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THURSDAY. JANUARY 19. 2017 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 5A
Ball Ground council tackles annual ‘housekeeping chores’
By Larry Cavender
Contributing writer
With the largest agenda
in recent memory, the Ball
Ground City Council con
sidered a large number of is
sues at their first meeting of
the year which was held in
the council chambers at City
Hall on January 12th.
A number of "housekeep
ing chores" were accom
plished, including the annual
presentation of the city's fi
nancial audit by a represen
tative of James Bence,
Mauldin, and Jenkins, LLC.
During the course of his re
port, the auditor praised Ball
Ground's financial director,
Donna England, for her ex
cellent record-keeping and
preparation for the audit.
Both Mayor Rick Roberts
and City Manager Eric
Wilmarth also echoed those
compliments.
During the meeting,
Mayor Roberts commented,
"We don't usually have this
many items to address con
cerning alcohol in our city,"
but a number of items dealt
with alcohol, including
changes to the city's alcohol
ordinance and consideration
of three applications for ei
ther package sales or the
consumption of alcohol on
the premises.
When referring to the or
dinance changes, the mayor
stated, "We are simply try
ing to 'modernize' our ordi
nance." The changes in the
ordinance would include al
lowing special events and
use permits, including per
mitting consumption for
outside events, allowing for
the establishment of micro
breweries, allowing for
"corking fees" for serving
wine at existing restaurants
that are not licensed to sell
wine, as well as allowing
wine tasting events in addi
tion to those already permit
ted under the previous
ordinance. All changes were
passed unanimously by the
council.
Applications were also
submitted for consumption
of alcohol on the premises at
Les Bon Temps Louisiana
Kitchen, as well as for pack
age sales at the location for
merly known as Jordan's
Package Store at the inter
section of Ball Ground
Highway and Commerce
Lane and for a yet to be con
structed business at the in
tersection of the Ball
Ground Highway and A. W.
Roberts Drive.
Because longtime owner
Danny Jordan of Jordan's
Package Store recently sold
his business, the new sales
application was necessitated
for the new owners. In refer
ence to the application for
the location at Ball Ground
Highway and A. W. Roberts
Drive, there were some
questions from council
members about granting a li
cense to a business that did
not yet exist. However, City
Manager Wilmarth stated
that there are plans to de
molish the building, which
was for decades known as
Junior Cordell's Gulf Serv
ice Station, and build a mod
em new Exxon gas station at
that location. According to
Wilmarth, construction of
the new business is contin
gent on the city granting the
license for package sales.
After some discussion, all
three applications were ap
proved without opposition
pending the second reading
of the applications in Febru
ary.
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Ball Ground Mayor Rick Roberts and Councilman
Frank Homiller. Roberts has served a total of 26 years as
mayor, the past 20 years consecutively, and Homiller has
served as mayor pro-tem for over 20 years.
Other "housekeeping
chores" addressed by the
council included the ap
pointment of department
heads, committees, and
board members. Council
man Frank Homiller was
named to continue serving
as mayor pro-tem, a position
he has held for more than 20
years. Karen Jordan will
continue as city clerk, a po
sition she has held for three
decades. Most positions will
continue as in the past.
However, some notable
changes included Council
man John Byrd being named
as chairman of Public
Works, a position held for
merly by Lee Prettyman,
who was appointed chair
man of Public Safety.
Committee members for
the Ball Ground Main Street
Association/Downtown De
velopment Authority were
also approved by the coun
cil. Councilman John Byrd
will continue as president
and Karla Weaver will con
tinue as director. Member
Tricia Richards' term expires
this year, but she agreed to
serve another term and the
council unanimously agreed
to her reappointment.
In his comments to the
council, Police Chief Bryon
Reeves reported a busy
month of December. Coun
cilman Byrd noted that "traf
fic violators and
ne’er-do-wells" were almost
always persons just "passing
through" the city and were
seldom city residents. Chief
Reeves agreed, also noting
incidents were at a mini
mum during the annual
March for the Toys for Tots
holiday parade which
boasted between 6,000 and
7,000 attendees this year.
Expect a surge in residen
tial construction soon in the
city, according to City Man
ager Wilmarth, who noted
that Phase III of the Moun
tain Brooke Subdivision will
KPB recognizes Adopt-a-Road
volunteer of the year at yearly banquet
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Members of Keep Pickens
Beautiful gathered January
10th at The Last Catch
restaurant to mark another
successful year of improving
the roadsides and environ
ment of the area.
Vice President Mary Ann
Rentz told the group this
marked their 28th year,
something few other groups
in the state can match. They
are also unique for their vol
unteer members, where most
other groups operate through
government agencies.
“No one has the dedica
tion [our members do],”
Rentz said.
The group also recognized
their Adopt-A-Road Volun
teer of the Year Nancy
LaChance. LaChance takes
responsibility for picking up
Nancy LaChance is this year’s recipient of the Elaine
Thomason Award for her work to keep Big Ridge Road lit-
ter-free. She is presented the award by KPB Adopt-A-Road
Chair Bart Connelly.
litter in the Big Ridge area of road; LaChance cleans seven
west Pickens. Most volun- miles of Big Ridge Road,
teers take on one mile of She has collected 164 bags of
First workday at new Pickens Habitat home
Work began this past Sat
urday on Habitat for Human
ity of Pickens County’s 17th
home build. Seventeen dedi
cated volunteers were on
hand to help Virginia Soulis
begin building her new
home.
Virginia qualified for the
low-cost mortgage which is
Habitat for Humanity’s trade
mark agreement with its
homeowner families. The
house will take about six
months to build and finish.
This past Saturday the
main floor beam, floor joists
and subfloor were installed.
Meals were donated by Buf
falo Lukes - a local Jasper
restaurant (see additional pic
tures at infopickenshff.org).
Habitat for Humanity is
proud of its mission to pro
vide low cost housing for
qualified families as it strives
to strengthen families and
local communities.
If you are interested in
being a part of this effort,
please call 706-253-2393 and
leave a message, or email
www.PickensHFH.org There
are a variety of opportunities
for putting your skills to
work not only in building but
in behind-the-scenes support
as well.
begin construction of new
homes next month and plans
for the new 20-home subdi
vision located on Northridge
Drive is progressing as ex
pected. The new residences
may well be needed in the
city soon, because Wilmarth
also pointed out the con
struction of the Universal
Alloy plant was on schedule
to be completed in July. That
new facility is expected to
bring 250 new jobs to the
community.
Finally, the council pro
claimed Friday, February
17th as Arbor Day in the
city.
Other Ball Ground News
Business and Community
Association
The Ball Ground Busi
ness and Community Asso
ciation held their first
"Lunch and Learn" meeting
of the year on Wednesday,
January 11th at Westminster
Chapel. The meeting, which
was sponsored by Waffle
House, was a "Meet and
Greet" in which members
present were invited to in
troduce themselves. Associ
ation President Beth Ingram
felt this would be a good
time for members to become
more acquainted with each
other, especially since the
association now boasts more
than seventy members.
Since no meeting was
held during December and
this was the first meeting
since the association held
their Tour of Homes, Ingram
announced the event was a
big success and raised sev
eral thousand dollars which
will be earmarked for the
group's scholarship fund and
other community projects.
Garden Club
Also holding their first
meeting of the year at West
minster Chapel, the Ball
Ground Anetsa-Ga-Da Gar
den Club met on Tuesday,
January 10th. Mary Ellen
Roos presented a program
on "Garden Clubs Locally
and Nationally."
President Diane Smith
proudly announced that the
club's commemorative brick
fundraiser for the botanical
garden had reached a mile
stone with the purchase of
the 500th commemorative
brick. The bricks are placed
in the patio of the botanical
garden which was dedicated
last June and funds raised
from the sale of bricks go to
construction and continued
maintenance of the botanical
garden.
Smith also announced the
receipt of a $200grant for
the botanical garden's
planned bog garden. The
president made a motion for
the money to be used for the
liner, soil, and some of the
plants, with rocks for the
garden to be purchased
through the "Ball Ground
Fund." In preparation for
cold weather, pine straw and
mulch was recently placed
and it was also noted that
with the recent precipitation,
the stream which bisects the
garden is now running nor
mally. The stream was re
cently completely dry
because of the drought con
ditions.
trash since April.
For her efforts to reduce
litter on the roadsides,
LaChance was given the
Elaine Thomason annual
award. The award is named
in honor of an early sup
porter, who was doing litter
clean-ups before the KPB
group was even established
here.
2017 KPB Officers
Board of Directors
Carol Opdenhoff, President;
Mary Ann Rentz, Vice Presi
dent; Codi Van Atta Sect-
Treasurer; Susan Anderson,
Education; Vered Klein-
berger, Litter Index; Bart
Connelly, Adopt-A-Road;
Joan Britton, Green Ribbon;
Ron Jager, Director; Stan
Barnett, Director; A1 Rothe,
Director and Gloria Proud-
foot. Office Manager.
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Board of Education
Daniel Bell, Chair
Delane Lewis, Vice-Chair
Sue Finley
Byron Long
Katherine White
\ Pickens County Schools /
PICKENS COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE
Board meeting location:
Pickens County Board Conference Center
91 D.B. Carroll Street
Jasper, GA 30143
January 12,2017
6:30 p.m.
February 9, 2017
6:30 p.m.
March 9, 2017
6:30 p.m.
April 13,2017
6:30 p.m.
May 11,2017
6:30 p.m.
June 15,2017
6:30 p.m.
July 13,2017
6:30 p.m.
August 10, 2017
6:30 p.m.
September 14,2017
6:30 p.m.
October 12, 2017
6:30 p.m.
November 9, 2017
6:30 p.m.
December 14, 2017
6:30 p.m.
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