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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Jingle Mingle: It’s the best time
of the year, get out, 6a
Honestly Local
Oakwood wary about slice of tax pie
City officials worried that slow residential growth could result in less SPLOST funding
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
As Hall County begins looking at
a future round of potential SPLOST
projects, Oakwood is concerned its
lack of residential growth in recent
years might hurt the South Hall
city financially.
“I’ve learned that the city is ...
the smallest growth city in Hall
County, as far as residential (num
bers are) concerned,” Mayor
Lamar Scroggs said to Oakwood
City Council on Monday,
Nov. 12.
He made the comment
during the council’s discus
sion of a proposed 107-unit
townhome complex off
McEver and Flat Creek
roads. The council ended
up voting down the proj
ect, with Councilman Ste
phen Hendrix saying the
complex “doesn’t meet our (com
prehensive land-use) plan.”
The voter-approved special
purpose local option
sales tax program, com
monly known as SPLOST,
helps fund public proj
ects around the county,
with each government
getting funding based on
population.
The current SPLOST
VII was approved in 2015
for five years.
“We are in the process of orga
nizing a meeting with elected
officials from the county and its
municipalities regarding
SPLOST VIII, and (we)
hope to schedule that
meeting by the end of this
year,” Hall spokeswoman
Katie Crumley said.
She said the 2017 census
“is the source we will be
using to prepare for this
upcoming meeting.”
Oakwood had 3,970 resi
dents in the 2010 census and a pop
ulation estimate of 4,148 in 2017,
or less than a 5 percent increase,
according to census data.
By comparison, Flow
ery Branch in South Hall
had 5,679 residents in the
2010 census and a popula
tion estimate of 7,477 in
2017, a nearly 32 percent
increase.
“We know if our popu
lation grows at a slower
rate than the other cities
in the county, then we are likely to
■ Please see SPLOST, 8A
Scroggs
Brown
‘A caregiver at heart’
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Anslee Wilson, founder of A Helping Hand Home Care, is one of the 2018 recipients awarded at Brenau’s Masters
of Innovation ceremony on Wednesday.
Woman 1 of 7 to receive Masters of Business accolade
New records
system gives
court headache
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The implementation of the Hall County Sheriff’s Office’s new
records management system last week has created some issues
for employees at the county courthouse.
The department’s 30-year-old records management system
was recently replaced along with a jail management system
from Superion at a cost of more than $3 million.
The courthouse uses the Hall County Comprehensive Jus
tice Information System, which involves input from sheriff’s
office staff. The two systems are having trouble exchanging
information.
Court Administrator Reggie Forrester said there will be a
meeting on Nov. 28 with officials from the sheriff’s office on
“how we can get these two systems to communicate or how we
can work out getting information.”
“The concerns are that this is a brand-new system from the
jail side, and the courts depend a lot on that information to run
daily,” Forrester said.
Multiple courthouse employees have expressed concern
■ Please see RECORDS, 8A
HALL BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
Townhomes, road
closing on agenda
‘I had no idea that it (Masters
of Business) existed ... I was
honored to be selected with
that group of people.’
Anslee Wilson
Award recipient and founder of A Helping
Hand Home Care
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@
gainesvilletimes.com
Anslee Wilson admits
that she was surprised to
be sitting alongside some
of Gainesville’s most
prominent business lead
ers and philanthropists on
Wednesday, Nov. 14.
The panel of guests at
the Entrepreneurs: Mas
ters of Innovation awards
held by the Featherbone
Communiversity inside
the Business Incubator at
Brenau University was
indeed distinguished.
It included Jim Wal
ters, founder of Walters
Management Co., who
received the 2018 Life
time Achievement Award;
Mike McGraw of Ranger
Manufacturing; Bill Hall
of Murray Plastics; Norma
Hernandez of Accounting
& Business Services; Bob
Swoszowski, co-founder
of Northeast Georgia Inc.
who is a McDonald’s fran
chisee with more than
20 locations; and Carlos
Dominguez of Domin
guez & Jones Wealth
Management.
“I had no idea that it
existed,” Wilson, 47, said
afterward. “I was honored
to be selected with that
group of people.”
Her surprise is notable
because of her own suc
cess as an entrepreneur.
Wilson started an in-home
caregiving business in
Gainesville in 2011.
For more than a decade
the Gainesville High and
University of Georgia
graduate had worked
in real estate, but when
the housing bubble burst
about 10 years ago, Wilson
began taking stock.
“The whole feel of real
estate was changing,” she
said.
Wilson began thinking
■ Please see AWARD, 8A
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
On Thursday, the Hall County Board of Commissioners will
vote on townhomes on Spout Springs Road and a road closure
near Healan’s Head’s Mill in
North Hall.
While several other items
had been scheduled for a vote
on Thursday, they are expected
to be tabled until a later time.
Spout Springs Road
townhomes
Hall County
Board of
Commissioners
When: 6 p.m. Thursday,
Nov. 15
Where: Hall County
Government Center,
2875 Browns Bridge
Road, Gainesville
New townhomes may
be going in at a previously
approved subdivision on Spout Springs Road, pending commis
sioners’ approval Thursday
The 138-acre subdivision near Spout Springs Elemen
tary School would have 187 single-family homes and 144
I Please see VOTE, 8A
INSIDE
WEATHER 2A
DEATHS 9A
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Business 3B
Calendar 2A
Classified 6B
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Get Out 6A
Lottery 2A
Opinion 4A
Our Region 8A
Sports 1B
TV/puzzles 4B
High Low
^0/44 32
Lake Lanier level: 1,071.23 feet
Full pool 1,071. Up 0.51 feet in 24 hours
Mary Bales Benefield, 73
Alice Jean Anderson Butler, 87
Louise Maude Cruse, 82
Melanie Bertrand Farmer, 37
Richard M. Hollje, 59
Donald Hugh Lunceford Sr., 91
Donald Matheson, 70
Margaret Obregon Naranjo, 80
Jerry Ralph Peek, 92
Virginia Grace Roberts, 84
William Clay Strange, 87
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