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THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 12. 2015 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 13A
County continues retirement plan revamp
Love your Babies.
Pickens County commissioners (l to r) Becky Denney, Jerry Barnes and Rob Jones with
attorney Phil Landrum discuss possible retirement options at the commissioners ’ work ses
sion on Thursday, Feb. 5.
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
County leaders are forging
ahead with plans to change
the retirement plan offered to
employees.
In a presentation to county
commissioners at the Febru
ary work session, Rocky
Joiner of Segal Company dis
cussed alternatives to the
county’s current plan, which
requires no employee contri
bution. Joiner called the
county’s current benefit struc
ture “okay,” but pushed com
missioners to require employ
ees’ contribution and to offer
county matches.
The alternative presented
at the work session would re
quire employee contribution
for a 457 B Plan and would
offer a county match for a
separate Valic retirement plan
The legislature is in high
speed starting our 4th week.
Legislators are writing bills and
entering them daily, and the re
spective committees are hearing
about those bills. The budget
hearings are going on now too,
and there is lots of work to be
done on that big project.
I must apologize that this is
the first article I have put out. I
had shoulder surgery and it was
on my right one. That has slowed
my writing down a lot. Due to
good timing, I only missed one
day of session. My dear wife
Marcia has been helping me.
Feel sorry for her! I do.
This session of the General
Assembly, I have added a new
committee to my work. It is Pub
lic Safety (and Homeland Secu-
Report from the Capitol
By State Representative Rick Jasperse
rity). I was appointed chairman
of the subcommittee to review
legislation for the Public Safety
Committee last week. I am also
the vice-chairman of Health and
am a member of Agriculture, Ap
propriations Education, and
Human Relations and Aging
committees.
This year I was honored to be
chosen to be a “Whip” for the
majority party. This important
position is one where members
can go to the whips to find out in
formation on all bills! Whew!
Glad I like to read!
In the governor’s budget we
did see where he cut the dollars
that went to part-time school em
ployees’ healthcare premiums. I
believe we will find the dollars to
replace this cut elsewhere in the
budget. I drove a school bus for
many years for our 4-H Club and
know our drivers and lunchroom
ladies well. I know that these fine
folks do these critical jobs for
very low wages and for those
health care benefits. I will keep
you updated on this.
There have been lots of folks
from our area at the Capitol dur
ing the past few weeks. Dentists,
nurses, judges, school folks,
mothers, fathers, TEA Party
members, hospital leaders, stu
dents of technical schools and
some colleges, Ga. Baptist Assn.,
county officials, law enforce
ment and optometrists, to name
a few. The House of Representa
tives is often referred to as “the
People’s House.” I hope you feel
that that is true.
Pilgrim Baptist in Nelson hosts special
speaker for Black History Month
Submitted by Rev. John H.
Brown, Pastor
On Sunday February 22,
please join Pilgrim Missionary
Baptist Church, Nelson, Ga., as
we celebrate Black History
Month. The keynote speaker will
be Minister Joseph T. Howard.
The service will start at 11:30
a.m.
Minister Howard is the son of
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Howard.
He was bom in Baltimore, Md.,
and currently resides in Atlanta,
Ga. His journey into the ministry
began at the age of eight. While
enduring many struggles due to a
learning disability, he read a
book given to him by his parents
on the life of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., which changed his life
and sparked a flame in him to
want to know more about the
movement. Minister Howard
read many books and watched
every video he could get his
hands on about Dr. King and the
Civil Rights Movement. Soon he
Minister Joseph T. Howard.
began to memorize Dr. King’s
speeches and became known all
around Harford County, Md., as
the resident expert on his life.
Minister Howard was li
censed in 2009 at The First Bap
tist Church of Carrollton, Ga. He
holds an Associate’s degree in
Biblical Studies and a Bachelor’s
To my
beloved
husband
Chris Moss
March 8, 1963
February 15, 2014
Chris,
Every day that goes by I miss you more
and more. I’ll always love you.
You were a great husband, son, father and
grandfather.
Tonya Moss
Moss Family and the Morgans
degree in Systematic Theology
from Andersonville Theological
Seminary of Atlanta. In addition
to attending Andersonville, he
also studied at Carver Bible Col
lege. He plans to continue his ed
ucation in hopes of earning a
Master’s of Divinity and eventu
ally a PhD in Theology. Minister
Howard has served on several
ministerial staffs in the Atlanta
area including a position as the
Youth Minister at Greater Piney
Grove Baptist Church. Currently
he is an associate minister at
Mount Ephraim Baptist Church
under the leadership of Dr. R.L.
White, Jr. Minister Howard is
also a proud member of the
Academy of Preachers, where he
was inducted at the National Fes
tival in January of 2012. Through
this organization several of his
sermons have been published.
He has served in this organiza
tion in multiple capacities, in
cluding a recent promotion to the
position of Gospel Catalyst.
In addition, he has been seen
sharing his passion for preaching
on Youtube. Through this vehi
cle, he has become a sought after
preacher not only in the Atlanta
area but throughout the country.
Recently, Minister Howard
was honored by the Concerned
Black Clergy of Atlanta as the
2013 Young Man of the Year.
Additionally, he serves as a
writer for LifeWay Christian
Bookstore, through which he has
had many articles published.
Most importantly, he loves the
Lord. His life goal is to pastor
his own church, and continue to
make an impact for the Lord.
When asked why he preaches,
Minister Howard states, “I
preach to bring souls to Christ
and to use my gift to the glory of
God. I’m going to do it until I
can do it no more.”
Minister Howard is happily
married to the love of his life
and his partner in ministry, the
Rev.Bianca Robinson Howard.
Pilgrim is located at 1775
Pickens Street Nelson, Ga.
30151.
that currently has no county
match. Joiner said this ap
proach could, if all new em
ployees opt in, save money in
the long run and provide an
opportunity for increased re
tirement security for those
employees.
But county commission
chair Rob Jones said more
than potential savings, talks
about revamping the retire
ment plan came in an effort to
reduce employee turnover.
“We’re not going to save
anything for a while,” Jones
said in a later interview. “The
goal is to bring people in and
have them stay here with us.
Other counties have changed
their plans and it makes em
ployment there more attrac
tive.”
Jones said there is still a
lot to be hammered out in fu
ture meetings regarding the
new retirement structure.
“It’s going to be a mini
mum of six months before
anything is finalized,” Jones
said.
Jones also said there will
be increased importance
placed on educating employ
ees about retirement plans of
fered.
If you do come down to the
gold dome, please give me a
warning so I can look for you.
You can e-mail me at rick@rick
jasperse.org or call the Capitol
office at 404-656-0188. Also
use those contact numbers to tell
me what you think about an
issue or if you want more infor
mation about something you
might have heard on the news or
radio. Or, like today, stop me in
the grocery store as I think nine
folks did. That’s okay; really, I
hope you feel comfortable doing
that. Your questions and feelings
on issues are important to me.
Next week we will talk
Transportation, and I’ll fill you
in on what’s being discussed to
fix our aging transportation in
frastructure.
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