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Sunday, March 26, 2023 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Hall school custodians getting pay bump
Officials hope 40% increase to base pay will help retain workers
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
Some of Hall County Schools’
custodians have been working
overtime — even double time — to
keep schools clean amid a staffing
shortage caused by low wages.
“With what’s happened with
labor rates, they’ve just been
unable to be 100% staffed almost
for the last 18 months,” Super
intendent Will Schofield said of
American Facility Services, an
Alpharetta-based company that
has been managing the district’s
custodial services for the last three
years.
“They’ve done whatever they
can to try to cover, but it became
clear that those wage rates just
weren’t going to work in this econ
omy,” he said.
Last week, the school board
unanimously approved an annual
$9.8 million contract with a new
custodial company, The Budds
Group, which includes a 40%
increase in base pay for custodi
ans. The contract is renewable for
up to five years, though the dis
trict has the option of withdrawing
every six months.
“I think there’s even oppor
tunities to get out mid-year, are
there not?” Schofield asked Matt
Cox, director of facilities and
construction.
“There are,” Cox said.
The base rate for custodians
under the AFS contract — $10 an
hour — wasn’t enough to attract or
retain custodians, officials said.
Starting pay has been bumped
up to $14 an hour under the Budds
Group contract.
“We are hopeful that the bet
ter wages will help us retain good
employees,” Cox said.
He said the district needs about
200 custodians to keep its schools
clean, and while they are close to
having a full staff, turnover is high.
“You hire the right person and
all of a sudden it’s clean and then a
person leaves and gets a job some
where else,” Schofield told The
Times.
AFS did raise wages some, but
they did so on their own dime and
were actually “losing money,” Cox
told board members.
“That’s part of the reason it’s
been difficult for this company to
make it is because they have actu
ally increased some of the pay
rates over time just to get people,
but then we didn’t adjust them up,”
Cox said.
In other words, the school dis
trict was contracted to pay AFS
a certain amount, but it wasn’t
enough to cover the wage increases
needed to maintain adequate staff
ing. The AFS contract was finalized
in 2020 before the COVID-19 pan
demic triggered a spike in inflation
and subsequent wage growth.
The Budds Group contract is
potentially $3.5 million more than
the contract with AFS, officials
■ Please see CUSTODIANS, 3A
‘Beyond explanation’
Ga. Mountain
Food Bank
Woman gets life with parole for killing fiance, living with body
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Tabitha Wood enters Hall County Superior Court Friday, March 24, as she waits on her sentencing
for killing Leroy Franklin Kramer Jr. then living with the body for months.
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
After 82-year-old Leroy
Franklin Kramer Jr. began his
relationship with 46-year-old
Tabitha Wood, his family felt
the man was being isolated.
Calls became more infre
quent, and his phone number
was no longer in service.
At Wood’s sentencing hear
ing Friday, March 24, for kill
ing Kramer, his stepdaughter,
Deanna Owen, apologized to
Leroy for the abuse, neglect,
exploitation and “absolute
hell” he lived in his last few
years.
“You were led to believe
that we did not care or love
for you, but we did,” Owen
said. “You were taken from
us in a very cruel and brutal
manner.”
Authorities believe Wood
killed Kramer in early April.
Hall County Sheriff’s Office
deputies discovered Kram
er’s body in June after Kram
er’s family made repeated
requests for a wellness check.
Wood was convicted March
17 of causing traumatic inju
ries to Kramer’s neck and
chest, though the weapon was
not specified.
The hyoid bone in Kramer’s
neck and the thyroid carti
lage, which is considered the
front of the voice box, were
severely damaged.
Wood, of Gainesville, was
found guilty of malice murder,
felony murder, exploitation of
an elder person, concealing
the death of another, finan
cial transaction card theft and
aggravated assault against
a person 65 years of age or
older.
She was sentenced Fri
day to life in prison with the
chance of parole for kill
ing her 82-year-old fiance
and concealing his death for
months.
At the sentencing hearing,
defense attorney Jake Shap
iro presented Wood’s mental
health records for the judge’s
consideration, which detailed
disclosures of being sexually
abused as a child.
While it doesn’t excuse his
client’s actions at the Can
dler Road home, Shapiro
said it does “mitigate, I think,
the malicious nature of her
mindset.”
While weighing the aggra
vating and mitigating factors
before sentencing, Superior
Court Judge Lindsay Burton
said the information about
Wood’s childhood does help
explain some of the woman’s
poor decision making.
However, one of the most
aggravating factors was the
failure to report Kramer’s
death, denying his family the
chance to give the 82-year-old
man a proper burial, Burton
said.
“But the condition in which
you let this man decompose
into is beyond explanation,”
Superior Burton said.
Wood’s cousin testified,
saying they grew up in a toxic
family environment.
“Tabitha, I have to tell you:
You are not the sum total of
your worst days,” Wood’s
cousin said.
Wood still has a purpose,
her family said, as there are
“blessings still to be found in
the darkness.”
The prosecution brought a
handful of Kramer’s family
to give statements about their
memories with him.
Kramer’s grandson, Josh
Payne, who called Kramer
“Pop Pop,” told the judge
about his “storybook grand
parents:” his grandfather
tended to the garden while
his grandmother fixed lunch
or brought out a glass of
lemonade.
Payne said his grandfather
showed him virtues such as
■ Please see WOOD, 4A
marks facility
expansion
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
Georgia Mountain Food Bank, a regional non
profit that provides nutritional needs across a
five-county service area, broke ground Thurs
day in recognition of the expansion of its Gaines
ville location on
The expansion
is really going to
be able to allow
us to have more
opportunities to
meet the needs
that we have in
the community.’
Jennifer Herring
Georgia Mountain Food
Bank board member
Calvary Industrial
Drive.
The project
will entail fur
ther development
of the facility,
according to
Interim Executive
Director Rebecca
Thurman, add
ing 10,000 square
feet to the build
ing, a cold dock
storage area and
additional cooler
space, a larger
parking area and
shipping/receiv
ing office.
“We distribute
about 6 million
pounds of food a year through this facility,”
Thurman said. “We’re ramping that up in the
coming year, once we have the space to do it.
Our goal is to have 6 million meals a year by the
end of 2027. In order to do that, we have to have
the space, so that’s what this expansion is about. ”
A recurring theme expressed to more than
100 supporters and community members pres
ent for Thursday’s groundbreaking centered on
the organization’s mission: to counter the crisis
of food insecurity across the region.
“Feeding America says that l-in-7 Americans
are hungry... the need is very important, espe
cially in the inflationary economy,” Thurman
said. “People are spending more on gas. Gro
ceries are so expensive. The food bank helps fill
that gap of need.”
Jennifer Herring, one of Georgia Mountain
Food Bank’s board members, echoed Thur
man’s sentiment and stressed the need to resolve
food insecurity throughout northeast Georgia.
“The expansion is really going to be able to
allow us to have more opportunities to meet the
needs that we have in the community,” she said.
“Not just here in Gainesville and Hall County,
but in the other four counties (the food bank)
serves. This growth is going to have a regional
impact on food insecurity in our area.”
More than $2.3 million in federal grant money
and private donations from supporters of the
food bank will be used to finance the expansion.
No parking law in Oakwood will be enforced starting April 1
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Oakwood has a law banning
on-street parking, but a steady
flow of complaints has kick-
started enforcement starting
April 1.
City Council members have
“received complaints about
cars blocking streets and side
walks in residential develop
ments,” City Manager B.R.
White said.
“This creates a public safety
issue by preventing emergency
vehicles from being able to
serve the neighborhood. Also,
parking on sidewalks has
forced pedestrians out into the
street to continue their travel.”
Another issue is garbage
trucks have had trouble trav
eling down streets, “and we
get calls about no garbage or
recycling pick-up,” White said.
“On one or two occasions, the
truck hit a vehicle parked in
the street as it tried to squeeze
through to make its rounds.”
Also, “we have had com
plaints about residents not
being able to turn into their
driveway because of cars
parked on the street.”
City ordinance says it’s
“unlawful for the owner or
operator of any motor vehicle
or other vehicle to park the
vehicle or allow the vehicle to
remain parked on any public
street, highway or alley.”
It’s also illegal to park any
vehicle within 10 feet of a fire
hydrant or driveway.
“The City Council wanted
enforcement of the existing
no parking ordinance,” White
said.
Signs were posted earlier this
year, with March serving as
a “grace period” with notices
being given, he said.
A ticket could cost you $140
and/or, according to signs,
“towing at owner’s expense.”
“By posting the signs, the
council wanted to provide the
residents ample notice of begin
ning enforcement,” White said.
Oakwood
will begin
April 1
enforcing
a city
ordinance
banning
on-street
parking.
If you’re
caught,
the ticket
could
cost you
$140.
JEFF GILL
The Times
