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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30,2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvil
Reality show
winner moves
to area to
train for 2020
Olympics.
SPORTS, 1B
Court records system still has kinks
Officials working to resolve interaction between courthouse, law enforcement
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Though there are still kinks to
work through, Hall County court
house and sheriffs office officials
are hopeful about more seamless
cooperation between their two
records management systems.
Roughly two dozen Hall County
employees gathered Wednesday,
Nov. 28, to work on improving
the compatibility of the two new
records management systems.
“People are beginning to under
stand each other’s needs, and
we’re going to continue as they
implement it to meet in smaller
groups, converse, study and work
toward the goals we need to
accomplish,” court administrator
Reggie Forrester said.
The courthouse uses the Com
prehensive Justice Information
System, which relied on input
from the sheriff’s office staff
particularly on jail and arrest
information.
The sheriff’s office moved to a
new records management system
and jail management system from
Superion earlier this month.
“We used to all be on one sys
tem. Now that it’s separate, we’re
just having a hard time figuring
out where to get the information,”
said chief magistrate clerk Nicole
Dunn.
The crucial information Magis
trate Court officials need includes
the names of arrestees and what
charges they face. Dunn said
clerks are still getting the informa
tion, but they are having to learn
how to navigate the new system.
“Once we learn how to do it and
learn how to navigate it, it’s not
going to be an issue,” she said.
Michelle Meeks, who supervises
the Hall County Clerk of Courts’
criminal division, said the clerks
do not have access to the new
system.
Clerk of Courts Charles Baker
said the office submitted a list of
items they needed on their end to
function, which included offender
tracking numbers and booking/
release dates for the Georgia
Department of Corrections.
“Once a case closes, we have to
report the disposition to Georgia
Crime Information Center. At this
time, we’re not struggling at the
moment, because the ones that are
being sentenced now we still have
access to those. But when they
switched over to the new system,
if somebody was arrested after
that date, we don’t have access to
their background as far as their
offender tracking number for
GCIC,” Meeks said.
■ Please see RECORDS, 8A
Lanier Tech moving to new campus
Courtesy Lanier Technical College
Lanier Technical College begins to move robotics and welding equipment to its new North Hall campus on Wednesday, Nov. 28. The new
campus will be the official home of administrators and business offices on Dec. 3, while the college will be operating in full by Jan. 9.
Physical move is last step for school’s relocation to North Hall
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
It’s been one big step after another over
the last three-plus years as work to develop
a new Lanier Technical College campus in
North Hall has progressed.
First, there was the acquiring of state
funding for the $131 million campus and
securing 95 acres off Howard Road at Ga.
365. Then came construction of six buildings
with a combined 335,000 square feet, com
pared to the 180,000 square feet on 43 acres
at the old campus. There were additional
private fundraising campaigns, ribbon-cut-
ting ceremonies and visits from government
and educational leaders.
But now comes the challenge of actually
moving stuff.
The physical relocation of classroom
materials, school maintenance supplies and
heavy equipment, a process Lanier Tech
officials described as moving swiftly since
beginning on Monday, should be complete
soon.
“We’ve been working for the past year to
prepare for this move,” said Dr. Ray Per-
ren, Lanier Tech president.
That planning has included what
resources to cull after 54 years on the Oak-
wood campus.
Perren said Lanier Tech has also been
working closely with the University of North
Georgia, which plans to utilize some of the
building space being vacated, to determine
“what is useful to them. ”
UNG has already budgeted $3 million
for the initial planning and design phase to
convert this space for disciplines such as
geospatial sciences, film and digital media,
nursing, visual arts and the office of infor
mation technology.
UNG officials have said they hope to have
the Lanier Tech space occupied by August
2019, and the acquisition also provides an
additional 600 parking spaces.
At Lanier Tech, some of the lighter
stuff, which could be packed in boxes, for
instance, was moved early in the week.
On Thursday, Nov. 29, however, heavy
rigs were brought in to load and move robot
ics and welding equipment.
Perren said Lanier Tech has worked with
the state to contract moving some of the
heavy materials, building machines and
■ Please see LANIER, 8A
LongHorn
eyeing spot
in Braselton
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvllletlmes.com
LongHorn Steakhouse is looking to
come to Braselton at the Hall-Gwinnett
County line.
The chain has submitted a proposal to
build on a site at 2700 Old Winder High
way, overlooking Old Winder Highway/
Ga. 211 and Friendship Road/Ga. 347
and next to Culver’s restaurant.
Few details were available about
the proposal, and LongHorn’s officials
couldn’t be reached for comment Thurs
day, Nov. 29.
An application to the city does provide
artist renderings of the restaurant, which
would feature an exterior of stone, wood
and stucco.
The project goes before the Braselton
Zoning Board of Appeals. A public hear
ing is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 13 at the Brasel
ton Police and Municipal Court Building,
5040 Ga. 53.
RARE Hospitality International of
Orlando, Fla., is seeking the city’s OK
of design changes, such as a pitched
roof over the entrance, that LongHorn
considers “an integral part to our brand
identity.”
The new LongHorn would be part of
a burgeoning restaurant row on Ga. 211
between Friendship Road and Thomp
son Mill Road. Culver’s, Chick-fil-A,
Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts have
opened there this year.
Economic observers have said much
of the area’s growth stems from Gaines
ville-based Northeast Georgia Health
System’s opening of the Northeast Geor
gia Medical Center Braselton campus off
Friendship Road in 2015.
In addition to eateries, medical offices
have sprung up in the area.
Frank Norton Jr., CEO of Gainesville-
based The Norton Agency, which devel
oped Highpoint Medical Center, off
Friendship Road, has said the Braselton
area is becoming a “next generation city. ”
“This is a really unique, emerging
area,” he said. “Some (next generation
cities) are faster growth and some are
slower growth, and this (area) is super
fast growth.”
Gainesville wants to adjust plans for police, fire, parks
Expansion of services to match projected population growth
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Gainesville’s population is
expected to grow by about 55 per
cent over the next 20 years, and
services like the police and fire
departments, as well as parks, will
have to adjust.
Officials are updating the city’s
Capital Improvements Element
plan and looking at how that
growth could affect public ser
vices. The public can comment
on the plan at the Gainesville City
Council meeting on Tuesday, Dec.
4, when council members will vote
on it before it is sent to the Georgia
Mountains Regional Commission.
To measure public safety needs,
the report also considers the num
ber of workers in the city, who
benefit from services like the
police and fire departments. In
2019, Gainesville is projected to
have about 44,000 residents and
49,000 workers. Those numbers
are expected to climb over the
next two decades, to about 65,000
residents and almost 56,000 work
ers in 2039.
“The little town that I was born
in and grew up in has changed a
lot,” Mayor Danny Dunagan said
at Thursday’s City Council work
session.
Rusty Ligon, Gainesville’s com
munity development director, said
population has been increasing as
the area recovers from the eco
nomic recession.
“It seems like in the early 2000s,
our population kind of hovered
around 25 to 30,000, then we went
through the recession and it actu
ally decreased a little bit,” Ligon
said. “Now we’re seeing, year after
year, an increase.”
Gainesville City
Council meeting
When: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 4
Where: Public Safety Complex,
701 Queen City Parkway
This study is the city’s first major
update to the plan, which was
adopted in 2006, although other
small updates have been made
annually, Ligon said.
The plan includes projections
for the police and fire depart
ments, as well as city parks. The
city collects impact fees, or one
time fees charged to developers of
new projects, for these services.
Other proposals in the plan
include waiving impact fees for
affordable housing and prohibiting
exemptions for fire facility impact
fees.
Police
When the original plan was writ
ten in 2006, Gainesville Police had
about 15,000 square feet of space
on Jesse Jewell Parkway, near
the existing pedestrian bridge site.
Then, in 2010, the city opened a new
52,000-square-foot public safety
complex on Queen City Parkway.
The plan calls for further expan
sion of those facilities over the next
20 years.
■ Please see GROWTH, 8A
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