Newspaper Page Text
June 20, 2018
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Reporter
Page 7A
Class of 2018 Sports Hall of Fame inductees
Charles Dumas
Rhonda Griffin Hardy
LaToya Davis
Sonny Marsh
Rodney Walker
Steve Melton
Annie Ree Brantley Summers
Peppi Zellner
Lori Smith and Dawson Daniel (Scholar-Athletes)
CITY HALL
Continued from Front
plans for both floors of the two-story
building. He told them the council cham
ber is about 1,000 square feet and has an
exterior chamber for council through
which they can enter and exit and hold
closed door meetings. There is another
area of the vestry assigned to council
members where they can check their mail
and make calls or meet with someone.
There is a small conference room of
about 75 sq. ft., a medium conference
room of about 120-150 sq. ft. (to accom
modate 6-8 people) and a large conference
room of 200-300 sq. ft. He said all confer
ence rooms are ‘flex rooms’ and can be
converted into office space if needed.
The building will point north, its main
orientation toward the courthouse, with
a tower element to make it a landmark.
The building will be on the left coming
down Harris Street. There will be stairs
on the front corner and a receptionist at
the entry. There will be a drive-through
for paying utility bills off of Harris Street.
Customers who want to pay inside will
enter the building and turn to their left.
Offices will be downstairs for the court
clerk, city clerk, accounts receivable and
Forsyth Main Street. Offices of the county
manager and executive assistant will be
upstairs, along with storage space. Council
members can by-pass the front door and
come in from the back of the building.
Council members will decide on
whether to build the new city hall so that
it could later be expanded either vertically
or horizontally. Garcia said space will be
wasted on the foundation and structure
if they build so as to expand upward but
never do so. The current plan for the
city hall is just under a total of 10,000 sq.
ft. Wilson said the plan maximizes the
northern part of the city’s property but
leaves room for horizontal expansion to
the south.
“I never imagined a building there,” said
John Howard, who was elected to council
in a special election on May 22 and had
not been involved in the earlier discus
sions with Clark Nexsen about building
a new city hall. He asked about parking
and whether the handicapped parking
would meet state guidelines. Garcia said
that parking will be across the street from
city hall, with handicapped parking on
the front corner. He said that since the
city had zoning on the property changed
to Central Business, the distance of the
handicapped parking to city hall would be
in compliance with guidelines.
Council member Mike Dodd remarked
that there will be a pleasing view from
the front of the building and that it might
be a good idea to include an area in the
building to take advantage of it. Garcia
agreed that the location would offer an
opportunity for either a public area or a
roof terrace for employees to enjoy the
view and said this is one of the decisions
council needs to make in the next couple
of weeks.
“It’s much cheaper to make changes
now,” said Wilson.
City manager Janice Hall said one
change should be moving the court clerk
closer to the vault where she needs to take
payments. Garcia said that moving a door
would give the court clerk better access to
the vault. He said any changes that don’t
affect square footage, like moving walls on
the plan, are easy at this point. Hall said
that those in other city halls have told her
it is important that employees who take
payments have convenient access to serve
the drive-through.
Garcia said council needed to decide
on the project delivery method, that is,
whether they would accept the design,
take bids and build or would contract
with a construction manager who would
oversee bidding and construction, engag
ing the subcontractors and suppliers.
Garcia said the delivery method would af
fect the schedule of the project but should
not affect the price. Council voted for the
design/bid/build method, with council
member Dodd voting against.
“I don’t want an adversarial relation
ship like we had with the Splash Pad,” said
council member Julius Stroud.
Garcia said the time frame on the proj
ect is about 22 weeks from start to finish.
Construction could start in January.
Hall said the city will begin looking at
fixing the grade at Harris Street to make
entry into the new city hall safer.
CAGLE
Continued from Front
him next time as governor.”
“It’s great to be back in
Monroe County among a
lot of friends,” said Cagle.
He said that he won
123 out of 159 coun
ties in the Republican
primary on May
22, and he and his
supporters are now
working hard in extra
innings. In Monroe
County, Cagle was a
strong favorite over
Kemp, with 1,187
votes to 588. Candi
dates Clay Tippins
and Hunter Hill, who
did not make the
run-off, garnered 866
and 745 votes, respec
tively. There were
1,123 votes cast in the
Democratic Primary
in Monroe County,
793 for the winner,
Stacey Abrams, and
330 for Stacey Evans.
Cagle said that
Georgia has been
blessed to be the No.
1 state to do business
in the last five years
and as governor he
wants to make sure no
one is left behind in the
journey. He plans to focus
on creating more jobs and
making sure able-bodied
individuals are working
rather than relying on gov
ernment assistance. Cagle
said that Georgia is the
ninth largest economy in
America and is leading the
Southeast in growth.
He said other priorities
for him are building out
infrastructure, growth of
broadband, and developing
a health delivery system
that both matches needs
and is affordable. Mon
roe County businessman
and candidate for school
board Greg Head asked
Cagle about his position for
providing more technical
training for students to
prepare them for waiting
jobs instead of tracking
high school graduates for
college.
Cagle said that telling all
students that they need to
go to college is a false nar
rative. He said he helped
establish the College &
Career Academy network
in 2007 that has now grown
to 46 schools offering
20-30 fields for students to
explore. He said the College
& Career Academies have a
98 percent graduation rate
across the board. Head said
that in his own business he
has jobs open but can’t find
qualified applicants so that
he can provide jobs and
grow his business; he said
he will support a candidate
who believes in making it
possible for graduates to be
ready for jobs that exist.
Asked what message
he wants to give Monroe
County voters, Cagle said,
“The message is about eco
nomic prosperity. I want
to be a governor that
focuses on our econo
my and puts building
blocks in place.”
He said that in the
last four years while
he was lieutenant
governor Georgia has
added 500,000 jobs, has
streamlined its regula
tory processes and has
lowered its income tax
rates. He wants to con
tinue the momentum in
these areas. To increase
access to internet in
rural Georgia, he said
the legislature passed
the Georgia Technical
Authority bill that calls
for a statewide study of
internet access. Cagle
said he wants to see
the state put incentives
in place to get private
companies to build out
the infrastructure for
internet.
A reception for Cagle
was held at the home
of Roy and Teresa Fickling
on Rivoli Drive shortly
after his stop in downtown
Forsyth. Bo Butler, Cagle’s
Chief of Staff, said that over
240 people had responded
that they would be attend
ing. The invitation to the
event, billed as a “friend
raiser” rather than a fund
raiser, listed 74 couples or
individuals as hosts, spon
sors or honorary hosts.
Early voting begins Mon
day, July 2 and continues
Monday-Friday through
July 20. Those who voted in
the Republican primary on
May 22 are eligible to vote
in the run-off.
Georgia gubernatorial candidate
Casey Cagle displays on his campaign
bus on Friday the Reporter’s weekly
countdown of his run-off opponent Brian
Kemps failure to settle the Monroe/Bibb
line dispute. (Photo/Abby Cox)