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PAGE 10A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MAY 25. 2023
Continued From 1A
Top
Teachers
Teacher of the Year Joe
Morgan (center) with Har
mony Principal Marla
Callahan and Asst. Princi
pal Stephen Hunter.
our education and he was
very proud of us for helping
children learn how to read.”
“I’m just overwhelmed
with all the love and appreci
ation,” Morgan said.
Morgan is a talented mu
sician as well, playing piano
and keyboard. Look for he
and his band, One for the
Road, playing at the next
Downtown Live.
Morgan will move on to
compete for the Georgia
Teacher of the Year. The
Georgia Teacher of the Year
program strives to promote
and retain quality teachers.
The GTOY serves as an am
bassador for education, trav
eling the state speaking to
various educators and com
munity groups.
Georgia Allen
Hill City Elementary
Georgia Allen is a special
education teacher at Hill City
Elementary. She graduated
from Chattahoochee Techni
cal College with a degree in
accounting/bookkeeping, but
after relocating to Virginia
for a period, she began work
ing on an Associate Early
Childhood Education degree.
In 2021, she graduated with a
master’s degree from West
ern Governors University.
Students in Allen’s class
are provided with lessons that
engage them in authentic
learning and one such lesson
involved aerodynamics. Dif
ferent airplane models were
researched and then students
worked together to create
various models. Students
then had an opportunity to
compete and see which plane
traveled the farthest.
Krista Newton
Tate Elementary School
Newton teaches first
grade English Language Arts.
She is a graduate of Shorter
University and Piedmont
College where she earned her
Education Specialist degree
in Curriculum and Instruc
tion. Next school year, New
ton will transition to the role
of media specialist.
One of the most important
components for learning is
keeping students engaged. To
accomplish an extended writ
ing lesson, Newton turned
her classroom into a pizza
shop where students were in
volved in following step-by-
step instructions on preparing
a pizza, including rolling out
their own dough. Not only
does she has a passion for
writing, but also for reading
and inspiring students to de
velop a love for literature.
Randy Marler
Jasper Middle School
Marler is in his 33rd year
of teaching and his third year
in Pickens County schools.
He teaches science and holds
a bachelor’s degree in Liberal
Studies from California State
University.
His priority in the class
room is his students and un
derstanding that each student
arrives in the classroom with
a unique set of circumstances
or experiences that impact
them each day. In Marler’s
class, every student starts
each day with a “clean slate”
which allows him to keep
moving forward with student
learning. He strives to build
solid relationships with his
students and understands the
need for engaging learning
experiences.
Marler collaborates with a
colleague to run the Year
book and Photography club.
Students are taught how to
use digital cameras and com
pose photographs.
Amanda Thrasher
Pickens Junior High
School
Thrasher has worked in
education for 15 years and
currently serves as an eighth-
grade math co-teacher and
special education department
chair at her school. She
earned a Bachelor of Science
degree in both Early Child
hood Education as well as
Special Education.
After recognizing students
were struggling with a skill -
solving equations - Thrasher
and her co-teacher went to
work and developed a plan to
help students, and that is
where “Equations Boot
Camp” was born. The boot
camp took students back to
old school math where they
used paper, pencil and to
show their work. This ven
ture proved to be successful
for the students.
Sarah Bauer
Pickens High School
Bauer teaches Special Ed
ucation at Pickens High. She
teaches math and English to
9th through 12th graders, and
teaches World Literature.
During her studies at Califor
nia State University, she de
cided that she wanted to be a
teacher. She soon began
working toward her teaching
certificate and earning a Mas
ter’s degree. After moving to
Georgia, she began working
as a paraprofessional and in
2019, she began teaching
through the Georgia Teacher
Academy for Preparation and
Pedagogy (GATAPP).
Since joining the PHS fac
ulty, Bauer has been involved
with the Georgia Career and
Technical Instruction (CTI)
group. CTI provides support
for students with disabilities
enrolled in career, technical
and agricultural education
classes.
Building permits jump in April
County enters grant agreement for airport funding
County maintenance crew recognized - Several depart-
ment heads praised the two-person maintenance crew that
keeps all the county buildings and some of their services
running.
Chair Kris Stancil said from the fire departments to the
animal control shelter, Randy Pinyan, building mainte
nance manager, and his assistant Jaime Ledford “are al
ways on the go. They stay on top of everything and they do
it with a great attitude. ”
Phillip Dean, director of utilities, added they show up
during stressful situations when things aren’t working but
have such great attitudes that relieves the stress.
By Dan Pool
Editor
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Pickens commissioners
heard a report that building
permit numbers were up
sharply in April; and that
their efforts to map infra
structure was well ahead of
schedule, during their May
meeting Thursday where
they also approved funding
to redo lighting at the airport.
Building Permits up in April
- Planning and Development
Director Wes Frye said the
year started slowly with con
struction activity but really
picked up in April, leaving
the county now only four
percent below last year’s rate.
As of the end of April, the
county had approved 89
building permits year to date,
with 59 of those coming in
April. Of those in April, 23
were for stick-built (tradi
tional) homes and 68 year-to-
date are for the traditional
homes.
Jerusalem Church ready for
paving - Public Works Di
rector Kirk Anderson re
ported all prep work has been
completed by county crews
and they are ready to pave
along the eight mile route.
Talc Mine Road will be
chip-sealed in the near future
with county crews adding an
other layer to what already
has chip-seal tar on it and
putting down a first layer on
the part still gravel.
GIS mapping way ahead of
schedule - Director of Utili
ties Philip Dean and Stancil
said the work of Lonnie Wa
ters, hired several months
ago, was tremendously ahead
of schedule mapping all their
utilities in a digital GIS sys
tem.
The county has mapped
all water line valves, is also
recording all roads and their
surfaces. They have also pin
pointed all bridges and 445
culverts (there may be addi
tional ones now covered by
grass but will be found later).
Dean and Stancil both
commented that this is much
faster than expected.
It was credited to the 911
office and county employees
for having much of the infor
mation on roads and other in
frastructure already in a
system.
Tax Anticipation Note ready
if needed - Commissioners
approved a limit of $5.5 mil
lion from Community Bank
of Pickens County at 4.99
percent interest if needed
later in the year to handle
cash flow issues. The county,
however, does not anticipate
needing anywhere near the
whole amount. They will not
be required to take or pay in
terest on more than they
draw. United Community
Bank also put in a bid but
theirs was technically com
plex and judged to be more
costly than Community Bank
of Pickens County.
In after meeting com
ments, Stancil said he antici
pates they will have to draw
from this amount to cover
grant cycles, but he could not
envision them needing it all
regarding cash flow.
Other news from the coun ty:
• Spring sports is winding
down and that will allow
work to commence on a ren
ovated, wider and expanded
walking track at Roper Park
in June. The county pool ap
pears to be ready for a Me
morial Day opening but the
1986 pool remains “a con
stant struggle” with water
leaks and hardware.
• Airport Manager Alexis
Walker, who is taking over
for the retiring Randy
Thomason, said they are
planning a big June 10th
event that will include a
groundbreaking on the new
terminal and offer helicopter
rides to the public- see ad on
page10B.
•Commissioners approved
a $107,000 expenditure as
their portion to receive a state
grant for new airfield light
ing. This is considered essen
tial for the new terminal and
other work planned at the air
port, according to discussion
at the meeting. The state will
contribute more than
$700,000 for the project.
Airport Authority Chair
Don Boggus, who was at the
meeting, said the reality is the
airport must have this light
ing upgrade and this match
ing grant “is as good as it
gets” in terms of funding for
the work.
He said considering the
larger project and expansion,
they are getting very favor
able funding with state grants
which reflects Pickens con
tinued climb higher in the
state rankings of airports
based on number planes
based there. Pickens cur
rently ranks 12 or 13 th in the
number of aircraft based
there.
• Two new members were
appointed to the recreation
board: PHS baseball coach
Adam Williams is replacing
Brian Cleghorn, who has ac
cepted a staff job with the
recreation department and
Brad Lowery is replacing
David Finney.
Stancil said both bring
great potential and unique ex
perience to the board.
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Continued From 1A
Perrow
Park
said.
The city cannot spend any
money now that would go to
their matching commitment
“because it’s work before
we’ve been awarded any
funds.”
The grant requires a 50
percent match from the city,
which means they would pro
vide $1 million in matching
funds and receive $1 million
in grant funding.
“I know it’s slow and
kind of a cumbersome
process but I think if we can
get an investment in our
community for this million
dollars that’s going to be
huge towards this project,”
Goldener said.
The grant would fund
Phase I of the project, which
includes all grading and site
work, the stage and rest
rooms.
“We included restrooms at
their recommendation be
cause restrooms naturally
provide that avenue for peo
ple to stay somewhere a little
longer if they’re not having
to trot off somewhere to find
a bathroom.”
A paved parking area was
not included in Phase I due to
funding limitations, so ini
tially the park will have a
gravel parking area if this
funding comes through. Fu
ture phases will include an
asphalt parking area. Splash
pads have been considered
for future phases as well.
The massive GDOT proj
ect on Highway 53 from
Highway 515 into downtown
Jasper and to Burnt Mountain
Road, slated to bid next year,
is holding up project design
plans.
“Until we get final right-
of-way plans and know what
DOT is going to be doing
along Spring Street.. .I’m not
sure there’s going to be a lot
of firm design that goes on,
and ARC understands that,”
she said. “We certainly don’t
want to have a restroom
building on top of an electri
cal underground easement.”
Goldener said ARC has
not made a funding invest
ment in Pickens County be
fore, “so this is a great
opportunity for us to be se
lected. By no means does it
mean we’re a shoe-in, but it’s
a great project and we hit a
lot of the goals ARC and the
state has regarding tourism
and impacts on economy and
development and walkability
and connectivity and all of
those things they’re looking
for in an investment in the
community so I think we
have a good shot.”
The grant is a reimburse
ment grant, which means the
city will spend funding up
front and request reimburse
ment from ARC. The city
also has $500,000 in
SPLOST funds earmarked
for the project.
At this point there are no
firm design plans for any el
ements of the project, and
that those will need to be
completed before bids for the
project go out.
Other news from the DDA:
•Board member Marty
Callahan gave an update on
Jasper Downtown Live. Cell
phone data from Georgia
Power shows over 5,100 peo
ple were on Main Street dur
ing the time of the concert.
City council member Kirk
Raffield told the board the
current rolling closure of
Main Street will not work for
public safety officials. Both
North and South Main streets
will need to close at noon for
future events.
“This is similar to what
we did last year,” he said.
“While you can’t enter Main
Street with a vehicle after
noon you can certainly
leave.” Raffield said he real
izes this closure is not ideal
for some businesses, but “I
am encouraging them to
adapt. I know that is a chal
lenge for some but safety is
our key.”
•Board member Jack
Dunn gave an update on Art-
Walk Jasper held May 19. He
said the event was very well
attended with positive feed
back from attendees, busi
nesses and vendors. Dunn,
who owns Jasper Drag and
Clocktower Gifts & Bou
tique, said his business
tripled sales that evening
compared to daytime sales
“and from what I understand
others did the same.” Board
chair Amy Leake called the
event something new and
unique for the community.
New elements were added
this month, including a may-
pole, totem carving, and a
Rising Student Artists area.
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