About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2023)
Man accused of selling fentanyl, meth to undercover DEA agent, inside, 3a Sunday, April 2, 2023 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local UNG president: Budget cuts ‘concerning’ University expects budget to shrink by about $24 million by 2025 BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com University of North Georgia is bracing for tough times ahead after state lawmakers on Wednes day passed a budget that cuts $66 million or just over 2% in fund ing for the University System of Georgia. As a result, UNG would lose about $2.54 million in state fund ing for the upcoming fiscal year. When combined with a 10% cut in total state spending in 2020 and a $13 million cut caused by a drop in student enrollment, UNG expects its budget to shrink by about $24 million by 2025. It is unclear at this point exactly how that loss in funding might impact UNG, but President Bonita Jacobs called it “concerning” in a letter to faculty and staff on Friday and seemed to hint at potential lay offs in the future. “This new and unexpected bud get cut is concerning,” she wrote. “The severity of the budget cut passed by the legislature this week will further impact teaching bud gets, staffing and student services as the university seeks to reduce costs.” Will there be layoffs? “We’re not planning any layoffs specifically, and the budget is not final at this point,” UNG spokes woman Kate Maine said in an interview. “But I think President Jacobs is trying to be as transpar ent as possible with our university community. This is a significant funding decrease if it goes through, and it will impact our operations. ” UNG avoided significant lay offs last year by leaving vacancies unfilled, cutting the travel budget and reducing spending in other areas. Three non-tenured faculty were laid off in August, and some fear there might be more layoffs on the horizon following this latest cut. “It’s just a lot of uncertainty at UNG at the moment,” said Mat thew Boedy, an associate professor of English at UNG and president of the Georgia conference of the American Association of Univer sity Professors. “We do know we’ve had similar cuts in the past, and retirements and unfilled posi tions have saved people’s jobs. But on this new one, we just don’t know how it’s going to go. ” “If they laid off three non-ten- ure-track faculty last year,” Boedy said, “I would expect that number to go up now.” Decline in enrollment UNG’s enrollment fell by 8.6% from fall 2019 to fall 2022, from 19,748 to 18,046 students. Jacobs wrote that the decline in enrollment is attributable to a ■ Please see UNG, 3A Crane coming down at The National Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Crews begin to dismantle a crane Friday, March 31, that’s been used to build The National in downtown Gaines ville. The removal will result in Washington Street being closed to traffic between Green Street and E.E. Butler Parkway between 9 a.m. Friday, March 31, and Monday, April 3, according to a press release from the city Thurs day, March 30. Company proposes mud landfill in Hall BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Where does excavated mud go to dry? A Hall County business that deals in such wet earth is hoping government offi cials will allow it to build a nearly 13-acre landfill for just that purpose. Southern Utility Group is seeking a con ditional use permit to build the landfill at 1563 Calvary Church Road, south of Can dler Road/Ga. 60 and east of Interstate 985. Southern Utility wants to perform a pro cess that uses pressurized water and an industrial-strength vacuum to simultane ously excavate soil. “As the pressurized water breaks up the soil, the soil and (mud) is conveyed by a vacuum to a debris tank,” according to Hall County planning documents. It’s a process most frequently used to uncover buried utilities. And so, Southern Utility needs “a place to store and dry out the slurry,” documents state. The process will involve three ponds, with the mud drying out to become fill dirt that will be used where the water/vacuum process, known as hydro-extrusion, is tak ing place. The mud “has to be placed somewhere safely,” Southern Utility says in a letter to the county. Hall County Planning Commission What: Proposed mud landfill off Calvary Church Road When: 5:15 p.m. Monday, April 3 Where: Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road The company says it does installation work for local public utility providers and uses hydro-extrusion “in order to locate other utilities in right-of-way areas.” The proposal is set to go before the Hall County Planning Commission on Monday, April 3. ■ Please see MUD, 3A Lula recalls to go before election board BY BRIAN WELLMEIER bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com A petition to recall Lula Mayor Joe Thomas and Councilman Gene Bramlett is expected to go before Hall County’s Board of Elections Tuesday for certification. Lula business owner Amanda Browning, the head of the movement to remove the two men from office, submitted to elections officials a petition of more than 100 signatures from residents on Wednesday, March 29. Hall County Board of Elec tions Chair Jack Noa said elections officials will begin to review and verify signatures on the petition before Tues day’s executive meeting. Offi cial certification could take up to 48 hours, he said, and the board will likely determine legal sufficiency or insuffi ciency of grounds for the recall by Wednesday. “Each signature has to be verified... once that’s verified, then the board will have an executive meeting,” Noa said. “We’ll go back through each one of them, and make sure what they found was correct.” According to the state Recall Act of 1989, if at least 100 signatures (or 10% of the number of voters registered to vote at the last preceding election) on the petition are verified, an official call for a special recall election will be issued 10 days after the receipt of certification. The Recall Act of 1989 states that once the declaration for a recall election is made by offi cials, a special election will be held “not less than 30 nor more than 45 days” thereafter. If a spe cial election is called, registered voters within the city of Lula will decide whether to remove Thomas and Bramlett from office. Noa said a special recall election will be con ducted like any other electoral process, though elections officials will have to work within a shorter timeframe to prepare. “We’ll have to figure out how much equipment (and people) we need — we’ll have to put that all together,” he said. “It’s exactly like any elec tion - all the equipment and anything you do is exactly the same.” Language in the act affords Thomas and Bram lett some time for rebuttal, stating the elected officials to be recalled may “petition the superior court... to review the sufficiency of the grounds for recall” within four business days after the application is submitted for verification. Neither Thomas nor Bramlett could be reached for comment on whether they plan to challenge the recall process before the board convenes Tuesday. Browning told The Times that she and fellow supporters of the recall movement experienced both subtle and brazen forms of intimidation last week as they petitioned for signatures in down town Lula. The Recall Act of 1989 states that any attempt to intimidate or threaten individuals involved in a recall is illegal. “We had three women that came in, demand ing to look at the signatures. That’s not how this works ... we’re (not allowed) to share that with anybody.” Browning said the three women never pro vided their names but returned at separate times throughout the week, stating, “I had one woman that actually came in on Monday, Tuesday, and then on Sunday.” Browning said the other two women returned Friday and Saturday to question her about signa tures on the petition. Browning said she’s spoken to elections offi cials about the incidents. The executive meeting between Hall Coun ty’s Board of Elections will take place at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 4, at the Hall County Government Center. Thomas Bramlett
