Steve Nichols and Jan Webster, in
cumbent
•Council seats (two available): Mike Barfield
(incumbent), Dusty Durst and Lamar Watkins
(incumbent)
PENDERGRASS
• Mayor: Nick Geiman (incumbent)
• Councilmembers (three seats up for grabs):
Gabriel Gomez (incumbent), Joshua Auten, Tara
Bonner (incumbent) and Sylvia Basak
TALMO
• Two Talmo city council seats: James Buffington
and Myra McEver, both incumbents
piggly wiggly
HOME OF THE SLUSHEES
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