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Lanierland —
brackets
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today at
Cherokee
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Midweek Edition - DECEMBER 28-29,2022 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
NGHS pays workers late 2nd time
Hospital says issue between new payroll group, some banks responsible for delay
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
For the second time since Nov.
11, Northeast Georgia Health Sys
tem (NGHS) paid its 10,000-plus
employees late on Friday.
Sean Couch, a spokesperson
with the hospital, said a late pay
ment on Dec. 23 was due to a
lapse in communication between
a third party payroll processing
company and various banks and
credit unions.
Some employees went 18-20
hours without getting paid.
“ ADP is the group that actually
contacts all of the banks, credit
unions and sends them the nec
essary files to process the pay
roll,” Couch said. “Essentially,
there was an issue on (ADP’s)
end where they hadn’t commu
nicated with all those banks and
credit unions, so as we started
hearing back from employees on
Friday ... we reached out to ADP.
ADP caught the glitch and started
working fast and furious Friday
afternoon.”
While most employees who
bank with larger institutions
experienced a delay of just a few
hours, according to Couch, “a
handful” of employees didn’t see
a paycheck until the following
day.
Couch did not provide a spe
cific number of employees who
waited until Saturday to receive a
paycheck.
“... there were a handful of
smaller institutions that were not
going to be able to process it until
Saturday,” Couch said. “We sent
an email out to all of our employ
ees on Friday that explained
the issue — total transparency
around what had happened —
and let them know that if anybody
had any hardships... NGHS would
reimburse them.”
Amid the delay, Couch said
NGHS offered employees bur
dened by the error a Visa gift
card in the amount they’d need
to survive through the weekend.
NGHS also pledged to cover over
draft fees that may have been
incurred after paychecks weren’t
processed as expected.
“We did offer that,” Couch said.
“Thankfully, we had zero folks
that took us up on (the gift cards)
— which we took as a good sign
that most of the payroll got pro
cessed as intended.”
NGHS, one of the largest
employers in Hall County, transi
tioned its payroll services to ADP
October 1. The hospital had a sim
ilar problem with the service on
November 11, when paychecks to
employees were also delayed due
to “a communication issue.”
Couch maintained that the tran
sition to the third party company
was necessary for an organiza
tion like NGHS, though he didn’t
specify whether that could be due
to reasons of efficiency or cost
cutting purposes.
“There was a processing delay
■ Please see NGHS, 4A
In for the long haul
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
A shopper walks toward Belk at Lakeshore Mall Wednesday, Dec. 21, in Gainesville. Recently Lakeshore Mall was sold for $15
million, but the longtime mall’s future isn’t known yet.
Belk has no plans to leave mall after change in ownership
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
At least one longtime Lakeshore Mall
anchor is expecting no impacts from a
recent ownership change at Lakeshore
Mall in Gainesville.
Atlanta-based Branch Lakeshore
Associates LP’s $15 million purchase
of the shopping center at 150 Pearl Nix
Parkway, off Dawsonville Highway/Ga.
53, “will have no effect on our store,”
Belk spokeswoman Jessica Rohlik told
The Times in an email.
Further, “Belk has no plans to leave
the Lakeshore Mall and looks forward to
continuing to welcome customers at that
location.”
Rohlik added: “We have always
believed in taking care of our custom
ers and the communities they live in,
and are proud to serve the Gainesville
community.”
Other anchors, including Books-A-Mil-
lion and Dick’s Sporting Goods, couldn’t
be reached for comment. The mall is
largely vacant, with stores shuttered
and two former anchors, J.C. Penney
and Sears, empty.
Belk has been a constant at the mall,
surviving economic ups and downs over
the years, including the 2007-08 Great
Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.
It held a grand reopening in 2012 after
a $1.8 million renovation.
Belk’s Gainesville roots run deeper
than Lakeshore Mall, opening as Gallant-
Belk in 1934 on the downtown square.
Gallant-Belk later moved to Sherwood
Plaza shopping center on South Enota
■ Please see BELK, 5A
Four lanes open
on Spout Springs
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvllletlmes.com
The wait is over. Four lanes are now open on
busy Spout Springs Road in South Hall.
Beginning Thursday, Dec. 22, motorists could
start passing each other on the newly widened
road between Hog Mountain Road and Union
Circle.
The project, which has been in the works for
more than a decade, isn’t completely finished,
as orange-and-white barrels were still in place
and workers were out in force in areas along the
4-mile stretch on Tuesday, Dec. 27.
“The project is in the final configuration, as
of last week,” District Engineer Kelvin Mullins
said Tuesday. “We hope to have the final (ther
moplastic) striping installed in January. The
biggest items left are the completion of traffic
signals, some minor grading work on Union Cir
cle and any minor corrective items throughout
the project.
■ Please see SPOUT, 3A
Burst pipes at
Humane Society
displace 100 dogs
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
More than 100 dogs were displaced over the
long weekend at the Humane Society of North
east Georgia after pipes burst during the harsh
cold.
The break in the Gainesville facility’s water
lines ultimately left much of the place uninhabit
able and forced more than 100 dogs into a make
shift outdoor kennel area.
The organization is now calling for the pub
lic’s help to provide these animals a temporary
shelter.
“The entire ceiling in our brand new sur
gery suite collapsed,” Chief Philanthropy Offi
cer Samantha Phreadgill said. “We’ve moved
equipment around.. most of all, we’re worried
about the animals, obviously, because the large
dog rooms we have housed 60 animals and all
of our small dog rooms put out about over 150
animals in the building. We can’t trust the ceiling
not collapsing.”
■ Please see ANIMALS, 4A
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