The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, November 21, 2018, Image 8

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The times., November 21, 2018, Image 8

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Newspaper Page TextL2J OUR REGION Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com The Times, Gainesville, Georgia Wednesday, November 21,2018 GAINESVILLE New tax district for west side approved BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Gainesville’s west side may be changing, particularly with the introduction of new retail, after the Gainesville City Council voted to approve a new tax allocation district Tuesday. The 344-acre district includes Lakeshore Mall, then stretches along Shallowford Road and includes several parcels on Browns Bridge Road, Atlanta Highway and Pearl Nix Parkway. City officials hope to incentivize property and business owners to build new retail options and fill vacant shopping centers. One of the goals is to spread out the shopping in the city so traffic is not concentrated on the city’s out skirts, City Manager Bryan Lackey said. “We’ve all noticed, especially with the holiday season coming, that the newer shopping centers on the edge of town — where all the newer retail is going to over the years, causing congestion on the far ends of our city limits — that’s sort of contributing to some sprawl and traffic congestion,” he said. Councilmembers Zack Thomp son and Barbara Brooks were absent from Tuesday’s meeting, but all other council members voted in favor of the TAD. No one spoke at a public hearing about the issue. When a property is developed, property taxes on that land will go up, so the city would collect more revenue from the property owner. Developers who participate in TAD programs can use that tax increase to their advantage. The extra dollars from the increase go into a fund that can be used to pay for improvements. Municipalities nationwide use the practice to incentivize devel opers, although other areas use the term tax increment financing. The city has one other TAD, covering the midtown area and including the Gainesville square. That TAD has helped fund sev eral recent projects, including the expansion of the Main Street park ing deck, Carroll Daniel Construc tion’s new headquarters and the upcoming Parkside on the Square development. The establishment of the West- side TAD dissolved the city’s previous Lakeshore Mall TAD, although the mall is included in the new district. The TAD base value will be certified by the Hall County Tax Assessor’s Office in December and the Georgia Department of Revenue in January. TECH ■ Continued from 1A to follow a calendar,” said Kim berly Dobbs Scott, vice president of operations for McDonald’s of Northeast Georgia Inc., which owns and operates local McDon ald’s restaurants. “Now, (the displays are) all done (remotely) from an office.” The new technology inside also includes a video screen next to the menu showing how different items are prepared. “It makes me hungry, and I’m here every day,” Scott said of the videos. Renovations didn’t just include adding technology. A wall was added behind cashiers, and other physical improvements were made. The fixes are part of McDon ald’s Vision 2020 plan to mod ernize all its restaurants, “giving customers what they want in the format they want,” Scott said. The concept is called “Expe rience of the Future.” Scott said when Steve East- erbrook took over as the world wide chain’s president and CEO in 2015, he saw McDonald’s as a “tired brand.” “He said we needed to revital ize and refresh (the brand).” The original Jesse Jewell McDonald’s was built on the same site in 1972, then was rebuilt from the ground up in 2010, franchise owner Bob Swo- szowski said. The longtime businessman applauded the fast-food giant’s changes. “Complacency can set in very easily when you’re doing well,” he said. “Our corporate leaders don’t want that to happen, and that’s why we’re continually upgrading to stay ahead of the curve.” Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times McDonald’s drive-thru customers place orders Monday, Nov. 19, at the Jesse Jewell Parkway location in Gainesville. The store has added screens at the drive-thru that offer more information and a new look designed to be easier to read. Bob Swoszowski’s Jesse Jewell Parkway McDonald’s in Gainesville has added technology and received renovations. Ex-teacher suing school for gender discrimination BY ALEX POPP apopp@forsythnews.com A former Horizon Christian Academy teacher is suing the school for gender discrimination after he was fired following an incident with a female student. According to a lawsuit filed in a North Georgia District Court on Nov. 12, 2018, Frank Latimer Jr., a former teacher and facilities director at Horizon Christian Academy in Cumming, was termi nated from his position at the school on April 26,2018, one day after he “accidentally came into contact with” a female student while he was directing traffic. The suit states that on April 25,2018, Latimer held his arm out to “keep the female student from going the wrong way and the female bumped into him.” Latimer was notified the next day that he was being terminated “for cause” and was accused of “inappropriately touching students” during the April 25 incident as well as two other unspecified interac tions with students that occurred “over four years prior,” according to the suit. Attempts to reach a Horizon Christian Academy spokesperson for comment were unsuccessful. According to Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office records, no reports have been filed against Latimer regarding any incidents that have occurred at Horizon Christian Academy. Latimer’s attorney, Robert McDonald, of Norcross, declined to comment on the suit. In a signed statement of the events, Latimer suggested that the incidents were all innocuous and his firing was retaliatory. “I did nothing to create this event. Nor did I intend for it to occur,” the statement reads. “Yet, the principal subsequently took affirma tive steps to seek out any past alleged grievances that anyone affili ated with HCA had against me.” The suit claims that Latimer’s firing was gender discrimination because in the past Horizon Christian Academy has not disciplined or terminated female employees who have had accidental, or inten tional and nonharmful physical contact with students. “HCA terminated Mr. Latimer for a student accidentally bumping into him,” the suit states. Furthermore, the suit states that Latimer’s actions during the April incident did not violate Horizon Christian Academy rules or any terms of his employment. Latimer also stated in the suit that after alerting Horizon Chris tian Academy that he would be retaining an attorney, he was alleg edly told by a school lawyer that if he proceeded with his claims “the school will tell any future prospective employers that I ‘was discharged for improperly touching young girls.’” CAMERA ■ Continued from 1A component in particular makes the program financially viable for the agency.” “That’s where the big cost was coming from in the beginning. Everyone had these body cameras, and they’d download every thing they did that day and the storage would just get taken up so quickly. Departments had to go out and buy so much more storage. It was eating up everyone’s budget,” Rounds said. Booth said these are the first on-person cameras, and the new Tasers will replace older models already used by deputies. About 18 deputies have been using the cameras on a trial basis since earlier this year. As soon as an officer removes the stun gun from the holster, the camera automatically turns on. The cameras can also be manually turned on by the deputies. “To be able to carry that device, you have to go through a course that is sanctioned by the company and, yes, it’s my understanding that part of that course involves getting tased,” Booth said. Using body cameras will assist the prosecution in court cases and help the department in handling community complaints against an officer. In addition, the footage can be used “to review scenarios and var ious calls the deputies go on and break them down from a training standpoint,” Booth said. “No matter what happens in the future, the sheriff’s office owns (the data) and has access to it regardless of what would happen with any agreements in the future. That data is not going to magically go away or be lost,” Booth said. Forsyth, Gwinnett to recount ballots in congressional race J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE I Associated Press House Rules Committee member, Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga., listens on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Dec. 20, 2017. BY BEN NADLER Associated Press ATLANTA — A recount has been ordered to begin Wednesday in Georgia after certified results show Republican U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall leading his Demo cratic challenger by only a few hundred votes. Carolyn Bourdeaux had submitted the recount request Tuesday to the Georgia secretary of state’s office, saying the razor-thin margin in the race for the Atlanta-area 7th District seat deserves a second count. Official results, certified Saturday, show Bourdeaux trailing Woodall by 419 votes out of 280,411 cast. Responding to Bour- deaux’s request, Georgia Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden said the recount will begin at 10 a.m. Wednes day and continue until complete. Georgia law allows a recount if the margin between the candidates is 1 percent or less. The mar gin between Woodall and Bourdeaux is just under .15 percent. In-person votes are cast electronically in Georgia, with no auditable paper trail, so a recount consists mainly of re-tabulating digital votes already stored on machines. Those results aren’t likely to change. But absentee and pro visional votes are cast on paper ballots, and recount ing those votes has produced minor changes to tallies dur ing prior elections. Bourdeaux is asking that all such ballots be counted by hand and that observers be allowed to monitor. In a letter to Crittenden, Bourdeaux asked that the two counties in the district — Gwinnett and Forsyth — be directed to manually recount all paper ballots “in full view of designated individuals appointed by the affected campaigns and political parties.” On Tuesday afternoon, Crittenden’s office sent a letter to officials in those counties directing them to count by hand, in plain view of representatives for each candidate, any paper bal lots “in which an overvote is detected... that contain stray marks ... or that are other wise folded or bent or cannot be processed by the optical scan tabulating machines” that might affect the race. In her recount request, Bourdeaux pointed to “ques tions regarding the integrity and transparency of voting systems” in Georgia that became a flashpoint in the race for governor between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams. Among the legal wran gling that ensued, a federal judge earlier this month ordered Gwinnett County election officials to count absentee ballots that had previously been rejected because the voter’s birth year is missing or wrong. “In a race this close, every vote must be counted correctly and fairly,” Bour deaux campaign spokes man Jake Best said in a statement. Woodall has held the seat since 2011. Before this year, he won each of his cam paigns with no less than 60 percent of the vote. But the suburban-Atlanta district has increasingly become a legitimate battle ground, as demographic shifts leave the area more racially diverse. This election was particu larly perilous for GOP House incumbents, as suburbanites across the country disaf fected with President Don ald Trump revolted.