Newspaper Page Text
Page 4B
August 17,2022
^Reporter
Kingdom Builders 2022 needs you --
applicants, volunteers and supporters
Monroe County Kingdom
Builders is planning for its an
nual work weekend, which will
be on Friday and Saturday, Oct.
14 and 15. The project to repair
and improve as many homes as
possible for elderly and needy
residents of Monroe County
takes a lot of planning and sup
port. Now is the time for home-
owners who need assistance to
apply, now is the time for volun
teers to commit to giving time
and now is the time for members
of the community who can help
provide materials and other as
sistance for the projects to make
their commitments.
Kingdom Builders also re
quests prayers from the com
munity for the success of the
upcoming projects. Kingdom
Builders over the years, with the
help of youth and adult volun
teers, has worked on over 100
homes- repairing roofs, doing
plumbing, electrical and painting
projects, rebuilding bathrooms
and porches and adding wheel
chair ramps. Kingdom Builders
has also worked through nursing
homes, assisted living, Circle of
Care, the Senior Center, the Care
Cottage, Children’s Day Camp
county during August
and September. Team
Leaders will review
applications dur
ing September and
evaluate work sites
as applications come
in, in preparation for
Kingdom Builders
weekend, Oct. 14 and
15, which coincides
with the school fall
break. The deadline
for submitting assis
tance forms is Sept. 11.
Traditionally at least
10-15 sites are selected
- However-
“The potential to di
rectly assist and lift up
those in need in our
community is limited
only by the amount of
community support
that we can gather in
the form of your service, your
donations and your prayers.
This is our opportunity to have a
direct impact on our neighbors
right here in Monroe County’
Knox said.
Volunteers work hard on Kingdom Builders projects in 2021.
and the Crisis Preg
nancy Center.
Another benefit of
Kingdom Builders
is long term benefits
derived from engaging
local youth in its min
istry, which organiz
ers feel impacts their
spiritual development
through projects.
“To complete our
plans, we need all
kinds of workers-
plumbers, construc
tion crews, laborers,
runners,” longtime
Kingdom Builders
volunteer John Knox
said. “If you have a
pickup truck and can
haul supplies, if you
can work in the kitch
en and prepare meals
for our volunteers, if
you can be a runner going out to
our various work sites, we need
your help,” he added. “Regardless
of what your skills are, we have
something for everyone who
wants to contribute. All we need
is a willing heart!”
100 percent of all donations
go toward purchasing materials
and tools. Everyone is a volun
teer- There are no salaries, no
overhead. All funding comes
from grants, from local busi
nesses, individual donations
and church fundraisers. Dona
tions can be made through the
office manager at the Circle of
Care, through local churches, or
through the office of the Forsyth
United Methodist Church at
478-994-5706.
Homeowners who wish to
apply for assistance may pick up
and submit Kingdom Builders
application forms at the Circle
of Care in Forsyth, Monroe
County Reporter office, Forsyth
United Methodist Church or
any participating church in the
Sarah Alford is new principal at Achievement Center
Sarah Alford
By Diane Glidewell
news® my mcr.net
Monroe County Schools
continued to see turnover
in employees even after
students began the 2022-23
school year on Monday,
Aug. 1. At the Board of
Education meeting on
Aug. 9 the board went
into closed session for 52
minutes to discuss person
nel and safety. Afterwards
the school system posted
the following personnel
actions approved by the
board:
Monroe County Achieve
ment Center principal
Grady Caldwell resigned
effective Sept. 2 to take
a job closer to his wife.
Sarah Alford, the assistant
principal at Mary Persons
freshman campus was
appointed the new prin
cipal at the Achievement
Center effective Aug. 22.
Both Caldwell and Alford
had served in their current
positions for several years.
The Achievement Center
opened the 2022-23 school
year with 89 students.
Two teachers resigned
from Mary Persons, Lee
Greenway, effective July
27, and Terrassa Fields,
effective July 26. Candice
Lewis, instructional coach
at Monroe County Middle
School and 2019 K.B. Sut
ton Teacher of the Year,
resigned effective July 29.
Other resignations effec
tive before the first day of
school included K.B. Sut
ton Elementary parapro-
fessional Rachael Scott, bus
driver Jeffrey Story and bus
monitor Delores Taylor.
The Board of Education
approved hiring three new
employees at Mary Persons
on Aug. 9: Ashley Cook, a
teacher; Chantice Jones, a
media clerk; Alyssa Smith,
an Access paraprofessional.
Other new hires approved
were system nurse Hollie
Holloway and bus driver
trainee Ronald Edge.
The hiring of three
community coaches was
approved effective Aug.
10: Mike Harrell and Julius
Stroud at Monroe County
Middle School and David
Martin at Mary Persons.
In addition to Alford
becoming MCAC prin
cipal, four other Monroe
County Schools employees
changed positions. Zhareia
Smith changed from media
clerk to teacher at Mary
Persons. Edward Mitch
ell changed from lead
bus driver to bus driver.
Ramael Davis changed
from custodian to head
custodian at T.G. Scott
Elementary.
Negotiations
Continued from Page 1 B
Monroe County, Forsyth and
Culloden last year was $1.5 mil
lion. The state required negotia
tions to begin in July.
Therefore, the negotiations on
Aug. 12 were attended by many
of the city and county leaders.
All of the county commissioners
except Eddie Rowland attended
(Greg Tapley, John Ambrose,
George Emami, LaMarcus
Davis) plus county manager Jim
Hedges. For the city, Mayor Eric
Wilson, council members Julius
Stroud, Mike Dodd and Chris
Hewett were at the table, along
with city manager Janice Hall
and city clerk Regina Ivie. Coun
cil members Greg Goolsby, John
Howard and Melvin Lawrence
didn’t attend. Culloden council
member Dr. Margie Bryant
represented Culloden.
Stroud began the discussion,
saying he was nominated to be
the city’s negotiating person.
He said people lie but numbers
don’t lie and the city’s employees
had gone through the numbers
with a fine-toothed comb. He
said the population is 83.60 per
cent in the county, 15.86 percent
in Forsyth and the remaining .54
percent in Culloden. However,
he said that changes if you count
the population that is in the city
during business hours, with
Forsyth at 19.18 percent. Stroud
said the share of expenditures
for Monroe County is 64.60 per
cent, 35.19 percent for Forsyth
and .21 percent for Culloden.
Tapley asked Stroud where the
city got these numbers. Hall an
swered that they came from the
Georgia Municipal Association
(GMA). Hall said she couldn’t
share any backup information
because that belongs to GMA.
Tapley asked if information
from GMA, which represents
cities, would be biased toward
cities. He said that the county
has different numbers from a
tax consultant it hired. He said
the county hired a consultant
after the city stated in a council
meeting that it was going to hire
a consultant and said he thinks
the numbers of a professional
tax consultant are less biased
than those of an organization
that represents cities.
Stroud asked what services city
residents get from the county
rather than the city, and Hedges
named several, including am
bulance service, library, animal
control, landfill, coroner, drug
task force, health department,
jail, tax assessor.
It was clarified that Forsyth
pays on animal control services,
for inmates in the county jail
and for 911 dispatch service.
“We’re part of you, but you’re
not part of us,” said Dodd.
“Yes we are,” said Davis, whose
county commission district
includes most of the city.
Emami said the county helps
subsidize Monroe County Hos
pital, but Forsyth doesn’t. Wil
son said Walmart is in Forsyth
because of the infrastructure
that the city provided.
Stroud said Forsyth should get
30 percent of the revenue from
LOST. Tapley said the profes
sional hired by the county rec
ommended 21 percent for For
syth based on the eight criteria, a
decrease from the previous 22.5
percent. However, he thought
the previous number of 22.5 was
a good place to begin discussion.
However, if the city was going to
insist on 30 percent, there was
no reason to continue to negoti
ate. Stroud said GMA had said
Forsyth should get 27 percent,
but he thought 30 percent was a
good point for the city.
Davis asked what the city does
about potholes, noting that he
gets calls about potholes in the
city several time a week. Stroud
said Davis should have the
county fix potholes in the city
because it’s in his district and is
part of the county.
Tapley said the county num
bers justify the county getting
79 percent of the LOST, but the
county was willing to settle for
75 percent. However, it isn’t will
ing to cut down to 70 percent.
“Were asking for less; you’re
asking for more,” said Tapley.
“We offered what is fair.”
At this point, Davis pointed
out that Hewett had walked out
of the room during the negotia
tions.
“We all need to be aware of
what happens if we can’t agree,”
said Emami. [The county and
cities lose at least $2.8 million in
revenue.] “I negotiate every day
for a living. Do we punt to the
court system?”
Hedges said there is no court
or arbitration. If they can’t agree,
they can’t impose the tax. He
said the county will have to go
up 2.8 mills on property tax to
cover the lost revenue.
Stroud said if Forsyth and the
county can’t agree on LOST, it
will probably affect the vote on
the Education SPLOST coming
up in November.
“There are usually multiple as
pects to negotiation. Right now
we’re talking about one thing,”
said Emami. “Are there other
areas [where we can negotiate]?”
Discussion turned to service
agreements, particularly regard
ing water in the north end of the
county. There seem to be agree
ment that Culloden’s share of
LOST should stay at 2.4 percent.
The county and city representa
tives separated to discuss how
they would be willing to com
promise.
Coming back together, Stroud
said the city would agree to stay
at 22.5 percent of LOST if the
city gets a representative on the
Monroe County Development
Authority and on the Monroe
County Hospital Board and if
they can reach a service delivery
agreement on water. Wilson said
the city has agreed to provide
sewer to development along the
northern part of 1-75 and that
it would be advantageous to ev
eryone to also sell water to those
customers.
Tapley said the county wants a
10-year agreement on the price
the county would pay Forsyth
for water, the same length of
time the LOST division will be
in effect. Emami noted that the
county has budgeted $3 million
to connect to water for the north
end of the county and will pro
vide that initial investment.
The county and city agreed to
appointing ex officio members
to the Development Authority
and Hospital boards until there
were opening for voting mem
bers that the ex officio member
from the city could fill.
Wilson then said that minutes
from the June 19,2014 com
missioners’ meeting stated that
the county voted 5-1 to connect
with city water on the north end
of the county. He conceded that
there are no longer any mem
bers on BOC who voted on that
agreement, which was never put
in place.
Emami said the city has
changed strategically since 2014
in how much money it makes
from its water and sewer cus
tomers and customers are more
important to the city. He said the
agreement the county is offer
ing would be advantageous to
Forsyth because it brings more
customers and more profit.
Hedges said he hoped to have
a LOST agreement signed by the
commissioners’ meeting on Aug.
16. Wilson said they still have
to iron out an agreement on
the price of water and details of
the service delivery contract for
the county buying water from
Forsyth for the north end of the
county. Wilson said he has to
talk to Forsyth city engineer Carl
Hofstadter about what price the
city can set and make a profit.
Emami said the county wants a
price as close to break even as
possible to help customers.
Ambrose then talked about
Forsyth’s decades long problems
with “brown water,” including
an incident that had occurred in
the days before the negotiation
meeting.
“We’re a water rate away from
the deal being done,” said Ema
mi. “We need a very preferential
rate for the northern end.”
Tapley suggested installing a
master meter and splitting the
profit with rates somewhere
around $3/1,000 gallons. The
city will be responsible for meter
reading. Hall said she didn’t
know what the city’s break even
point on water price is but will
try to determine it.
The county and city represen
tatives agreed to meet again to
continuing negotiating on the
LOST agreement, tentatively on
Friday, Aug. 26 at 11 a.m.