The Herald-gazette. (Barnesville, Ga.) 1981-current, December 26, 2023, Image 1

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Newspaper Page TextBarnesville, Tuesday,'December 26,2023 312104; HERE’S THE SCOOP Farewell 2023 The Year in Review Championship sandwiches, old buildings restored to new glory and a whole host of region titles were among the good news highlights during 2023 in Barnesville-Lamar County. For a month-by-month replay of local news, see our Year in Review section which begins on page 1B. Solid Waste Authority forensic audit shot down Lamar Arts members party set Lamar Arts will host its annual Members Party Jan. 13 at the De pot Gallery from 6-8 p.m. The event is open to all members of the group. The evening will in clude a silent auction of work by local artists. Hors d’oeuvres and wine will be served. For more information, visit lamararts.org. Chamber elects directors The chamber of com merce held its election for board members and three members were elected or reelected. They are Matthew Preston of PRG Catering, John Moore of English’s Antiques and Travis Gra ham of United Bank. The board will elect officers at its first meet ing of 2024. Birthday Queen Merle Childs receives over 250 birthday cards. SEE 3A Subscribe. Your name goes on the label in this box 96852 78853 WALTER GEIGER news@barnesville.com In a chaotic session before a packed meeting room, the Lamar County commis sion took votes on multiple motions, many of them conflicting, regarding the ongo ing con troversy over the solid waste authority. At one point, there were three motions on the table at once. At another point, three motions to table previous motions were up for votes simultane ously. When all was said and done, chairman Ryran Traylor’s reappoint ment to the SWA was tabled until the hiring of conflict counsel. The commission did agree on that motion in that, until recently, county attor ney Scott Mayfield also represented the SWA. The county wants an opinion on whether or not it has the author ity to call for a forensic audit of, or otherwise su pervise, the SWA. Com missioner Nancy Thrash, who chairs the SWA, was emphatic in her opinion the county has no con trol whatsoever over the authority. A motion to call for the audit was also tabled. Commis sioner Ja son Lovett said he had been threatened since he began look ing into the SWA’s finances. He made a mo tion to have the sheriff’s office, district attorney, GBI or FBI do forensic and engineering audits of the SWA in that there is no question they have the authority. That mo tion, too, was tabled. “I’ve made multiple requests to tour the buildings and look at the equipment and was denied each time. They threatened to start look ing into my personal can Party THRASH chairper son Beth Pearce so much that she vowed to launch recall efforts against Thrash and Traylor, both Republi cans. “You should have recused yourselves (on these votes). The fact that you did not is a cry ing shame. You should be ashamed of your selves,” Pearce said. Citizen Mike Mad dox warned he has seen all this before and that is why he left Henry County. “Watch out when they start tabling stuff. You table stuff to cover it up,” Maddox warned. In other action, the commission: •Elected Ashley Gilles as its vice-chairman and made multiple additional annual appointments. •Approved reduc ing the speed limit on Skinners Bypass from 45 mph. to 35 mph. •Heard from Traylor and county adminis trator Sean Townsend that property owners are paying less of the county’s bills than they have in quite some time. “In 2015, property taxes made up 60% of our bud get. In the new budget, that is down to 46.3 %,” Traylor said. r ’■ LOVETT ©2023 THE HERALD GAZETTE, BARNESVILLE, LAMAR COUNTY, GA 30204, 770.358.NEWS

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The Herald-gazette. (Barnesville, Ga.) 1981-current, December 26, 2023, Image 1