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THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 4. 2021 PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS PAGE 11A
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I
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Supts
to manage the affairs of the
system while they searched
for a permanent superintend
ent. They used Ben Arp in
2011 and Charles Webb
twice, in 2017 and 2019, with
each of these uses costing
around $60,000 for the salary
and benefits. In other in
stances, Perry and Ballew
were hired first as interims
and then assumed the perma
nent spot later. Currently,
Tony Young is serving as in
terim. The board said in a
statement at the January 18th
meeting, they “have no plans
to conduct any interviews for
the office of superintendent
until some degree of stability
and leadership can be
brought to the current situa
tion. Based on our experience
with Mr. Young we believe
that he can and will provide
this stability and leadership
on an interim basis.” How
ever, Young has an existing
retirement date of December
2021.
Pickens, like the rest of
the state, moved to appointed
superintendents, rather than
elected ones following the
1992 elections. Since then,
not one superintendent in this
county has completed their
final contract.
The final elected superin
tendent, Kimsey Wood, be
came the first hired one in
Dec. of 1995 and worked for
the board until 1999. He was
in the last year of a second
contract when board mem
bers voted in March to move
him to another administrative
position at the end of the fis
cal year (July), rather than
wait until his contract ended
in December, according to
the Progress report at that
time.
A statement released by
the school board at that time
read, “This is the first time in
the history of Pickens County
that a search for a superin
tendent has been done, and is
probably the most important
job we will do as a board.
There is probably one ab
solute truth for board mem
bers - no matter what we do,
we’re bound to be scrutinized
and criticized for how we
conduct a search and hire a
superintendent.”
Since that time the board
has gone through six superin
tendents (including
Townsend). The longest serv
ing was Lee Shiver, who
worked from June of 1999
until September 2005. He
was followed by Mike
Ballew who worked from
September of 2005 until De
cember 31, 2010.
The next four superin
tendents began a pattern of
rapid changes: Ben Desper,
July 2011- June 2013; Lula
Mae Perry, July 2013 to De
cember 31, 2016; Carlton
Wilson May 2017 to Decem
ber 19,2020; Rick Townsend
April 21, 2020 - it is unclear
when his official end date
was or will be.
While this may seem like
a particularly bad track
record for Pickens, this
county is not alone. No over
all Georgia statistics on
tenure of superintendents
were found, but in 2017 a
state senator introduced leg
islation to give counties the
ability to switch back to an
elected superintendent citing
as one factor the “shorter
tenures.” The legislation
failed.
At that time, Sen. John
Wilkinson, of Toccoa, told
the Atlanta Journal Constitu
tion, that with the old system
of elections, Georgia superin
tendents averaged eight years
in a job, but in 2017 the aver
age tenure of superintendents
in Georgia was less than
three years.”
In 2017, Wilkinson cited
turnover in some counties
over the past decade: DeKalb
had five different superin
tendents; Fulton had five;
Cobb had three and Clayton
County had four different su
perintendents during that
decade, according to the
AJC.com article [“Lawmak
ers shoot down option of
electing school superintend
ents to slow revolving door,
March 2017”]. Pickens as a
comparison also went
through four top school
chiefs during that timeframe.
Superintendent payoffs
and interim Superintendent expense
Information provided to the Progress by the school’s finance office
Shiver, Lee - 6/22/99 - 9/21/05
** only salary information regarding this payoff available.
Salary payoff 131,715.29
Ballew, Mike -9/22/05 -12/31/10
Salary
56,562.50
FICA/Medicare
4,327.04
Workers Compensation
299.78
Total salary and benefit expense for Ballew payoff
61,189.32
Arp, Ben-Interim 1/1/11-6/30/11
Salary
60,000.00
FICA/Medicare
0.00
State Health - Board required portion
5,220.01
Workers Compensation
318.00
Total
65,538.01
Desper, Ben-7/1/11 -6/30/13
Payoff
Salary
12,455.00
FICA/Medicare
952.81
Workers Compensation
66.01
Total salary and benefit expense for Desper payoff
13,473.82
Perry, Lula Mae -7/1/13 -12/31/16
Payoff
9 days of vacation leave at $812.50 per day
7,312.50
60 days of sick leave at $812.50 per day
48,750.00
Total salary
56,062.50
Social Security/Medicare
4,288.79
Worker's Compensation
560.63
Total salary and benefit expense for Perry payoff
60,911.92
Webb, Charles - Interim -1/1/17 - 5/12/17
Contract pay
56,250.00
Mileage/Travel
2,877.82
Total
59,127.82
Wilson, Carlton -5/12/17 -12/19/20
Payoff
Salary 12-20-19 to 6-30-20
81,325.01
15 days vacation at $672.11 per day
10,081.65
Additional payment
50,000.00
Total Salary
141,406.66
TRS-Board required contribution
17,192.10
Social Security/Medicare
10,409.16
Worker's Compensation
2,959.04
Health Insurance-Board required contribution
5,717.25
Health Insurance-Board voluntary contribution
242.00
PAGE dues
88.21
Life Insurance-Board Contribution
16.98
Total salary and benefit expense for Wilson payoff
178,031.40
Webb, Charles - Interim -12/20/19 -4/30/20
Contract pay
Mileage/Travel
Housing
Total
54,200.00
2,610.22
9,600.00
66,410.22
Townsend, Rick -4/21 /20 - ???
Neogtiations continuing, no settlement amount announced.
Expansion
expansion is not enough to
allow for unchecked growth
but will provide a vehicle for
controlled development.
At a Jasper City Council
retreat held Thursday, Jan.
28, city manager Brandon
Douglas reported that he had
met with the engineering
firm that day and they ex
pected to complete engineer
ing by the end of February or
early March, with construc
tion expected to begin later
this year and the project to
“go live” at the end of 2022.
Over the years, the city
has invested millions of dol
lars for infrastructure along
the Highway 515 corridor,
which is dominated by
parcels that have been an
nexed into the city over the
years. The ability for waste-
water treatment is currently
available on many lots along
that stretch, where several
new large residential devel
opments are underway.
The city attempted to ex
pand its wastewater treatment
capacity in 2007 but it was
not approved at that time be
cause council was apprehen
sive about investing so much
during the economic down
turn when development fell
flat.
Total wastewater expan
sion cost is nearly $8 million,
which is being funded in part
from a $4.5 million U.S.D.A
loan (40 years at 1.375 per
cent interest) and in part from
a $3 million grant, also from
the U.S.D.A.
The city is also anticipat
ing an increase to their water
supply in light of the county’s
partnership with Grandview
Lake Company as well,
which will give the county
access to 333,000 gallons a
day in perpetuity in exchange
for dam repairs.
The Jasper council is set to take out loans for the wastewater treatment expansion with
construction expected to start later this year.
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Arbor
by Save Georgia Hemlocks.
Donations will be accepted to
provide additional hemlocks.
Georgia has an Arbor Day
in February, but the local
planting will be timed to co
incide with the National
Arbor Day, April 30th.
Low said they plan on
inviting city leaders to attend
and help plant. Organizers
will provide more details
later, but wanted to get the
word out that the planting has
been pushed back from a
F ebruary to an April event.
Last Friday Jim Heilman,
a local member of the hem
locks group, surveyed the
trees planted last year, noting
they were all doing well
alongside the park’s creek in
the park, which is named
Town Creek.
Property owners can con
tact the hemlocks groups to
look at options for properties
that have hemlocks on them
or for planting at savegeor-
giashemlocks.org.
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Parks
council is ready to fund civil
engineering and grading
plans for the site. While City
Manager Brandon Douglas
acknowledged grading and
engineering aren’t “exciting”
parts of a project, “we need
to do it to make sure it’s done
correctly and is everlasting.”
There was also discussion
of the initial investment
demonstrating the city’s
commitment to the project in
hopes of public and private
sponsorships in the future.
Pickens Commissioner
Becky Denney, who was in
attendance at the retreat, said
she is a “big proponent” of
the plans for that area.
Jasper Drug owner Jack
Dunn, a member of the
Downtown Alliance who has
worked closely on the project
from the beginning, told
council, “I can’t believe it’s
finally going to take place...
I can’t tell you how encour
aged I am about this project
moving forward.”
Jasper Council purchased
the property in October 2016
for $165,000.
In addition to the green
space area, there are three
structures on the property.
One built in the 1920s was
originally used as a home and
later as a doctor’s office. At
the time of the purchase,
council and mayor said the
house would be used for rest
rooms. There is also an old
wooden cabin in very poor
repair on the property and a
smaller home between the
cabin and 1920s home.
Peace Park phase I -
downtown restrooms
Last year the city razed
the stone art installation and
water feature on North Main
Street at Peace Park, with
longer-term plans to make
that entire comer area more
inviting for people entering
the downtown area and more
useful to the general public.
The city has been working
with design firm Clark, Pat
terson & Lee to develop con
cepts for the area that would
encompass the now-vacant
comer at the intersection of
North Main and Mark Whit
field streets, as well as the
Old Jail and Kirby-Quinton
Cabin back to the parking
area and small building that
was most recently the Ente-
gra drive-thru.
The city manager pre
sented four of these concepts
to council members for the
first time at the planning re
treat last week. The four con
cepts included everything
from chess/checker tables, a
marble wall at the corner
with the top edged carved to
resemble a mountain top, a
welcome arch, a food truck
area, a gazebo, and others.
Despite council needing
more time to review and dis
cuss those concepts, immedi
ate plans for the project are to
begin renovations on the old
bank drive-thru and convert it
into restrooms as phase I.
Douglas called bathrooms
“a priority,” and said he
would like to commission
construction drawings imme
diately. An artist’s rendering
of a proposed option was pre
sented to council at their
meeting.
The city owns the drive-
thru area and Peace Park. The
Old Jail and Kirby-Quinton
Cabin are owned by the Pick
ens County government,
which Mayor Steve
Lawrence said would be a
good opportunity for the city
and county to work together.
The city has also contributed
$7,500 to the Pickens Histor
ical Society for informative
storyboards that will be in
stalled at the Old Jail. At their
later Monday regular meet
ing on February 1, when
speaking about the four proj
ect concepts that were pre
sented, Lawrence said he
would like input from the his
torical society before a final
decision is made.
Mayor Lawrence noted
the name “Peace Park” will
eventually be changed. There
is another “Peace Park” at
Roper Park, which was con
ceptualized and installed by
Rotary Club of Jasper.
Mountain bikes at
Doris Wigington?
Doris Wigington Park, a
60-acre area with a series of
wide, graveled trails, has
been notoriously underused
since it opened in 2014. The
public has expressed issues
with trail pitches that are too
steep, a general unwelcoming
“creepy” feeling, and other
problems.
The city manager believes
Doris Wigington Park suffers
from a “lack of identity,” and
along with council is explor
ing the concept of converting
the park into mountain bike
trails. Douglas and some
members of council who are
on the parks and streets com
mittee are in discussion with
a bike association to get pro
fessional input, design plans
and proposed costs to de
velop a trail.
“For a little bit of capital
we can get a consultant and
identify grades and terrains
and map out the cost for a
mountain bike trail,” said
Douglas, who noted that
overall costs would be small
when compared to the possi
ble draw and impact the park
could have for the commu
nity.
Pickens Economic Devel
opment Director Green Sut-
tles was supportive. He said
Pickens is a desireable area
for people who want to live
in the mountains but be in
close proximity to the city,
and that infrastructure for
that demographic is “gold.”
Council member Anne
Sneve, who is on the parks
and streets committee, be
lieves bike trails would at
tract people to Jasper.
Council member John Foust,
also on the committee, said it
also benefits people in town,
and called the idea “unique”
for a municipality.
Lee Newton Park
electric upgrades
Council has budgeted
$20,000 for electrical up
grades to Lee Newton Park,
as well as other minor im
provements.
Council member John
Foust, a Georgia Power em
ployee, said they have had is
sues in the past with
electrical capacity during fes
tivals and other events. Food
trucks and other
vehicles/tents that set up dur
ing those times use as signif
icant amount of power, and
Foust said the city needs to
make a plan that will last for
many years to come as power
needs change and increase
over time.